As far as endings to their careers, it was a perfect 10. For
seniors Jeanette Antolin, Jamie Dantzscher and Yvonne Tousek, there
could not have been a better way to cap off their time at UCLA. The
trio won their third NCAA national championship in front of the
largest home crowd of their careers. “It was crazy. I started
crying,” Dantzscher said. “It’s definitely been a
hard year, but this was a perfect way to end it. To win another
national championship at home, it means the world to me.” The
three made sure of the happy ending with some of their best
performances. Antolin, one of three Bruins competing in all four
events, did not score lower than 9.9 in any event. Her best came in
the vault, where she posted a nearly flawless composite score of
9.975, with two judges giving her 10s. It was the best vault score
of the day. Antolin and teammate Kristin Maloney tied for the
highest all-around score of the day. “I couldn’t have
asked for anything more as a senior,” Antolin said.
“Having the seniors put it down like they did is just
amazing.” Dantzscher, competing in the bars and floor, had
the day’s high score on the bars with a 9.950 and turned in a
9.9 on the floor. Tousek collected 9.9s in the beam and floor, and
a 9.8 on the bars. The week before, the seniors had a meeting to
discuss readying themselves for the finish line. However, they made
sure they first took care of business. “All the seniors
talked about getting ready to be done,” Dantzscher said.
“But we came to realize that we had a job to do and the
national championship meant more to us than anything.”
UTAH FALLS: The Utes, entering the
championships ranked third, finished last in the Super Six for the
second-straight year. They were done in from the very beginning, as
Dominique D’Oliveira and Veronique LeClerc both fell in the
opening rotation on the bars. Utah never recovered, finishing over
a full point behind fifth-place Florida.
NOTES: Antolin and Kate Richardson shared the
high score for the beam with 9.950 … In the only event with
non-Bruins at the top of the leaderboard, Richardson,
Alabama’s Ashley Miles and Georgia’s Chelsa Byrd all
scored 9.950 on the floor exercise … Alabama’s Jeana Rice
was the top overall non-Bruin, finishing third.