Cal women’s gymnastics is headed to nationals for first time in 24 years

For the Cal women’s gymnastics team, clinching a berth to the NCAA championships was a blur of all three.

The top two teams in the six regionals advanced to the NCAA championships.

The Bears, who had the lowest regional score of the qualifying teams, are grouped with No. 1-seed Oklahoma and 2011 and 2012 national champion Alabama.

The Bears have the ninth-highest regional qualifying score on vault (49.185), and All-America Toni-Ann Williams is in the top 10 on floor nationally with a 9.935 RQS.

The Jamaica national-team member will be at an Olympic test event in Rio de Janeiro, trying to qualify as the country’s first Olympic gymnast.

Cal has been preparing other team members to sub for Williams since itlearned in the fall that nationals would conflict with the Olympic test event, Crandall-Howell said.

The Bears took Williams out of the beam lineup at the end of February, giving junior Emily Richardson competition experience, and have exhibitioned backups on all events so that the atmosphere isn’t new to them when they have to compete.

Junior Jessica Howe, one of eight juniors from the first class that Howell helped recruit in 2012 as an assistant to former Cal and current Georgia head coach Dana Durante, said the energy and closeness of the team has been there from the beginning.