W. gymnastics falls into second placeBy Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Staff
It was a disappointing evening for the UCLA women’s gymnastics
team Saturday night, as the Bruins dropped their second meet of the
year, this time to Arizona 192.6-191.35, just barely edging third
place Stanford (191.05).
The Bruins’ shaky performance, which included three falls on
vault and four on beam, was strengthened only by Leah Homma’s
all-around championship of 39.225. While Homma has quickly
established herself this season as UCLA’s most consistent gymnast,
the rest of the Bruin squad has taken a Jekyll and Hyde
personality.
"It was a big, big, big wake-up call," UCLA head coach Valorie
Kondos said. "Up until now (the team) thought it would all just
come together eventually. But I think they learned that you can’t
just rely on Stella (Umeh) and Leah every meet."
UCLA started out successfully on bars, hitting all routines for
the first time this season. The Bruins then faltered on vault,
which has traditionally been their strongest event, and on which
they are ranked fifth in the nation. Dee Fischer, Andrea Fong and
Kiralee Hayashi all sat down both vaults, a discouraging statistic,
considering two chances are given and only one score can be thrown
out.
The Bruins rallied briefly on floor, led by Homma who
successfully competed her first front tumbling pass of front layout
punch for a 9.85.
But they were unable to maintain the momentum into the last
event: the balance beam. Competing beam last is traditionally
unnerving for gymnasts, but Saturday night’s performances seemed to
have been competed during an earthquake.
Arizona had three falls, UCLA four and Stanford five, which
oddly enough, seemed to determine the results of the team
competition.
"The gymnasts didn’t fall apart on beam," Kondos said. "The
event just got the best of them. They wanted so badly to do well on
beam, they weren’t focusing on each move."
Homma put in another good performance with a 9.80 and Hayashi
bounced back from a double fall on beam last weekend in Boise for a
solid 9.70.
"Kiralee was more consistent Saturday night," Kondos said. "She
was saying that the first few meets, she was overwhelmed by the
talent she was competing with, and didn’t realize the
responsibility she had to the team until this meet. I think she’s
starting to understand her potential, that she and Stella and Leah
are our 1-2-3-punch in the all-around."
The Bruins will now have a two- week hiatus before the UCLA
invitational, which Kondos has consistently emphasized must be the
turning point in the season for the Bruins, especially if they hope
to build momentum for the national championships in April.