DAVIS, Calif. -- UC Davis women's gymnastics signed prospective student-athletes Kaitlyn Lyle and Emma Otsu to National Letters of Intent during the start of the signing period, announced head coach John Lavallee. Both gymnasts are standouts for the Bay Area-based Airborne Gymnastics Training Center, and will enroll at the university in the fall of 2020.
Lyle, a senior at Ann Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill, advanced to the Junior Olympics Level 10 national meet for four straight years for Airbone. She captured the Region 1 title on uneven bars and balance beam in 2018, roughly a month after winning bars, beam and floor exercise state championships. Lyle holds all-around finishes of third, sixth, seventh and fifth at the region meet from 2015 through 2018, respectively. Outside the gym, she serves as ASB President, served on a 16-day service trip to Panama – with no communication home – and received the Superintendent's Award for four straight years for her 4.0-plus grade-point average.
Otsu, a Paso Robles, Calif. native who is home-schooled through the Bridgeway Academy, began her Level 10 training for Performance Athletics Gymnastics in 2016. This also opened up a singular opportunity: she was invited across the Pacific to train with the Japanese National Team. Otsu competed in meets in Thailand, Slovakia and Japan throughout that season, then returned to California, this time with Airborne. She finished second on beam and eighth in the all-around at the 2018 Region 1 championships, earning a berth at the J.O. Nationals that May. Otsu captured the beam title at the regionals last April.
The arrival of Lyle and Otsu continues a tradition of Airborne alumnae competing at UC Davis: current Aggies Sarah Liddle, Gabby Landess and Jamie Panchak hail from that club, as did recent alums Roxanna Agah and Regi Solvkjar. Also hailing from Airborne was Katie Yamamura, who entered the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame earlier this fall.
UC Davis won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season title and ranked 39th nationally with a 195.265 national-qualifying score in 2019. The team will kickoff its 2020 schedule with a road dual meet at Sacramento State on January 5, then return home to host the five-team NorCal Classic one week later.
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