This weekend, UCLA gymnastics justified their claim to the No. 2 ranking in the sport.
The Bruins picked up their second win in two days on Sunday over the California Golden Bears 197.125-190.575. On Friday, UCLA defeated Cal State Fullerton 196.6-193.875.
In finishing Sunday’s meet with a score of 197.125, the Bruins finally attained their goal of scoring higher than 197.
Coach Valorie Kondos Field could not have been more satisfied.
“I feel awesome,” Kondos Field said, “because we have gotten better every single meet, we’re still not hitting our potential. It’s great that the girls are able to take what they do in practice and transfer it to meets. As they get more comfortable, their scores can get higher.”
Senior Ariana Berlin set the tone for Sunday’s meet by performing her first vault of the season and the first vault of the meet, scoring a 9.775. Berlin only competed in one event against Fullerton because she was nursing an injury, along with Anna Li and Brittani McCullough, but was back in full swing against Cal competing in three out of the four events and previewing a cheeky floor routine in exhibition.
“It was just nice to be back,” Berlin said. “This is what I do. I perform.”
The injured players were back to their best, with McCullough scoring a 9.825 on the vault and a 9.925 on the bars. Li fell on both the bars and the beam but still racked up respectable scores of 9.450 and 9.425, respectively.
The highlight of the meet was freshman Aisha Gerber who beat two career-high marks in individual events, with a 9.925 on the bars and a 9.875 on the floor routine, to capture her third career-high mark of the meet, the all-around title with a score of 39.550.
“Coming in today, it was all about the team and keeping my personal energy up for the team. My routines are for the team, and I’m really happy with the way it all turned out,” Gerber said.
Gerber not only shattered her career-highs, but also tied with Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs to win the beam with a 9.9. The freshmen continued to rack up wins as Zamarripa won the vault with a 9.9 and the bars with a 9.95. On Friday, Zamarripa pulled off a perfect 10 on the vault.
“There is a lot of pressure put on the freshmen,” Field said. “Before they get to college, they may compete in about six meets a year, and here they’ve competed in three events in the last eight days. So I think it’s awesome to see the freshmen step up.”
It seems the freshmen are adapting well to the grueling schedule of college gymnastics, but they still note that changes can be made.
“There were a lot of good things and some things that needed improvement,” Hopfner-Hibbs said. “But I’m happy I’m not at my best right now because it leaves room for improvement, and I think that by the time nationals comes around, we’ll be perfect.”