Name: Mercedez Sanchez
Previous Team: UCLA
New Team: San Jose State
College Year: Graduate
Major: Psychology
Transfer Announcement: Twitter
Social Handles: Twitter | Instagram
NCAA Career Highs
| Vault | Uneven Bars | Balance Beam | Floor Exercise |
| – | 9.750 (exh.) | 9.750 (exh.) | – |
Videos
| Vault | Uneven Bars | Balance Beam | Floor Exercise |
| Training at UCLA | Washington at UCLA (Exhibition, 2020) | California at UCLA (Exhibition, 2017) | – |
About Mercedez
Sanchez performed exhibition routines on bars and beam at UCLA in 2017, 2018 and 2020. She was very close to making both lineups. Prior to college, she was a two-time Region 1 qualifier (2015 and 2016). In 2015 she also competed at the level 10 Copa Quetzal in Guatemala, her father’s country of origin, and won the all around, bars, beam and floor.
What She Brings to San Jose State
Vault
- Skill: Yurchenko full
- Margin of Improvement: Sanchez never competed vault in college. She trained it, though. In the only available video, her Yurchenko full looked slightly piked on landing and was not landed on a hard surface.
- Impact on the Team: Given Taylor Chan’s graduation, San Jose State would appreciate an additional Yurchenko full in the lineup, but it is unlikely that Sanchez will debut on vault in her final year of gymnastics.
Uneven Bars
- Skills: Jaeger, bail to handstand, blind full to double tuck dismount
- Margin of Improvement: Sanchez has a minor leg separation on her bail and loses her toe point on her cast elements, but her routine is strong.
- Impact on the Team: This is Sanchez’s best apparatus. At San Jose State, she finally has the chance to compete her routine weekly.
Balance Beam
- Skills: front aerial to back handspring, full turn, leap jump, beat jump to sheep jump, piked gainer dismount
- Margin of Improvement: Her sheep jump and leaps could be a tad more extended, but Sanchez’s set is solid.
- Impact on the Team: San Jose State has recently graduated one of its best beam workers, Chelsey Andrada. Sanchez may not be able to score 9.9s, but she will be expected to make a difference here too.
Floor Exercise
- Skills: double pike, front full twist to front tuck, 2.5 twist
- Margin of Improvement: Sanchez never competed floor in college. In club, her routine was difficult but she struggled with her form and landings a bit.
- Impact on the Team: Sanchez does not seem to have trained floor recently and hence is unlikely to make her debut next year.
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
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