When Samantha Peszek walked towards the balance beam on Sunday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas, the redshirt senior knew it was her last chance to perform on her favorite apparatus in front of a crowd.
“I knew it was gonna be the last day of gymnastics whether I did amazing or I did horrible,” Peszek said. “I just kind of threw all that pressure away and tried to enjoy the sport.”
She ended up winning her second NCAA beam championship with a career-best 9.950 performance that ESPN commentators described as “phenomenal.”
“She’s the quintessential athlete, and she leaves nothing to chance,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field. “She prepares 100 percent to the best of her ability – mentally, physically and emotionally.”
Kondos Field said Peszek completed a tough full twist on beam that nobody else in the country attempted.
“It was great to see her compete on beam today,” Kondos Field said. “She brought the whole house to their feet for her.”
Peszek claimed the national all-around title in Friday’s team semifinal as well, tying at No. 1 with Florida’s Kytra Hunter with a score of 39.600.
However, the redshirt senior’s performance wasn’t enough to lead her team into the Super Six team final on Saturday. The Bruins placed sixth in the first semifinal session, and 11th overall, with a total of 196.400 which is below the team’s average performance level for the season.
It went wrong from the very start of the competition. The Bruins scored an unusually low 48.950 in their first rotation on floor.
“We had a little bit too much energy and had two of our student athletes go out of bounds. And I think the team was just stunned that that happened, because we were so incredibly prepared,” Kondos Field said. “That’s often what the coaches worry about on floor, is that you got all this energy starting the event and going on the podium for the first time. “
Junior Danusia Francis said she thought some of her teammates just got a bit overwhelmed in the first rotation, but there was still hope after their floor performance.
“Obviously there were three more events, so we definitely were still in the game at that point,” Francis said. “So the coaches were just like, ‘try to go out and we know we can do this.’”
Moving quickly to the next rotation on vault, the Bruins still couldn’t recover from their shock. They scored a season-low of 49.000 on their best event this season, with only Peszek and graduate student Jordan Williams sticking their landings.
“I think they felt a bit tight on vault, trying to be too perfect, trying to make up the points they gave away on floor,” Kondos Field said.
After another unsatisfying rotation on vault, Kondos Field said the team got the opportunity to shake it off and regroup in the following bye session. But by that time, UCLA’s chances at a national title were out of reach. The Bruins finished their final two rotations on bars and beam with performances that lived up to their regular-season precedents, but did not have enough to make up for their initial stumbles on the floor and vault.
“Unlike other sports, you can’t rally at the end. Gymnastics is not like that, once you dig a hole, you gotta ride it out and see if another team makes a mistake. It’s no longer in your hands,” Kondos Field said. “So that was hard. It was very sad because I believe that this team absolutely deserves to compete in the national championships on Saturday.”