MPSF Championship

Recap

The Big Storyline: Appropriately, San Jose State capped off its historic season with a straightforward win in Davis on Saturday. The Spartans became one of only 13 teams in the country to go 49-plus on all four events at the conference championship and also swept the individual titles. UC Davis freshman Megan Ray was the only non-Spartan to win an event title, walking away with a share of the floor crown. 

Postseason Implications: The Spartans were qualified to regionals before this meet started thanks to outcomes from other meets earlier in the day, but they were able to finish in style and secure the No. 34 spot in this year’s final NQS ranking. Air Force secured the No. 3 seed to USAG nationals. While individual qualifiers to NCAA regionals haven’t been announced yet, we expect some individuals from this conference, including Kyla Kessler (Davis) in the all-around and Amber Koeth (Sac State) on beam, to advance.

Records: SJSU’s 196.425 becomes the new conference championship record. Emma Milne’s 9.925 on beam ties a conference record as well as SJSU’s team record. The Spartans’ 49.325 on floor was the fourth-best in program history.

Controversies: A series of judging conferences at the end of Alaska’s floor rotation slowed down the flow of the meet substantially. This also wasn’t the easiest meet to watch: It was a quad box with no commentary and no labels or audible announcements for names, so while we had a great time watching, if you didn’t already have a high level of MPSF literacy it would have been quite challenging.

Conference Awards

• Gymnast of the Year: Kyla Kessler (UC Davis)
• Freshman of the Year: Genevieve Sabado (Air Force
• Head Coach of the Year: Joanne Bowers (SJSU)
• Assistant Coach of the Year: James Williams (SJSU)

Preview

• No. 35 San Jose State | 196.165 NQS | 196.625 season high
• No. 43 UC Davis | 195.720 NQS | 196.325 season high
• No. 53 Air Force | 194.670 NQS | 195.700 season high
• No. 57 Sacramento State | 193.855 NQS | 195.400 season high
• No. 63 Alaska | 191.695 NQS | 192.250 season high

If you can only watch one meet, here’s why it should be this one… 

San Jose State is one of the great Cinderella stories of the 2022 season, delivering the four best team scores in program history. Prior to this year the Spartans had never scored 196-plus in program history, and now they boast a NQS of 196.165. It’s been a truly astounding journey.

This meet won’t be uncontested, though. UC Davis has also had an incredible, historic season, with an NQS just four tenths below San Jose State’s and a tally of three 196-plus scores to SJSU’s four. The Aggies lead the conference on the leg events. A clean rotation on their weakest event, beam, could spell trouble for the Spartans.

Meanwhile Air Force, a breakout star of 2022 in its own right, doesn’t have quite the peak scores of the other two but is more than prepared to step in if others falter, much as it did in 2019.

If this is one of many meets you’ll be watching, don’t miss this… 

San Jose State’s floor rotation is a blast, with tons of creative music choices you’ll recognize, but it’s the nationally ranked bars team that has really driven the Spartans up the standings. For UC Davis, the can’t-miss rotation is vault. If we’re lucky, we’ll see the Aggies performing six different vaults.

What’s the bigger picture to keep an eye on? 

SJSU, currently No. 35, is one of the teams that will go right down to the wire with regionals qualification. At this point, we can’t even project a score that would guarantee the Spartans will be safe. We’ll be sure to update you through the day on social media.

By the Numbers

Past Champions

• Air Force: 1 title, last won in 2019
• Alaska: 1 title, last won in 2009
• San Jose State: 3 titles, last won in 2018
• Sacramento State: 5 titles, last won in 2016
• UC Davis: 6 titles, last won in 2015

Records Watch

• Team: 196.300 | Vault: 49.150 | Bars: 49.325 | Beam: 49.275 | Floor: 49.550
• All Around: 39.450 | Vault: 9.950 | Bars: 9.950 | Beam: 9.925 | Floor: 10.000

Last Time Out

The MPSF championship hasn’t been held since 2019 since most of these teams did not compete in 2021. In 2019, UC Davis had dominated all season in the MPSF and entered with an NQS advantage of over a point but faltered at the championship to finish third despite a respectable 195.200 total. Meanwhile, San Jose State surged to second, but it was Air Force that walked away with the title, scoring a program record 195.725. Fourth-place Alaska also set a program record of 194.200.

Since then, of course, this conference has lost 2019’s sixth-place finisher Seattle Pacific. The team was unfortunately cut in 2020. One member of that team will return to the championship, though: Former Falcon Kylie Reese transferred to Alaska.