AUBURN, Ala. “”mdash; A third consecutive NCAA Championship is
now just one step away for the UCLA gymnastics team. The Bruins,
who entered Thursday’s preliminary meet ranked No. 2 in the
nation, finished second in a field that was described as “the
deepest I have seen in my 27 years of coaching” by Alabama
coach Sarah Patterson.
With a score of 197.025, UCLA is headed for today’s Super
Six Finals and the opportunity to compete for what would be their
third consecutive national championship. The Bruins will be joined
by fellow evening session competitors Georgia, which scored a
197.350, and Alabama, which finished with a 197.0. Also advancing
to today’s finale are first session qualifiers Utah, Michigan
and Nebraska.
Leading the charge for the Bruins on Thursday was freshman Tasha
Schwikert, who won the all-around competition Thursday with a score
of 39.725, the highest since 1998.
“Tasha is a competitor,” UCLA coach Valorie Kondos
Field said. “I can’t help but think how fun it would be
to have 12 of her on my team.”
With the Bruins struggling to position themselves ahead of the
rest of the competition through two rotations, Schwikert took it
upon herself to inspire her team to a superior performance.
With several of her teammates unable to stick their landings on
the uneven bars, Schwikert finished her first routine with a 9.95,
noticeably livening her team, which before her contribution, seemed
uneasy.
The Bruins looked to senior Christie Tedmon to open the second
rotation on beam with a bang, but after two falls and a sub 9.0
score, UCLA was instead struck with a reality check.
“It shook the team up and switched them into championship
mode,” Kondos Field said of the two early falls. “They
realized that qualifying was not going to come easily.”
Once again, Schwikert took it upon herself to catapult the team.
After a 9.70 from freshman Lindsey Vanden Eykel and a 9.85 from
sister Jordan Schwikert, Tasha posted a 9.90, a score that senior
Kristen Maloney went on to better with her 9.95. UCLA suddenly
found itself in a second-place tie with Alabama at 98.475 after a
third-rotation bye.
Then came the floor exercise.
The Bruins dominated the fourth rotation behind a 9.80 from
Ashley Peckett, 9.85 from Jordan Schwikert, 9.9 from junior Kate
Richardson, and 9.95s from Tasha Schwikert and Maloney.
“We had no idea where we stood at that point,” Tasha
Schwikert said. “Floor has been one of our stronger events,
and that was definitely true tonight. I really think that my
teammates and I were ready to go out the last two events and show
everyone what we had.”
The Bruins, who went on to close out their second-place finish
with a 49.100 on vault in the fifth rotation, would never have
guessed it would have been so difficult to qualify.
“This meet gets harder and harder every year,”
Kondos Field said. “I think that this meet and the Regionals
are the two biggest nail-biters of the season.”
“We have never worked so hard in the first round of this
meet before,” Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan added. “We
used to treat it like an intrasquad meet, but those days are
over.”
The qualification was in large part thanks to the contributions
of not only Tasha Schwikert, but also Maloney. The senior gymnast,
despite an ankle injury and having to delay a portion of her
routine in order to allow coaches to move padding into place for
her dismount, and thus took a deduction, was still able to score a
39.625 in the all-around.
“Maloney is still a bit achy, but you’ll notice that
she doesn’t favor the ankle at all,” Kondos Field said.
“Of all the people on our team tonight, she has the best
chance of coming out tomorrow and competing even better.”
Looking at tomorrow’s final meet, Kondos Field sees only
one team that can beat her Bruins.
“Our competition is ourself,” Kondos Field said.