Pac-12 students are known for their athletic success, but they are also impressive, complete people with outside interests, diverse backgrounds, extracurricular activities, interesting families, busy schedules, and full lives. The release for this week's competition is focused on who California students are in the classroom and community. For the full notes, click here.
BERKELEY -- The Golden Bears take on their second Pac-12 foe of the week, once again on the road, when No. 16 Oregon State hosts No. 15 Cal in Gill Coliseum on Saturday. Meet time is set for 2 p.m. PT and the action airs live on Pac-12 Oregon with Brian Webber and Alicia Sacramone Quinn on the call.
The Bears have built on their scores every weekend, turning in season-high team totals in four consecutive outings. Cal is coming off a record-breaking Monday meet against Arizona State in which the Bears tallied their highest road score in history, 196.900, and logged a program-record 49.325 on beam.
Follow @CalWGym on Twitter and Instagram for updates, behind-the-scenes photos and videos and the latest information on the Bears throughout the season.
ACADEMIC SPOTLIGHT
With perfect APR scores for multiple years in a row, Cal's women's gymnastics squad includes a number of impressive scholars, but with the Golden Bear award for the highest grade point average among her team, senior Serena Leong sets the bar. The bioengineering major, who is set to graduate in December this year, currently carries a 3.8 GPA.
Leong's studies aren't limited to just the classroom. Since May 2014, she's also been a student research assistant in Berkeley's Sohn Lab. In the lab, she designed and optimized a microfluidic device that resulted in more efficient separation of cancer cells from whole blood. In addition, she developed a microfluidic leukocyte capture chamber that further purified cancer cells from whole blood, and prepared lab experiments for her microfluidic device.
Among the skills you'll find on her resume? DNA transformation, gel electrophoresis and mammalian cell culture, just to name a few. As if that wasn't enough, Leong is also published. She's one of several authors who published a scholarly article called “High-throughput microfluidic device for rare cell isolation.”
FAMILY TIES
You might call women's gymnastics a sister act this year, as the Golden Bear roster currently features two sets of siblings. The most notable connection? Sofie and Sylvie Seilnacht, identical twins who are freshmen on the squad this year. Both sisters have seen ample time in the lineup, with Sylvie earning a spot in the vault rotation and Sofie specializing as the leadoff in the balance beam lineup.
Junior Jessica Howe is also enjoying the family connection, as sister Emily joined the team this season. Though the duo came to Berkeley from Plano, Texas, Cal was a natural fit after two of their relatives attended the university. Grandfather Richard Casper was a track and field athlete for the Bears, and uncle William (Bob) Casper played football.
The family ties aren't only limited to the student-athlete roster. Head coach Justin Howell and associate head coach Elisabeth (Liz) Crandall-Howell are partners both at home and in the gym. The duo both bring a rich club and collegiate background to the Bears. Together, they both headed up programs at Airborne Gymnastics before arriving in Berkeley. Before that, Liz's collegiate backgrounded included four years as a gymnast at BYU, where she was a two-time All-American and seven-time U.S. National Team member. Justin was a member of San Jose State's men's gymnastics team.
TOP PERFORMERS
Many of Cal's standouts on the gym floor this year are also standouts in the classroom, including:
- Zoe Draghi – BB & FX | 3.31 GPA (Legal Studies)
- Jessie Howe – UB, BB & FX | 3.24 GPA (Legal Studies)
- Arianna Robinson – V, FX | 3.3 GPA (Undeclared)
- Amber Takara – UB | 3.06 GPA (Interdisciplinary Studies)
HOBBY HUDDLE
California junior Zoe Draghi, who has anchored the beam and floor lineups in several meets this year, is the team's best dancer. Her rich dance background has grown to include membership in Berkeley's THRIVE dance group, which she balances with her schedule as a gymnast. Draghi has appearances in several performances with THRIVE.
With an aunt in the literary business, sophomore Arianna Robinson is a budding novelist. The Cal sophomore has had several of her own personal pieces published in her aunt's books and dreams of one day being an author herself.
Junior Dana Ho, who is studying business, loves baking and one day plans to open her own bakery using management skills she's learning in Berkeley's prestigious Haas School of Business
