Wednesday, January 22, 1997
W. GYMNASTICS:
Brilliant performance by Hayashi proves key for BruinsBy Lisa
Quon
Daily Bruin Contributor
Last Friday, the UCLA women’s gymnastics team traveled to Palo
Alto to face preseason No. 11 Stanford in their first Pacific 10
meet of the season. The Bruins easily defeated the Cardinal 195.625
to 193.225 and improved to 2-1 for the season.
Sophomore Kiralee Hayashi came through for the Bruins, finishing
second in the all-around to Stanford’s Keri Monahan. Hayashi
finished first on the floor exercises with a career-high 9.925. She
also gave a steady performance on beam, earning a 9.825.
"Doing well in all-around was a real achievement for me,"
Hayashi said. "The last two meets I fell on bars, so this time
after I got through the routine without falling, I felt really
confident."
The Bruins hope Hayashi can remain a steady all-around
competitor for them throughout the season.
Also turning in high scores for UCLA were: senior Leah Homma,
with a 9.85 on beam; senior Amy Smith, scoring a 9.9 on floor; and
freshman Heidi Moneymaker, turning in a 9.9 on vault.
UCLA’s easy victory was due in part to Stanford’s poor
performance on beam, with three of its six competitors falling and
scoring under 9.0. This gave the Bruins over a three-point lead
after the third rotation. In the final rotation, Stanford could
only make up about one point of the difference on floor, and UCLA
won an easy match.
"I’m very happy with the team’s performance; we came in strong
on three events," assistant coach Mark Cook said. "We really
trimmed the Stanford tree."
Though the gymnastics team suffered a loss last week to the
Georgia Bulldogs, they feel their performance has been excellent
throughout the early season.
"We’ve been steady and consistent (considering it’s) so early in
the season," senior Leah Homma said. "But we’re still dealing with
falls that will hopefully diminish as the season goes on."
This Friday, the Bruins will travel to Tempe to take on Arizona
State. Though they do not appear to be a formidable opponent at
this time, assistant coach Cook said, "We hope to use this meet to
focus more on our own development and progress toward a national
championship."