Even with a flawless record, the UCLA gymnastics team knew its potential was much higher than it had shown this year.
The Bruins (10-0) displayed their great talent on Friday at the IGI Chicago Style Meet in Chicago, shattering their previous season-high score with a 196.875 and capturing first place in the quad meet.
Team members said their improvement was a result of competing with a more determined mind-set.
“We decided that we needed to get our mental game on,” sophomore Anna Li said. “We were practicing well and knew how to hit our routines, but we weren’t competing in the ways that we were practicing.”
Competing against Illinois, Stanford and Washington, the Bruins avoided many of the minor errors that have hindered them this year, and finished with the nation’s fourth-highest score this season.
“We had a great week of training and really changed our mind-set by realizing that we didn’t need to make all the mistakes we were doing,” senior Tasha Schwikert said. “We were much more mentally tough this meet and weren’t giving away little tenths of a point like we did in the past.”
Performing near her hometown of Aurora, Ill., for the first time as a Bruin, Li won the all-around with a career-high 39.6.
“It was the best meet I have ever competed in,” Li said. “We all went out and competed with our hearts, the energy was up, and the whole team just had a blast. I was also excited because I got to compete in front of a bunch of friends and family.”
In their first rotation, UCLA scored a season-high 49.325 in the uneven bars to give them a solid lead in the meet. Li had perfect form throughout her routine, capturing a career-high-tying 9.95, while Schwikert delivered a season-high 9.925.
Li and Schwikert continued their impressive performances with season-high scores of 9.925 and 9.95, respectively, on floor exercise to help the Bruins to a season-high 49.275. Schwikert finished close behind Li in the all-around with a 39.55, capturing third place for the meet.
“(Anna and I) are extremely close friends and both of our levels of competition are stepped up because of each other,” Schwikert said. “We are always competing in a positive way to do better than each other which makes it fun out there and raises our performances.”
The Bruins were able to draw some energy from the very enthusiastic crowd.
Even though many of the fans wanted Illinois to capture the victory, they were also supportive of the Bruins’ performances.
“The atmosphere was great because there were so many supporters and it was a really loud arena,” Schwikert said. “There was so much excitement from the fans, which really helped, and even the opposing fans cheered us on.”
Now that they have completed by far their best meet of the season, the Bruins know that having an excited attitude and competing as hard as they train are keys to success.
“We were mentally strong and knew we were going to hit our routines because we had been training extremely well, and we went out there and just did our best on every event,” Li said.