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Jamaican Gymnast Astounds

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One Caribbean Nation.


Jamaican gymnast astounds
Toni-Ann Williams


Jamaica's Toni-Ann Williams defied the odds to lead the University of California Berkeley to an upset win over the number-4 ranked Utah in what was a closely contested battle in collegiate gymnastics on Saturday.

Competing with a bruised knee that was supposed to have kept her from contesting the floor routine for the second meet in a row, Williams landed an impressive dismount on the beam and then surprised everyone.

“She landed her beam dismount and said 'Gosh, that felt good. Maybe I should do floor,”

Coach Liz Crandall-Howell recounted. “She said it kind of tongue-in-cheek kidding...but then she wasn't really kidding.”

The impressive beam routine had given the Jamaican Olympian a boost in confidence.

I finished my beam routine and I was feeling good, so I joked that I could probably do a floor routine,” she said. “I had nothing to lose. I had a lot of trust in my training and it was the same as normal. In the touch warm-up, everything felt natural.”

With the meet literally coming down to the final performance and the Utes and Golden Bears locked up with the same score, Williams delivered a near flawless performance.

When the scores popped up - a 10.0 from one judge and a 9.95 from the other - all 16 gymnasts sprinted towards the floor. For the first time in the history of the programme, the number-21 ranked California earned a regularseason victory over the perennial powerhouse Utes. Cal Tech used a programme-record 197.500 performance to upset the Utes, who went 197.450.

Williams, who swept every single event title including the all-around with a programmerecord 39.700, was just one among the many brilliant performances from a deep and talented Bear squad Sunday afternoon in Haas Pavilion.

Thirteen of Cal's 24 performances resulted in season or career-best totals.

Cal hosts Central Michigan on Friday, March 2 for the team's home finale.

(SportsMax)

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