Bruins vault into first place
W. GYM:UCLA displays continued improvement in first home meet;
coach says they’re on correct path
By Christie DeBeau
Daily Bruin Contributor
It was another successful meet for the UCLA women’s gymnastics
team last Sunday as they competed in their first home meet of the
season. The 1997 defending champions placed first in their meet
against Arizona State University, University of Denver and
University of California at Santa Barbara with a total team score
of 193.150.
Although the Bruins earned a higher score at their first meet in
Georgia (194.025), the team did show improvement. The top four
gymnasts with the highest all-around scores were from the Bruin
team.
"I think that the team did better than they did last week,
although their scores did not reflect this," UCLA head coach
Valorie Kondos said. "California judges are notorious for being a
little more difficult in scoring competitions. I think we performed
a little bit more cleanly. I was glad to see Alexis Norman come
out; this meet was a Bruin debut for her."
While this meet was not her first for UCLA, fellow freshman
Mohini Bhardwaj ranked number two in the meet for her all-around
score, placing slightly behind UCLA veteran Kiralee Hayashi.
Bhardwaj received the highest scores on floor exercises and on
vault, where she set a personal record of a 9.800.
"Mohini did a better job this week than last week, which is hard
to ask of a freshman, so I think that we are on the right path,"
Kondos said. "We still have some areas to improve on but that is
the way we like it to go."
For Bhardwaj, college-level competition is less pressure than
club level and performing for UCLA is more enjoyable.
"It is a totally different atmosphere competing at the college
level," Bahardwaj said. "During the meet it is so much more laid
back and more fun.
"Club level is really intense and everyone just concentrates on
their own thing. No one talks to each other or watches anybody
else. In college it is such a team thing. It is not only you out
there on the floor, your team is there with you."
The team that came in second to UCLA in Nationals last year and
in Sunday’s meet was ASU (191.175), followed by Denver and UCSB.
The Sun Devils came up short on the vault but still managed to stay
close to the Bruins’ lead.
"When you go against the national champions, it is nice just to
stay in there and see how the team is doing," ASU head coach John
Spini said. "I think that Valorie did a great job with UCLA and to
come out and see how she is coaching them and how they are coming
along is great for our sport."
DERRICK KUDO
Luisa Porocarrero performs on the beam in Sunday’s four-school
meet.