The most action the UCLA seniors saw in their final home meet
was during the post-meet ceremony in their honor.
Onnie Willis, Doni Thompson, Carly Raab, Kristin Parker and
Malia Jones were honored in a memorable ceremony after
Sunday’s meet.
Despite nursing many injuries, UCLA’s seniors had plenty
to be happy about during the final regular-season home meet of the
year ““ and the Bruins did not even win the competition.
The box score says the top-ranked UCLA gymnastics team lost to
14th-ranked Oklahoma Sunday in Pauley Pavilion 197.475-196.725. But
to the 2,650 spectators in attendance, there were no losers.
Sunday’s quadrangular meet included the University of
North Carolina and University of Rhode Island, who came in third
and fourth respectively (193.750, 189.825).
The 26th annual UCLA Invitational featured only two of the five
seniors in competition. In her final regular-season home meet,
Kristin Parker turned in a magical floor routine, recording a
9.925.
Also competing in her final regular-season home meet, Malia
Jones turned in an equally impressive performance, recording an
identical 9.925.
Although UCLA turned in its finest effort of the afternoon on
the final rotation, its 49.625 was not good enough to catch
Oklahoma.
One strong point for UCLA was the performance of junior Jeanette
Antolin. Antolin was not expecting to compete at all Sunday, but
was told Friday she was needed in the all-around. She responded
with a personal best ““ tying 39.650.
“I knew my teammates needed me a lot, so I did everything
I could to be prepared for today,” Antolin said.
Antolin was expecting the weekend off to nurse some injuries of
her own, but filled in when Jamie Dantzscher and Onnie Willis were
unable to compete.
“I’m hurting, but my teammates are worse than I
am,” Antolin said. “I just had to suck it up. I wanted
to go out there and do it for our seniors.”
Bruin senior Doni Thompson was expected to compete for the first
time all year on bars, but was a late scratch after suffering a
fall in warmups.
Luckily for Thompson and the rest of the Bruins, their depth
allowed them to keep the meet close.
“Christie Tedmon came in and competed in the all-around
for the first time and just rocked,” head coach Valorie
Kondos Field said.
UCLA will utilize the next two weeks to rest and train for the
Pac-10 finals. Both Willis and Dantzscher are expected to return to
the lineup, and Kondos Field has lofty goals for the March 29
meet.
“You can expect an A-plus team,” Kondos Field said
confidently. “We are going to come back and claim our 11th
Pac-10 title.”