Following a season clouded by injuries and darkened by a
disappointing regular-season finish, the UCLA gymnastics team just
may have found its silver lining.
Senior Kate Richardson, sophomore Tasha Schwikert and freshman
Kristina Comforte will compete tomorrow at the individual
championships in Corvallis, Ore., giving the team something to
cheer about after failing to qualify for the NCAA Championships for
the first time since 1991.
Despite all the distractions that could have sidetracked the
three athletes, they are focused on the championships and on
representing a successful UCLA program, albeit in an injury-riddled
season.
“One reason that they’re here is because they love
to compete, and they’re gamers,” coach Valorie Kondos
Field said. “We’re on a mission to bring home as many
medals as we can.”
However, the gymnasts will be in unfamiliar territory, as they
will have to compete against each other. Schwikert is the defending
all-around national champion but will only compete as a vault
specialist. Richardson won three championships as a freshman in
2003.
But the competition between Richardson and Comforte for the
all-around is cordial at its harshest. The Bruin teammates even
said jokingly that they would finish 1-2 in the all-around, with
Comforte bowing to Richardson’s seniority.
“I don’t really see it as competing against
them,” Comforte said. “We’re just pulling for
each other.”
Simply making it through the season, let alone advancing to the
NCAA Championships, was a milestone that neither Richardson nor
Schwikert were sure they would reach. Richardson fractured her
tibia and strained her triceps this season, while Schwikert
underwent shoulder surgery. Neither player escaped the injury bug
for UCLA.
Richardson, in her last year at UCLA, will be trying to finish
her championship career fittingly.
Because of the wear and tear of this season, the squad had to
rely on freshman performances and was forced to use many different
lineups, Kondos Field said.
“We just didn’t get going this year,” Kondos
Field said. “We could never catch a break. I’ve been at
UCLA for 23 years and never experienced a season like this. But it
truly has been one of the most rewarding years ““ they never
once felt sorry for themselves or gave up.”
Kondos Field also said that one positive result of the injuries
is that they provided experience for gymnasts who may not have
competed otherwise.
Richardson, a 2004 Olympian, is the only senior on the 13-person
team, meaning that barring serious injuries, the Bruins of 2007
will be back in the championship hunt. “We’re going to
be extremely powerful and seasoned as a team next year,”
Kondos Field said.
And for Schwikert and Comforte, a little momentum, starting
tomorrow, couldn’t hurt.