After a steady and prolonged slip down the NCAA rankings, the
Bruins appear to have finally stepped on the breaks.
The No. 7 UCLA gymnastics team, which opened the season ranked
first, ended its skid with wins over Cal State Fullerton and
Washington over the weekend.
“I had a lot of talks with the team and they had some
talks among themselves,” Coach Valorie Kondos Field said.
“Our whole week of training has been different than it was
all season. It was great to see them carry it over into the meet on
Friday.”
The Bruins had a season-low score with their 191.4-189.25 win
over the Titans, which can be attributed to Kondos Field’s
decision to use her B-team.
Sophomore Courtney Walker, who competed in the all-around for
the first time in her UCLA career, won the meet with a score of
38.15.
“I’m really shocked, but it’s given me a lot
of confidence for the future,” Walker said.
The Bruins continued the comeback as they returned to Pauley
Pavilion on Sunday. With the A-team back in action, the Bruins
defeated Washington 196.575-192.6.
Junior Kate Richardson led the charge by winning the vault, bars
and overall competiton. Also encouraging was the fact that the
Bruins, who have been marred by falls in previous meets, did not
have to count a fall on Sunday. And though their weakest point this
season has been the floor routine, they scored a solid 49.475 on
the floor Sunday, a result of what Richardson attributes to being
more relaxed.
“We were too uptight in the previous weeks and we had to
get more comfortble out there,” Richardson said. “We
went out there and acted like dorks because that’s what we do
when we’re training.”
Despite feeling more comfortable with its current position, many
appeared puzzled with the scores given in the two meets.
During the Washington meet, judges gave what seemed to be a
particularly strong vault from freshman Tasha Schwikert a
relatively low score of 9.75. Later, after Husky Carly
Dockendorf’s near-perfect bar routine was given a 9.775, it
produced more mumblings from the coaches and crowd.
After Schwikert’s score was announced, Kondos Field paced
about the sideline asking members of the press and assistant
coaches if that was right.
The puzzling scores from Sunday’s first rotation and the
Bruins’ overall score from Friday seem to suggest a new
scoring regime has been instituted.
“Friday was very tight,” Kondos Field said.
“Last year, the coaches asked the judges to take more
execution deductions, so this is something we brought upon
ourselves. But I think that when an athlete comes out and does an
exceptional job, there is no reason for them not to get the 9.95 or
the 10.0. I think we had a few of those (instances)
tonight.”