Monday, March 3, 1997
W.GYM:
Squad demonstrates readiness to advance to Pacific 10 Conference
championshipsBy Lisa Quon
Daily Bruin Contributor
At the Bruin Classic on Sunday, the UCLA women’s gymnastics team
gave performances full of emotion and feeling.
The Bruins outscored Cal State Fullerton, Washington and Boise
State to prove that they are ready to compete at the next level,
the upcoming Pacific 10 Conference championships in Arizona.
Entering the competition, the 10th-ranked Washington Huskies
appeared to be the biggest threat to UCLA. However, the
eighth-ranked Bruins scored a 195.225 to Washington’s 194.225,
putting to rest any doubts about who the best team in the Pac-10
is.
It was a rough day for some of UCLA’s gymnasts, as sophomore
Kiralee Hayashi had uncharacteristic falls on both bars and beam,
and junior Stella Umeh had a fall on beam.
Although no Bruin gymnast won a place in the all-around, many
individual performances were spectacular.
"Despite the falls, we performed so much better here today than
last week at Florida." UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos said. "Falls
aren’t always negative because they are a sign that we are
competing our hardest."
The Bruins swept the uneven bars, with first place Leah Homma
scoring a 9.925, Lena Degteva in second with a 9.9, and Stella Umeh
in third with a 9.875. UCLA also fared well on beam, with sophomore
Luisa Portocarrero, who was an All-American on beam last year,
scoring a 9.9 to win first place, and Homma at second with a
9.85.
UCLA gymnasts are known especially for their entertaining and
expressive floor exercises, and today was no exception. In near
perfect performances, Lena Degteva and Stella Umeh tied for second
place with 9.8 scores.
Seniors Amy Smith, Homma, Anne Dixon, and junior Carmen Tausend
were honored in the last home meet of their career.
"It made me sad to compete for the last time in Pauley
Pavilion," Amy Smith said. "But I’ll take with me absolutely
wonderful memories."
"Though the meet was shaky, I made the most out of my last home
performance," Homma added. "My four years here went by so
fast."
Homma’s perfect 10 on vault and 9.95 scores on bars and beam
last week at the Magical Classic earned her Pac-10 gymnast of the
week honors.
For freshman Lena Degteva, this meet merely marked the end of
her first year in what promises to be a productive career competing
for UCLA.
"I love competing for the Bruins at the college level, this is
so much more fun than the club gymnastics I’m used to." Degteva
said.
In preparing for next week’s invitational at Oregon State and
the upcoming Pac-10 championships, there are no major changes that
the team can foresee being made.
"Our main concern is just to stay healthy," assistant coach
Anthony Calderon said. "Hopefully this will be our championship
season."