One of UCLA’s most important gymnasts is back on top of
her game. Kate Richardson served notice Thursday night at Pauley
Pavilion that this Bruin squad is in full force. Richardson
overcame the nerves that had rattled her past two performances to
quash all doubts about her ability in tense situations. “I
had been putting too much pressure on myself,” Richardson
said. “I was stressed out, and that’s what we
emphasized before the meet ““ to relax and enjoy
ourselves.” Richardson, one of three Bruins competing in all
four events, certainly looked relaxed from the get-go. On
UCLA’s first rotation, she nailed the vault, receiving the
team’s highest score, at 9.950. The score tied her for first
in the evening session with LSU’s April Burkholder and
Utah’s Annabeth Eberle. “The vault was awesome,”
Richardson said. “I have been working really hard on the
vault and fixing all the little things.” She then went on to
conquer the two events that had caused her anxiety lately ““
the bars and the beam. She had fallen on the bars in the Pac-10
Championship and on the beam in the NCAA Regionals, but Thursday
she appeared comfortable on each, scoring 9.925 and 9.850,
respectively. Still, she was not completely satisfied with herself.
“I wasn’t real happy with the beam,” she said.
“There were a few minor flaws I’ll have to fix by
(Friday).” Richardson finished the night with a noticeably
relaxed floor exercise, smiling and reacting to the crowd’s
cheers on the way to a 9.850. She certainly had reason to
smile.
RAISING THE BAR: Despite not being one of the
Bruins’ top events, UCLA blew away the competition in the
uneven bars. With a team score of 49.650, the Bruins dominated the
category, carrying a 0.2 margin over Alabama, the nearest
competition in the category. “We got confidence from (Ashley
Peckett’s) starting performance,” said senior Jamie
Dantzscher, who tallied a near-flawless 9.975 on the bars.
“It was an amazing lineup of bar routines. We couldn’t
ask for anything better.” Dantzscher, in fact, had the
session’s top performance on the bars, and three other Bruins
were in the top eight ““ Jeanette Antolin’s 9.950 tied
for second and Kristen Maloney and Richardson tied for fourth with
9.925.
EVENING SESSION NOTES: Antolin tied for first
in the floor exercise with Utah’s Melissa Vituj with a score
of 9.95 … No UCLA gymnasts placed in the all-around top 10 …
Three Southeastern Conference teams ““ Florida, Georgia and
Alabama ““ qualified for the Super Six. That was the most from
any conference … Alabama’s Jeana Rice, Arizona
State’s Ashley Kelly and Michigan’s Elise Ray tied for
first in the beam with a score of 9.90. Rice was the all-around
champion, followed by Burkholder and Kelly.