Gymnastics revs up for UCLA Invite
Former Olympian joins Bruins Saturday vs. Stanford, Wildcats
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Staff
The No. 7 UCLA women’s gymnastics team will be going all out
Saturday in a triangular meet at the University of Arizona against
Stanford and No. 10 Arizona, the last meet before the UCLA
Invitational.
And the Bruins may get a little help from a former Olympian,
Guatemalan Louisa Portocarrero.
Portocarrero, who competed in the 1991-1994 world championships
and placed 18th in the all-around at the 1992 Olympics, was cleared
yesterday to compete for the Bruins. She has trained inconsistently
in the last couple of weeks because of the clearing process, but
may compete on the beam, an event in which she has a move named
after her, in her first collegiate competition.
"(Louisa) has tremendous talent," UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos
said. "You can tell she’s a great competitor by the way she trains.
When you look at what Stella Umeh and Leah Homma have done for this
team, you realize that athletes who’ve competed internationally
have a dimension and a focus which you can’t coach."
If Portocarrero competes tomorrow, it will be the first time in
recent memory that she will be representing a team, after years of
being the sole representative of Guatemala.
"This is the first time I’ve really enjoyed gymnastics for
myself," Portocarrero said. "I was training by myself, but I felt I
had some responsibility for Guatemala. Now I finally am training
with a team."
The Bruins are slightly favored over the Wildcats and the
unranked Cardinal, after winning last weekend’s meet against Boise
State (192.325-191.050), at least on paper.
This week’s national rankings has Umeh and Homma tied for top
ranking on balance beam with University of Florida’s Kristen Guise.
Homma is also ranked second in the country on uneven bars and third
in the all-around.
The two-week hiatus between tomorrow’s competition and the UCLA
Invite will permit Kondos to compete several chronically injured
gymnasts who will have time to rest afterwards. Umeh will probably
compete all-around, and Homma, nursing a sore ankle, may compete on
floor, as will Amy Smith for the first time this season.
"We will take a few more risks this weekend," Kondos said. "But
Arizona has a hard floor, and if the gymnasts with rotten ankles
realize it will do them more harm than good, we won’t have them
compete it."
The Wildcats are coached by Jim Gault, four-time Pacific 10
Coach of the Year. Leading Arizona’s roster is Becky Bowers, who
has scored a perfect 10.0 on the uneven bars in her career, but has
yet to break into the national rankings this season.Comments to
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