W. gym fights wobbles to win team competition at Gilda Marx
Invite
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Staff
Head coach Valorie Kondos said it would take more than the magic
of Pauley for the No. 19 UCLA women’s gymnastics team to hit
Saturday at the annual UCLA/Gilda Marx Invitational. But there must
have been something working for the Bruins, as they swept the
individual event finals, and beat No. 6 Arizona (191.525) and No. 9
BYU (193.800) to win the team competition with a 194.225 in front
of 4,048 fans.
The team score bettered UCLA’s best score this year by almost
two points, in what the Bruins hope will be the end of the
frustration of the last few weeks and the start of the consistency
which propelled last year’s team to fourth in the nation.
"They fought for everything," Kondos said. "And it wasn’t a
magical evening at all – it was actually an off evening for Leah
Homma, and Dee Fischer was hot and cold, but they didn’t give
anything away, and that’s what we’ve been missing this year."
The Bruins started the afternoon on vault, which was their
nemesis two weeks ago when they counted three falls against
Arizona. This time the Bruins were solid, counting no major errors,
with Fischer’s score of 9.85 eventually winning the event.
On uneven bars the Bruins faltered briefly, with Fischer falling
on both of her release moves, and Homma falling on a Jaeger release
move. But the falls were contrasted with a good routine by Kiralee
Hayashi (9.825 for second place) and Stella Umeh’s routine, which
included two release moves and a double-tuck dismount which she
stuck (9.850 to win the event).
The Bruins began the third event only .05 behind first place,
and if there was a moment of uneasiness it would have been before
the beam, the event in which the Bruins had four falls in their
last competition. This time the Bruins had two falls, once when
Hayashi wobbled off on her back handspring layout tumbling pass,
and again as Umeh fell off on her layout step out mount.
But, performing for the first time as a Bruin, Louisa
Porrtocarrero displayed amazing back flexibility for a 9.750. And
Corinne Chee tumbled a back handspring, layout, back handspring to
win the event with a 9.850.
The meet was sealed for UCLA on floor, where Amy Smith rebounded
from a vault when she landed on her head, to tumble well for a
9.725. Hayashi tumbled a whip to a double tuck first pass for a
9.775. Homma came back from a fall on bars and shaky beam routine
for a 9.775. And Umeh competed a near-flawless double layout, whip,
to immediate double back, and two-and-a-half twist for a 9.950 –
her second event title of the evening – and what would be a
third-place finish in the all-around.
"We were ready tonight," Chee said. "We didn’t have a perfect
meet by far; we counted two falls and had a lot of wobbles, but
everybody fought for everything. It’s a great feeling."
The major thing missing for the Bruins was a steady all-around
performance, with all three of UCLA’s all-arounders, Umeh, Hayashi
and the usually rock-solid Homma, falling on one event. The field
became wide open when Arizona’s nationally ranked all-arounder
Heidi Hornbeek fell twice on the beam, allowing BYU’s Angela
Gunneland to sneak into the championship with a 39.00.
"People asked me before the meet how I thought we were going to
do," Kondos said. "I had no clue; I had no idea. Seeing that fire
come out of them – I feel this is more the start of (momentum) than
anything else that has happened this year."
JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
With a score of 9.85 on vault, Dee Fisher won the event.
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