Courtney Walker’s confidence is back.
A year removed from suffering a serious ankle injury after an
awkward fall on a vault attempt Walker, a sophomore, returned to
form on Sunday as the Bruins defeated Cal, Cal State Fullerton and
Sacramento State.
“I was absolutely thrilled to see Courtney Walker come out
and make vault and floor the way she did,” said UCLA coach
Valorie Kondos Field, whose team bested second place Cal by nearly
six points. “Last year, at our first meet she crashed on
vault pretty badly and she was out pretty much the rest of the
season. Her confidence was shattered. To see her come out so
confident and so strong was absolutely the highlight of my season
so far.”
Walker, a last minute fill-in on vault for the injured Jordan
Schwikert, posted a strong 9.850 score, helping set the tone for
the rest of the meet for the Bruins. Walker would later post a
solid 9.875 on floor exercise, proving that she can indeed be a key
contributor this season.
“I’ve worked really hard and focused on every little
thing so nothing would be overwhelming,” Walker said.
The competition was anything but overwhelming for the Bruins
(3-1).
UCLA’s 197.150 was more than enough to defeat Cal’s
191.175, Sacramento State’s 190.375 and Fullerton’s
190.325. The victory also helped ease the sting of last
year’s upset loss to Fullerton.
Senior Kristen Maloney led the charge, tying her career-high
all-around point total of 39.750 and placing first in all events
but the floor exercise. In that event, she was second only to
teammate Tasha Schwikert, who posted a perfect 10.0. Maloney,
however, is not completely satisfied.
“There are always things that I can improve on, landing on
the vault, not getting so nervous on bars,” Maloney said.
Absent from the vault, beam and floor was freshman Jordan
Schwikert, who was originally scheduled to compete in all four
events. Schwikert, who did score an impressive 9.9 on bars, sported
a foot brace when not competing. She recently re-aggravated a
hyperextended toe that she suffered months ago, making it difficult
to walk on.
“She was walking into her beam mount,” Kondos Field
said. “She said through warm-ups it got worse and worse so we
pulled her out when the meet started.”
Senior Kate Richardson also turned in an impressive performance
on the beam, scoring a 9.875. The high score may not have been a
result of intense competition, but instead, the team’s
personal motivation.
“We concentrate on ourselves and the things we need to
improve on,” Maloney said of competing against three unranked
teams that were unable to put much pressure on the Bruins.
It was a strategy that seemed to work almost perfectly.