The NCAA women’s gymnastics season kicks off in less than two weeks, and the No. 9 California Golden Bears are starting off in-state at the California Grand Invitational and Collegiate Challenge.

Collegiate challenge sessions will stream live here on FloGymnastics.

California Golden Bears

2019 Record: 12-5
2019 Final Ranking: No. 11
2019 Preseason Ranking: No. 8
2020 Preseason Ranking: No. 9
Gymnasts lost: Sofie Seilnacht, Sylvie Seilnacht, Chelsea Shu, Toni-Ann Williams
Gymnasts gained: Nevaeh DeSouza, Maya Green, Natalie Sadighi, Ashton Woodbury

While the Cal Golden Bears missed the NCAA Championships last season due to the new postseason format, they had a successful 2019 season, finishing with a program-record 196.675 at regionals, even without Toni-Ann Williams for the second half of the season. The Golden Bears will have to  continue to compete without Williams, as she, the Seilnacht twins, and Chelsea Shu have all graduated from the program.

Without Williams, Sofie Seilnacht, Sylvie Seilnacht, and Shu, Cal has lost a total of 11 routines from last season. However, one of those routines is Shu’s bars and another three are Williams’ vault, beam, and floor. Shu competed bars only twice last season, and Williams suffered an injury that prevented her from competing for the final half of her senior season. So in reality, Cal is looking to replace seven routines.

The Seilnacht twins contributed a total of five routines for the Golden Bears last season. Sofie competed on beam and floor in every meet and on bars for all but two meets. All three events were solid for her, typically scoring in the 9.800 range. Her best event was floor, where she earned multiple 9.900s, but she did earn a 9.9250 on beam once last season.

Sylvie vaulted in every meet last season and competed floor consistently in the latter part of the season. Her vault wasn’t the most difficult, but she had a strong Yurchenko full that consistently scored in the 9.800 range. She even earned one 9.900 on vault in 2019.

Shu saw action on beam in every meet in 2019 and became a floor lineup staple in the second half of the season. Her beam was a bit shaky early last season but she hit without any problems from February to April, even earning two 9.900s. Floor was a similar situation for her, as her first few routines weren’t her best, but she got the hang of competing floor and even earned a 9.950 in Cal’s final regular-season meet. However, she wasn’t able to score as high in the postseason, scoring in the 9.700 range.

With three floor routines lost to graduation, the Golden Bears have the biggest holes to fill on that event where they lost half of their postseason lineup — not to mention Williams’ show-stopping floor routine that was lost halfway through last season. Freshman Ashton Woodbury is capable of competing a full-in that easily puts her in contention for the floor lineup. Overall, Woodbury has powerful tumbling and great energy on floor that will only aid her in the performance aspect of NCAA floor routines.

Sophomore Talitha Jones didn’t make the floor lineup last season but has been strong on the event in the past. She was the 2018 Region 1 floor champion and placed in the top five on floor at the 2017 J.O. National Championships, Region 1 Championships, and Southern California state championship, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Jones make her collegiate debut on floor in 2020.

Junior Nina Schank competed on floor a few times in 2019 but didn’t solidify a spot in the Golden Bears’ lineup. Schank scored in the 9.800 range two of the three times she competed floor last season, so she’s shown she can hit a routine for her team. With half of the lineup spots up for grabs, perhaps Schank will have another chance to compete floor and secure a spot this year.

Also, sophomore Abi Solari competed floor in the team’s first meet last season against LSU and scored a 9.800, quite a good score considering the opponent and it being the very first meet of 2019. All things considered, Solari’s in a good spot to consistently compete floor, so long as she’s healthy.

On beam, Cal shouldn’t have much trouble filling its lineup despite its losses. Freshmen DeSouza, Natalie Sadighi, and Woodbury can all hit solid routines, which is what Cal lost in Sofie Seilnacht and Shu. In addition, junior Emi Watterson competed on beam once last year and can maybe crack into that lineup this year.

With Sylvie Seilnacht’s routine being the only loss from last season, the Golden Bears have more than enough routines to replace that. Junior Alma Kuc competed on bars sparingly last season but broke into the lineup in the postseason. Of the seven times Kuc competed bars last season, she never scored below a 9.7750 and even finished the season on her best note with a near-perfect 9.950 at the Athens Regional. If her training’s gone well since last April, things are looking up for Kuc on bars.

Otherwise, DeSouza, Sadighi, and sophomore Milan Clausi are a few others who are likely in consideration to make the Golden Bears’ bars lineup.

Vault has been a tricky event for many programs since the Yurchenko full was devalued to a 9.950 a few years ago. Luckily for Cal, it had several strong vaults last year and is actually gaining two 10.0 vaults from DeSouza and Woodbury. DeSouza competed a Yurchenko 1.5 during her final J.O. season last year and even received a perfect 10.0 for it, while Woodbury has a Tsukahara full.

Top returning gymnasts not previously mentioned include sophomore Maya Bordas and junior Kyana George. Both Bordas and George competed all-around at some point for the Golden Bears last season.

Bordas was named the team’s “Gymnast of the Year” for the 2019 season. She scored career-high 9.950s on both bars and beam and recorded a career-high 39.450 all-around score last season. After proving herself to be a good competitor last season, Bordas could see all-around competition more often in the 2020 season.

just wanna give a HUGE shoutout to all my teamates and coaches for making my freshman year so great. love you all and GO BEARS!!!??#readyforround2 pic.twitter.com/5RC8nXgYRp

— Maya Bordas (@mayabordas) May 12, 2019

George competed all-around for Cal in almost every meet last season, finishing with a career-high 39.650 in round three of the Athens Regional. She scored a 9.900 or higher on every event last season, including three 9.900s on vault, two 9.900s on bars, a 9.9250 on beam, three 9.900s on floor, and one 9.950 on floor. In addition, she knows how to peak at the right time as six of her 9.900+ scores came during the postseason.

Another returning gymnast to take note of is Clausi, the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. Clausi was a lineup staple for the Golden Bears on vault, beam, and floor and represented the Golden Bears at NCAA Championships last year as an individual on vault. She has a career-high 9.950 on vault — which she earned twice last season — and 9.900 on beam and floor. Like George, Clausi peaked at the right time, earning scores of 9.900+ on vault for four consecutive meets at the end of the season before qualifying to NCAAs.