March 1, 2016 DAVIS, Calif. - For the second time this season, the UC Davis gymnastics tandem of senior Stephanie Stamates and freshman Yasmine Yektaparast has captured Specialist of the Week and Newcomer of the Week, respectively, from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. These two paired up for these same awards back on February 2.
Stamates, a senior co-captain originally from San Ramon Valley High and the California Gymnastics Academy, scored 9.875 on both balance beam and floor exercise in Sunday's MPSF dual with Alaska Anchorage. The beam score, which ties her career high and misses the school record by the minimum .025 increment, shared the meet title with Aggie sophomore
Alexis Brown. Stamates' floor mark was good for second place in the meet behind Yektaparast.
Furthermore, Stamates raised her total of career 9.8-plus scores to 49, tying the program record previously set by Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Famer Ericka Ruelas.
Yektaparast, an alumna of Edge Gymnastics and St. Vincent de Paul High, became the 11th gymnast in school history to score a 9.900 on floor exercise. Her performance, which matches Stamates for the team's season high, led a 1-2-3-4 UC Davis sweep in the event. It also makes her just the second freshman to score a 9.900, along with another Aggie Hall of Famer, Tiffany Chan. Yektaparast also scored a 9.700 on vault and a 9.675 on beam in Sunday's dual.
Both gymnasts helped UC Davis compile a season-high 195.225 team score, ninth in school history; and a 48.950 on balance beam, tied for seventh all-time.
Overall, this is Stamates' eighth career nod as the conference's top specialist, the fourth in 2016, and the second consecutive. Yektaparast picks up her second award as the league's top rookie. Furthermore, UC Davis has now claimed six of the eight SOW awards in 2016, with Katy Nogaki taking the honor on January 19 and February 16; and four of the NOW accolades, with Kara Jones winning on January 26 and February 16.
The Aggies return to action in a triangular at San Jose State on Sunday with visiting Brown.
