No matter how hard they try, it seems as if the UCLA women’s gymnastics team just cannot dodge adversity. In fact, they have dealt with it so many times this season that the team has become quite good at dealing with it.
“Everyone is just prepared to do what they have to do regardless of how much they’ve trained,” sophomore Ariana Berlin said. “There have been a lot of unknowns and surprises this year but everyone is just so passionate about doing what we’re doing, so they’re ready to go.”
On Friday, the fifth-ranked Bruins managed to post a season-high road score of 196.475 in a losing effort against fourth-ranked Alabama, who finished with a score of 197.225. Freshman Anna Li led the way for the team, winning the individual all-around competition with her score of 39.500.
But the dual meet began with a scare. The Bruins opened on the vault and Berlin led off. However, Berlin missed her hands on the horse and did not get enough rotation to land properly. With her left ankle sprained, she was scratched from the rest of the meet.
“She missed her hand on the vault and just crumbled right off the vault. She had all this momentum and crashed pretty heavily. She was able to get up and limp off, and it looks like it’s not bad, but we’ll see,” coach Valorie Kondos Field said.
Despite the injury, the team did not let it take away from their focus. The Bruins performed well and other teammates filled in for Berlin on floor and balance beam.
The team remained close throughout the meet and had their chances to take the lead, but the girls struggled on floor and Alabama took advantage. Several Bruins landed short on their opening tumbling passes, which earned deductions that proved costly.
“After Ariana went down, they all thought they had to be perfect. It’s a natural reflex, but it doesn’t work. They were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. I told them that they have to just go and put it all on the line,” Kondos Field said.
Junior Tasha Schwikert continued to show her excellence, as she placed first in both of her events. For the past month, Schwikert has been struggling with a strained Achilles and has been held off the floor.
Nonetheless, Schwikert is currently ranked second on balance beam (9.895) and third on vault (9.930) in the nation.
Junior transfer Natalie Padilla provided the ailing Bruins with much-needed depth, filling in on three events ““ bars, beam and floor.
Her score of 9.625 on the floor exercise was a season high, and for a gymnast who did not expect to be in the lineup, Padilla has given the team a big boost with her hard work.
“It has been great to have (Padilla). Us coaches were talking after the meet and we said, “˜Thank God for Natalie.’ It’s nice to have someone that can go out and represent UCLA gymnastics well,” Kondos Field said.
Fortunately for the Bruins, there is no meet scheduled for the next two weeks and the time off will give them time to heal and get rested before they make a run for the Pac-10 Championship at the end of March.