Monday, March 31, 1997
W. GYMNASTICS:
UCLA wins narrowly, led by all-around winner HommaBy Mark
Dittmer
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCLA is once again the Pac-10 champion. After finishing a
disappointing fourth in last season’s Pac-10 championships, UCLA
regained the conference title with its performance on March 23 in
Tucson.
The Bruins’ overall score of 196.550 was enough to edge Stanford
by two tenths of a point. Washington finished third with a final
score of 196.025.
Leah Homma led the Bruins, winning the individual all-around
with a score of 39.725 including a perfect 10 on the bars, the only
perfect score of the championships. Homma also tied the second-best
scores of the day on both the vault and the beam, scoring 9.925 on
both events.
Tiffany Simpson of Washington finished second on the all-around
with a score of 39.625. Two other UCLA players participated in all
events: Deborah Mink scored 39.325 points, good for seventh place,
and Kiralee Hayashi’s score of 39.225 earned her an 11th-place
finish.
UCLA also got impressive efforts from other gymnasts who only
performed in three or less of the four events.
Amy Smith tied for first overall in the floor exercise with a
9.9 and she scored a 9.825 on the vault. Stella Umeh tied for
second in the bars  the only event she competed in at the
Pac-10s  with a 9.975. She finished behind only teammate
Homma in the event.
Last year at the Pac-10s, UCLA suffered three falls on beam in
the first rotation. Their fourth-place finish last year was their
worst ever.
But what hurt the Bruins worst last year was their salvation
this year. In fact, this year the beam was the only event UCLA won
outright; they finished with a score of 49.275 on the beam. After
Homma’s 9.925 on the beam, Hayashi earned a 9.9, Lena Degetva and
Mink scored 9.85s, and Susie Erickson scored 9.75 in her only event
of the day.