Jan. 11, 2013

STANFORD, Calif. - No. 6 Stanford will participate in its first Pac-12 meet this Saturday at Arizona in a challenging matchup with a pair of ranked teams and a local rival. The Cardinal (3-0) will take on the No. 19 Wildcats (1-2) along with non-conference opponents No. 18 Illinois (0-0) and San Jose State (2-1).

What: Quad Meet at the University of Arizona
When: Saturday, 3 p.m. PT
Where: McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz.
Teams: Stanford, Arizona, Illinois, San Jose State

Follow the Action: Live updates will be posted on the Stanford women's gymnastics Twitter page (@StanfordWGym) and live stats will be available on www.gostanford.com.

Season Opener: Stanford senior Nicole Dayton matched her career-high on vault with a score of 9.950 to highlight an impressive Cardinal victory at the NorCal Quad Meet. Stanford finished with at least two gymnasts posting a top-three score in each individual event. The Cardinal also recorded the highest team score in every event.

Stanford finished the meet with a score of 195.425, ahead of San Jose State (192.875), UC Davis (191.400) and Sacramento State (191.100).

Freshmen Debuts: The NorCal Quad Meet saw the collegiate debuts of Stanford freshmen Melissa Chuang and Maggie Teets. Chuang delivered impressive performances on floor exercise (9.775) and vault (9.850) - finishing in the top three in both events. Teets provided depth for the Cardinal on floor and uneven bars.

Morgans Provide Consistency: All-Americans Ashley Morgan and Shona Morgan delivered solid routines for the Cardinal, each hitting on all three of their events. Senior captain Ashley Morgan produced a team-high score on uneven bars (9.800) and scored 9.775 on balance beam and vault.

Junior Shona Morgan, known for being a particularly consistent performer, finished third overall in all three of her events. She delivered scores of 9.775 on uneven bars and floor exercise, and recorded a 9.825 on balance beam.

Saturday's Opponents:

Arizona: The Wildcats finished 2012 ranked 22nd after compiling a regular season record of 13-5 and making its 26th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance. Arizona is coming off a third-place finish at California last weekend - falling to the Golden Bears and Kentucky, and finishing ahead of Auburn. Senior Aubree Cristello posted career highs on beam (9.850) and vault (9.950). Arizona returns nine letterwinners this season.

The Arizona Series: Stanford has won its past 17 meetings with the Wildcats dating back to the 2006 season. Arizona's last victory in the series was March 25, 2005, at the Pac-10 Championships. In its most recent meeting at the 2012 Pac-12 Championships, Stanford edged Arizona 196.825-195.900.

Illinois: This will be the regular season opener for Illinois. The Fighting Illini returns senior Alina Weinstein - the 2012 NCAA Champaign Regional balance beam co-champion and all-around champion. Illinois claimed 51 individual titles during 2012. Stanford finished just ahead of Illinois in its last meeting (196.675-195.725) at the 2012 NCAA Champaign Regional Tournament, earning the final team qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships.

San Jose State: SJSU finished second to the Cardinal at last weekend's NorCal Quad meet. Junior Julia Greer finished first on floor exercise at the meet with a score of 9.825. The Spartans return six letterwinners and are led by head coach Wayne Wright. Coach Wright was an assistant coach at Stanford from 1997-2001 under Lisa Izzi and Mark Cook. Wright helped coach the Cardinal to its first Pac-10 titles, in 1998 and 2001, and its first regional championship in 1999.

Tentative lineups:

Vault

1. Ashley Morgan
2. Pauline Hanset
3. Melissa Chuang
4. Ivana Hong
5. Nicole Dayton
6. Taylor Rice

Bars

1. Shona Morgan
2. Nicole Dayton
3. Ashley Morgan
4. Ivana Hong
5. Kristina Vaculik
6. Sami Shapiro

Beam

1. Shona Morgan
2. Kristina Vaculik
3. Ashley Morgan
4. Amanda Spinner
5. Ivana Hong
6. Pauline Hanset

Floor

1. Nicole Dayton
2. Taylor Rice
3. Kristina Vaculik
4. Melissa Chuang
5. Pauline Hanset
6. Ashley Morgan