For one UCLA gymnast, last weekend was the fitting end to a career marked by incredible success.
Senior Tasha Schwikert closed out her gymnastics career by winning the NCAA all-around title. She also captured the uneven bars title and placed second in the floor exercise.
And she did it all by overcoming a strained Achilles tendon that has hindered her all season.
“Tasha is such a great competitor and came back from injury to compete hard, knowing that it would be her last night,” coach Valerie Kondos Field said. “She put the Achilles pain behind her and competed almost flawlessly.”
Before the championships, Schwikert was not expecting to end her gymnastics career on a high note.
Her nagging Achilles injury had kept her from training fully, and she had been unable to compete on the floor exercise in several meets this season.
“I don’t know how I won the all-around and definitely didn’t expect it at all,” Schwikert said. “This is an amazing way to go out, but I never thought it would be a reality this year.”
Schwikert was not even sure she would compete in the all-around until she arrived at the NCAA Championships, because she knew the floor exercise would be difficult to do with a strained Achilles.
Schwikert chose not to fully warm up before competing on floor or vault because the pain in her Achilles was too great.
Yet she nailed every routine, scoring 9.95 on vault, 9.90 on uneven bars, 9.825 on beam and 9.925 on floor to outdistance the competition by totaling an all-around score of 39.6.
“I didn’t get the preparation I needed to go into the national championships at my peak, but I went out there and had no regrets, giving it everything I had,” Schwikert said.
The all-around title was Schwikert’s second of her career, as she also won the all-around in 2005 as a freshman. She is UCLA’s first two-time winner of the title.
The differences between the first time she won and now, however, are striking.
“Freshman year it was more about me, but this year I was so team-focused the entire time,” Schwikert said. “I never considered myself in the running for the all-around title because I was only thinking how my score would contribute to the team score. I never even added up my own scores to see where I was at in the all-around (standings).
“Not advancing to the Super Six (Team Finals) is really disheartening for me, and if I could give up the individual title to give the team an opportunity to compete in the finals, I would do that in a heartbeat.”
Though the Bruins as a team barely failed to advance past the NCAA Preliminaries, Schwikert excelled in every event she competed in.
After being named the NCAA all-around champion, Schwikert proceeded to also dominate in the individual event championships. She scored 9.9375 on uneven bars to place first in the event and took second on floor with a score of 9.95.
Even with her lingering Achilles pain, Schwikert’s uneven bars routine in the individual championships could not have gone much better.
“My dream was to go out doing the best I could possibly do, and I couldn’t have done any better than I did on bars,” Schwikert said. “I haven’t ever done a routine that perfect, so it is a dream come true. It really feels amazing to perform at my highest potential.”
Knowing it was her last floor routine in her career, Schwikert said she also gave everything she had during the individual championships, and she was rewarded with a second-place finish.
“I went out there and did the biggest and most beautiful gymnastics I could do even though my Achilles was hurting,” Schwikert said.
COMFORTE COMES UP BIG: Not only did Schwikert achieve success at the individual event championships, but junior Kristina Comforte showcased her own talent by placing second behind Schwikert on the uneven bars, with a score of 9.9.
Comforte’s second-place finish on the bars was the second runner-up showing of her career.
She also placed second on the vault as a freshman in 2006.
“It feels amazing to have done so well because I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Comforte said. “I just wanted to have fun and enjoy myself, and was able to do one of the best routines I have done all season.”
Comforte’s solid performance also showed how well she has recovered from the bone bruise in her right knee that forced her to miss several meets earlier this season.
“This team overcame so much adversity this season because we had to deal with so many injuries,” Comforte said.
“It was a successful season because we all did the best we could, and it feels amazing for me to be able to end the season on a high note.”