Jesse Williams, a senior at Saugus High School and a member of the Waller’s GymJam, signed a national letter of intent to join the Sacramento State women’s gymnastics team last week.

She is a decorated gymnast with state championships in the vault and floor. She was a Level 9 state champion on the vault and floor and finished third in the all-around portion of the meet.

“Jesse is powerful on vault and with her tumbling on floor,” Sacramento State women’s gymnastics coach Kim Hughes said in a release. “She also has very strong dance on floor which makes for a nice routine.”

Chris Waller, her coach at GymJam, said Williams has been a cornerstone of his team.

“She is remarkably determined, a dedicated perfectionist and extremely extroverted which contributes to her natural leadership ability,” Waller said. “Jesse is also exceedingly energetic and just plain fun. She expects that she will make a strong contribution to the character of Sac State gymnastics.”

Williams finished sixth on vault at the Level 10 regional meet in 2011. She was second on floor, fourth on bars and fifth in the all-around at the 2011 Level 10 state meet.

In 2010, she was seventh on the beam at the Level 10 regional meet. In the Level 10 state meet, Williams was second in the all-around and on vault and third on beam.

“In terms of her contributions on the score board, Jesse will likely compete in all four events (vault, bars, beam, floor) in her freshman year at Sac State,” Waller said. “Jesse will be the third GymJam athlete competing for Sac State in the 2012 competitive year. Kailey Hanson, a sophomore Hornet, has already been recognized by the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) as gymnastics specialist of the week in 2012.”

Williams was one of nine athletes from Saugus High who signed letters of intent on Feb. 1, national signing day.

Megan Dawe committed to play basketball at New York University, Katy Sonksen committed to the University of Indianapolis swim team, Justin Donatella will play baseball at UC San Diego, Sarah Blomgren will play volleyball at the University of South Carolina, Serena Smith-Banas will play soccer at Texas Christian University, Jaclyn Clark will play volleyball at San Francisco State, Jordan McCall will run cross country at Westmont College, Jessica McCall committed to SAn Diego State for cross country and Breea Bergara will play softball at Odessa College in Texas.

West Ranch’s Ashley Welker accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy to run cross country and compete on the track and field team.

Follow Tim Haddock on Twitter @thaddock.