Gymnasts open season with wins at Cancun

CANCUN, Mexico — The Stanford women's gymnastics team opened its season at the Cancun Classic on Friday with solid victories over three schools that advanced to the NCAA postseason in 2008.

The Cardinal, ranked No. 5 in the national preseason coaches poll, scored 195.600 points to beat No. 9 Oregon State (194.575), No. 14 Denver (189.125) and unranked BYU (189.125) in the four-team evening session.

Coach Kristen Smyth, beginning her eighth season at Stanford, felt the team's performance on the balance beam was the highlight of the meet. Allyse Ishino, in her first competition since injuring her knee at the Pac-10 Conference championships in March, set the tone by helping the team refocus after a teammate's miss.