At the end of the senior meet against Stanford in early March, UCLA gymnastics’ three seniors received farewell cards from their teammates in a warm special presentation. On each card were the signed names of the whole team and a silhouette of the graduating athlete drawn by freshman Sonya Meraz.
Having enjoyed drawing since she was little, Meraz said she is good at drawing animals, especially cats. She took a few drawing classes in high school, but now she mainly does it for fun, updating her Instagram with her recent work. Meraz said she finds parallels between her hobby and gymnastics.
“I have my music on and it’s blasting, I get in the zone for drawing. And I’m just focusing on what I’m doing,” Meraz said. “I think gymnastics is kind of the same. You get into that zone, and you’re just focusing on the little details and what you need to do to make it happen, to make it work, so you can make it good.”
Meraz is certainly able to bring that focus to the balance beam in gymnastics, her favorite apparatus where she said she feels most confident and solid. She has been leading off the Bruins’ rotation on beam for a few meets this season.
“One of the most important roles on a team is the first person up on beam because they dictate the energy of everybody else,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field. “Her demeanor is just (so that) they know they can trust her to go up and be calm and confident. And that helps them be at their best.”
Such a huge responsibility didn’t come easily for the freshman. It took Meraz three exhibition routines before she found her name on the official beam lineup.
When Meraz first came to UCLA as a walk-on, she had no idea whether she was going to be a big part of Kondos Field’s plan or not. The exhibition routines became a nerve-wracking experience for Meraz as she tried to prove that she was good enough to be in the lineup and contribute to the team’s score.
Despite Meraz’s uncertainty, the work she puts in at practice is recognized by teammates and coaches alike.
“She is one of the most hardworking girls on our team,” said redshirt senior Samantha Peszek. “It’s really cool to see how much she’s improved this year and that her potential is far beyond what she came in with.”
Kondos Field said that for the 32 years she has been coaching the Bruins, Meraz is one of the few freshmen who actually got into better physical condition than when she came in. She attributed Meraz’s outstanding improvement to the freshman’s willingness to take on challenges.
“She loves challenges from the gym. She loves the challenge in school. Those are exactly the type of people I like to recruit,” Kondos Field said. “People that look at life as one big adventure and let’s do the best of our ability in every single thing we do. She lives that philosophy without having to be coached up for it.”
One of the challenges was Meraz’s old habit of splitting her legs when they should be perfectly together during vault and beam dismounts. Kondos Field said it was a difficult habit to change since Meraz had probably been doing it for ten years, but the fact that she has improved on the issue in her first year makes her an exciting athlete to coach.
With the progress she made, Meraz began to earn her place in lineups for several events one by one. Even though it meant that her scores would be posted to the team sheet, along with any small mistakes, Meraz said she actually felt calmer when she competed in the official lineup.
Before the Washington meet in early February, Kondos Field told Meraz that she was going to compete in all four events. Although Meraz did all-around in club gymnastics due to its individual-oriented nature, and won the 2013 Junior Olympic National Invitational Tournament, the news still came as a surprise to the 2012 Level 10 State all-around champion.
“I was just really happy and grateful that (Kondos Field) trusted me to do all four events that meet,”
As Bruins’ sole all-around competitor that night, Meraz won the meet with a total score of 39.025.
With Peszek leaving after this season, the responsibility of competing in all-around seems to fall on Meraz’s shoulders. However, Kondos Field said she doesn’t like to think this way.
“I’m not looking to replace Sam,” Kondos Field said. “I’m looking for Sonya to be the best Sonya she can be.”
This weekend, UCLA gymnastics will compete in the NCAA finals in Fort Worth, Texas. While Meraz prepares for her first national championships, Peszek will take part in the competition one last time. However, Peszek said she looks forward to Meraz’s future with the Bruins.
“This was a great year for her to break the ice and next year, she’s gonna be even more polished, even more comfortable, even more confident,” Peszek said. “So it’s gonna be really cool to follow her the next three years that she’s on the team.”