The UCLA gymnastics team gathered in the locker room Saturday evening, following a second-place finish in the NCAA Southeast Regional championships in Gainesville, Fla., that earned the Bruins a spot in their 24th NCAA Championships.
During the meeting, each member of the team stood up and talked about what she needed to do for the team to win an NCAA title.
“It was really inspirational for me to see them each talk about what they needed to do in our four days left of training to win a championship,” coach Valorie Kondos Field said.
The team’s determination to win is not surprising, especially given the numerous injuries it has had to battle through just to earn a chance to compete in the NCAA Championship in Athens, Ga.
Coming into regionals, the Bruins knew moving on would not be easy. Three of the top six teams from 2007 were competing in the same regional for only two available national championship slots. Along with UCLA, the other two were eventual regional winner Florida and third-place finisher Nebraska.
The meet got off to a good start for the Bruins on uneven bars, where the team is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation. Junior Kristina Comforte and sophomore Anna Li led the way with scores of 9.9 and 9.95, respectively, as the Bruins stuck five straight dismounts for a score of 49.375. The score put some early distance between them and Nebraska, which scored a 49.1 on vault.
The team’s next rotation was the balance beam. Junior Ariana Berlin led off with a fall, her first on the beam all year.
“Ariana made an uncharacteristic mistake on the beam and I got the girls together and told them this is where we see what you’re made of,” Kondos Field said. “Niki Tom was up next and she hit her beam and we hit the rest after that.”
The Bruins were able to recover for a 49.1 on beam, led by Comforte’s score of 9.875 and senior Tasha Schwikert’s score of 9.85.
“After the fall, the team was a little bit more focused because we knew we had to hit our routines,” Schwikert said.
The Bruins’ third rotation was the floor exercise where, led by Li’s 9.825, the team scored a 48.875, giving it a .5 lead for second place over Nebraska.
In the final rotation, the vault, Schwikert led the way with a 9.925 as the Bruins put up a 49.275, giving the team a total score of 196.625, enough for second place and a spot in the national championships.
“Our goal (Saturday) was to go in and be consistent and we were throughout the meet,” Schwikert said. “Sometimes during the year we would do well in the first two events and then falter near the end, but not today.”
Kondos Field was impressed with her team’s consistent focus.
“I think the most important thing today was that the team maintained their intensity throughout the meet and never let up,” she said. “We focused on landings in training and we were really able to stick our landings today.”
But, as evidenced by their post-regional team meeting, the Bruins are clearly not satisfied with just qualifying for the NCAAs.
“They believe in themselves and they believe that they can win a championship,” Kondos Field said.
The team will be back training again next week and will try something new in practice as they prepare for the pressure of the nationals.
“In training next week, we are going to train like it’s a meet, so we have the added pressure and we are prepared for it,” Schwikert said.
Despite that added precaution, Kondos Field does not expect nerves to be a problem for her team.
“They do not get nervous at all,” Kondos Field said. “You can get in their face and tell them they really need to hit a routine and they will respond and hit the routine.”
While nerves may not be a factor, the competition will still be fierce for the Bruins. Competing against UCLA in Athens will be No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Utah, and No. 3 Florida.
“We are pumped to head into nationals and show the other teams what we’re made of,” Schwikert said. “This was my last NCAA regional and coming up on my last few weeks of gymnastics ““ something I have been doing for 20 years. I’ll be trying to make the best of it.”