Recruiting Breakdown: Six Join Stanford For 2018

Recruiting Breakdown: Six Join Stanford For 2018

Get to know the newest members of Stanford's gymnastics team taking the floor in 2018.

Dec 6, 2017 by Lauren Green
Recruiting Breakdown: Six Join Stanford For 2018

Stanford struggled during the 2017 season after a slew of injuries decimated the Cardinal’s lineup throughout the season. No stranger to the national championships, Stanford missed qualifying as a team for the first time since 2011. The Cardinal finished fourth in the Seattle regional behind eventual champion Oklahoma as well as Washington and Kentucky.

Former U.S. elite Elizabeth Price has been a standout throughout her Stanford career and can contribute in the all-around, though Stanford has not put her in the beam lineup regularly. And, like a number of programs in the offseason, the Cardinal will have a new coach at the helm as former Stanford and U.S. national team member Tabitha Yim takes over for Kristen Smyth.

Outgoing: Rachel Daum, Dare Maxwell, Danielle McNair, Nicolette McNair, Haley Spector

The Cardinal lose a total of 12 routines from graduating seniors — four routines from Daum, four routines from Danielle McNair, three routines from Nicolette McNair (vault, bars, beam), and one routine from Spector (floor). Additionally, Dare Maxwell will not compete for Stanford this season as she pursues academic opportunities. Maxwell was a consistent contributor for the Cardinal on uneven bars. Daum scored a 9.800 or better on eight of 11 floor routines. Danielle McNair was solid on vault where she scored a 9.700 or better on all 10 vaults while Nicolette McNair was a solid contributor on uneven bars.

Incoming: Kyla Bryant, Rachael Flam, Grace Garcia, Taylor Lawson, Lauren Navarro, Catherine Rogers

Kyla Bryant

Lake Oconee, Georgia
Trained at Georgia Elite Gymnastics
Coached by Pete Arenas, Kim Arenas, and Doug Maven

Bryant is a three-time J.O. national championship qualifier (2014-2016). She was the 2016 J.O. national champion in the all-around and on both uneven bars and floor exercise. She was the 2016 Region 8 floor champion and earned silver on vault. Bryant competed at the 2016 Nastia Liukin Cup where she won the uneven bars title, was eighth on floor, and 10th on both vault and in the all-around. Bryant was the Georgia state all-around champion in both 2015 and 2016 and swept all four event titles both seasons. She won bronze in the all-around and on balance beam in 2015. Bryant earned state titles on vault, floor, and in the all-around during four straight seasons (2013-16), three times on beam (2013, 2015, 2016), and two times on bars (2015, 2016). She was a two-time regional champion on floor exercise (2014 and 2016).



Impact event: All-around

Rachael Flam

Houston, Texas
Trained at Stars Gymnastics

Flam had a decorated career as a Level 10 gymnast. She is a two-time J.O. national all-around champion (2016, 2017) and a four-time J.O. national vault champion (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017). She was also the 2017 national champion on floor exercise. Flam won Region 3 and Texas state titles in the all-around and on vault and floor exercise in 2017. She added silver on bars and bronze on beam at the state championships. She competed at the Nastia Liukin Cup in both 2016 and 2017. She won the vault title in 2017 and was third in the all-around and on vault in 2016.

Flam finished her club career with national titles on uneven bars (2014), floor exercise (2017), vault (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017), and all-around (2016, 2017). She earned regional titles in the all-around (2012, 2014-2017), on vault (2012, 2013, 2016, 2017), and on floor exercise (2012, 2013, 2016, 2017). Flam earned silver on vault and floor in both 2014 and 2015 and on beam (2015) and bars (2014). She won state titles in the all-around (2012, 2014-2017), on vault (2012-2014, 2016, 2017), on bars (2014, 2015), beam (2015), and on floor (2012, 2017).




Impact event: All-around, but especially vault

Grace Garcia

New York, New York
Trained at NYC Elite

Garcia competed at the 2015 J.O. nationals where she finished 11th on floor exercise and 18th on vault. She earned the Region 6 vault title in 2015 where she also finished fourth on floor and sixth in the all-around. Garcia picked up back-to-back silver medals on vault at the NY state championships in 2014 and 2015.



Video courtesy of Grace Garcia

Impact event: Vault

Taylor Lawson

Macungie, Pennsylvania
Trained at Parkettes
Coached by Bill and Donna Strauss

Lawson earned silver on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise, plus in the all-around at the 2017 Pennsylvania state championships where she also picked up bronze on uneven bars. She was fourth in the all-around at J.O. nationals in 2016 and picked up bronze on floor and finished 11th on vault. Lawson was the Region 7 champion on floor and the all-around bronze medalist in 2016. She was the 2016 Pennsylvania state champion on floor and grabbed bronze on vault. She competed at the elite level at the Secret U.S. Classic in 2014 and 2015. Lawson placed 10th in the all-around in 2015 and was 11th on balance beam. She competed at the 2014 P&G championships where she finished 15th on vault. Lawson was the 2012 Region 7 and Pennsylvania state all-around champions. She also earned regional titles on floor and vault and a state title on uneven bars. She earned silver on beam at regionals and on both vault and beam at states. She was the bronze medalist on bars at regionals and on floor at states.



Impact events: Vault and floor exercise

Lauren Navarro

La Verne, California
Trained at Charter Oak Gliders

Navarro was the silver medalist in the all-around at the 2017 J.O. national championships. She was the national champion on balance beam and finished second on floor and fourth on vault. Navarro was the 2017 Region 1 and South California state all-around champion. She was the regional champion on both balance beam and floor exercise where she finished fifth on both vault and bars. Navarro competed as an elite from 2013 to 2016. She made her elite debut at the 2013 Secret U.S. Classic where she finished 20th on balance beam. A year later, she finished sixth on uneven bars and ninth in the all-around. Navarro comes at the P&G championships as a junior in 2014 and as a senior in 2015 and 2016. She finished 11th in the all-around in 2014 and earned the bronze medal on balance beam.



Impact events: Balance beam and floor exercise

Catherine Rogers

Sandy, Utah
Trained at Epic Gymnastics and All American Gymnastics

Rogers is a three-time nationals qualifier and a five-time Region 1 qualifier. She finished eighth in the all-around and took bronze on both vault and balance beam at the 2017 Region 1 championships. She was the 2017 Utah state champion on vault and beam where she also won bronze on uneven bars and in the all-around. Rogers’ best performance at nationals came in 2015, when she took bronze on vault and in the all-around and finished sixth on beam. She was the all-around champion at both the regional and state championships in 2015 and was the Utah state all-around champion in 2013 as well. Rogers earned state event titles on vault, bars, and floor in 2015 and on bars and beam in 2013.



Impact events: Vault and balance beam

All other videos courtesy of USA Gymnastics


By Lauren Green