The Pac-10 Championship last weekend at Stanford proved the No. 7 Bruins are looking stronger than ever this season.
After the Bruins brought home a 14th Pac-10 trophy, all eight Bruins who competed at Stanford made the All-Pac-10 team only three days later. Among these honored gymnasts were freshmen Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and Vanessa Zamarripa, both earning first-team honors for the all-around. Hopfner-Hibbs was also selected as the top Pac-10 Gymnast this Year.
“It happened so fast,” Hopfner-Hibbs said. “They called my name and I ran up there fast. I didn’t know what it was at first and then I realized it was a pretty big deal. I was really excited about getting awarded. We have an amazing team and all work super hard at the gym together and have each other to push.”
Other acclaimed Bruins were senior Ariana Berlin (vault), junior Anna Li (uneven bars), freshman Aisha Gerber (balance beam), sophomore Niki Tom (balance beam) and sophomore Mizuki Sato (floor exercise) who all won first-team honors for individual events. The eighth gymnast was sophomore Brittani McCullough, who was a selection on vault for the second team.
The All-Pac-10 awards were especially significant for Sato, as this was her first Pac-10 award of her collegiate career.
“It’s a pretty honorable mention because it’s such a good group of gymnasts, and to be one of them was great,” Sato said. “It was a team effort, and we all went in to the Pac-10 Championship wanting to hit and knowing we could hit four events.”
The UCLA gymnastics program has had a significant impact on UCLA athletics over the years. Of the 103 NCAA Championship titles that UCLA has earned, five of them came under Kondos Field (1997, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004). Although there might not be another home meet this season, they believe it’s never too late to become a fan.
“Students should start coming to the meets next year,” Sato said. “It’s a lot of fun, and it’s something that you don’t see a lot. Usually when people come they get hooked right away because they’ve never seen the stuff we do.”
The Bruins hope to continue their success when they travel to Iowa City for the NCAA Regionals this weekend, where they will face No. 6 Florida, No. 18 Minnesota, No. 20 Denver, No. 23 Iowa State and No. 28 host Iowa.
“It’s very important to win, especially for nationals,” Sato said. “It’s not enough to be able to qualify. We’re out there to win every single meet we go into.”