Mya Lauzon stands facing away from the head judge, going through keywords and visualizing the routine ahead. She turns and salutes the judge before mounting the beam–dialing in on the internal thoughts and pushing out the noise, as everything can be a distraction. Before each skill, she goes through her designated keywords and continues to remind herself that these are skills that have been practiced all year and she knows how to do them and do them well. Once she lands, she can listen to the cheers.
Going into this season, California had only hit the 49.500 mark on beam twice, with the highest beam score being 49.525. As this season came to a close, the Golden Bears struck gold on the event, recording the top two scores in program history just two days apart. Similarly, a gymnast from California had never scored a 10.000 until that same weekend when Lauzon broke that barrier.
The routine that scored the perfect mark was not one that Lauzon thought would score a 10.000–she knows that she could have stuck that dismount better. Even so, Lauzon recalls that moment saying “then the score went up and I don’t know, I’ve never really felt that’s something that exciting.”
That was not the only record broken that day. California also broke the team beam record with a score that is the second-highest beam score in NCAA history at 49.800. Gabby Perea and Lauzon shared that they did not know that they broke the school beam record until after the meet had ended. Once they discovered the news, the celebrations began again.
Now, in the postseason, the Golden Bears have had to do something they have not done earlier in the season which is to start the meet on beam. Perea liked this start order. She was able to tuck herself away and not feel the energy of the rotation before her. Perea said she is someone who gets “the most nervous for beam, and especially because I’m at the end.” Once that routine is over, it is a weight lifted off of her shoulders, and the rest of the meet seems easy.
While the beam rotation in Round Two of the Pittsburgh Regional was not ideal, the Golden Bears were able to take the energy from starting off with a hit rotation into the rest of the meet and finish in the top spot. Looking back, the meet was an opportunity to get used to the arena and get “out some jitters.”
California will have a chance on Sunday to earn a ticket to the NCAA championships after missing out last season. As for what happens until then, Lauzon said the team will “take a day to rest, and then really pop off on Sunday.”
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Article by Alyssa Van Auker
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