UCLA gymnastics fans held their collective breath as they saw
junior Christie Tedmon fall on her vault landing ““ the
Bruins’ first routine of the night.
But they cheered the rest of the way as UCLA took first place on
Thursday, the first day of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships at
Pauley Pavilion.
“It seems like the last few championships we’ve won,
we’ve started with a fall,” UCLA coach Valorie Kondos
Field said.
“So when (Tedmon) went down, I said, “˜It’s OK,
it’s natural, this is what we do.'”
But after Tedmon’s knees buckled, UCLA ended up topping
five other teams with a 197.675 cumulative score, advancing them to
today’s Super Six meet at 7 p.m.
The remaining five Bruins following Tedmon scored at least 9.8
each, capped off by senior Kristen Maloney’s 9.9 and
sophomore Kate Richardson’s 9.95.
By the end of the first rotation, UCLA was right in the thick of
things, trailing first-place Alabama by only .1 and tied with Utah
for second at 49.350.
UCLA asserted its dominance in the second rotation, which took
them to the uneven bars.
After senior Yvonne Tousek garnered a 9.875 for her bar
performance, the following three Bruins only showed better.
Richardson scored a 9.925, followed by a 9.950 from senior
Jeanette Antolin, and topped off by senior Jamie Dantzscher’s
9.975, the top bar score of the night.
“I didn’t think our team would do that well,”
Kondos Field said. “I was thrilled that (the team) created
its destiny.”
By the end of the second rotation, the Bruins held a 99.0-98.850
advantage over second-place Alabama.
UCLA found itself on the beam for its third rotation.
The Bruins put on a solid showing on the apparatus, led by
Tousek’s 9.875 and a 9.850 each from Antolin, Dantzscher and
Maloney.
By the time the third rotation had elapsed, UCLA (148.225) stood
in second place behind Alabama’s 148.300 and ahead of
Utah’s 147.650.
The Bruins finished their night off on the floor exercise, where
they’ve excelled all year.
This meet would be no different, as Tousek and Dantzscher both
scored 9.900s.
Antolin then electrified the crowd with her 9.950 showing, tying
Utah’s Melissa Vituj for meet-best en route to a 49.450 floor
score (a tie with Alabama for the top score).
Advancing with the Bruins to the Super Six from their evening
meet are Alabama and Utah, finishing second and third with
respective scores of 197.325 and 196.925.
Also in tonight’s final are Florida (196.850), Stanford
(196.850) and Georgia (196.775), which were the top three teams in
an afternoon preliminary meet.
“I’ve been very confident all week,” Kondos
Field said. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t
have made it to the Super Six.”
As for a prediction for the Super Six, Kondos Field was equally
confident.
“We’re going to go out and do the same things we did
(Thursday), and hopefully we’ll walk away with a national
championship.”