Bruin gymnasts continue to impress

If you were fortunate enough to miss the NFL playoffs on Sunday
in favor of an afternoon in Pauley Pavilion, you witnessed
“the most talented gymnastics team in the history of the
NCAA.”

Head coach Valorie Kondos-Field supported her bold preseason
assertion, guiding UCLA to a dominant win in the Bruin Classic
against UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton and UC Berkeley.

The Bruins recorded a 198.275, the second-best score in school
history, and easily the best in the nation this year.

Cal came in second (192.950), Fullerton was third (191.525), and
Davis finished fourth (189.675).

The Bruins recorded three perfect tens during Sunday’s
Bruin Classic in front of 1,829 vocal spectators. Freshman Kate
Richardson recorded her first-ever perfect ten as a Bruin in her
first home meet, and UCLA junior Jamie Dantzscher added two more to
her impressive collection.

“That was just unbelievable,” Richardson said.
“It was so exciting. We’ve had a couple of away meets,
but they just don’t compare to this.”

The scariest part is, the Bruins are just getting started.

Sunday’s outstanding performance followed a dual meet on
Friday with Cal State Fullerton. In that meet, the Bruins
squandered a lead in the third rotation, only to come back from 0.5
points down and shock the Titans.

A clutch 49.375 team beam score, including Alyssa
Beckerman’s 9.95, won it for the Bruins during the final
rotation.

The final score of 194.1-193.9 made it the closest match ever
between the two squads.

“I would say almost all of them did the very best job that
they could do,” Kondos-Field said. “I think there were
some great, great things. I was very impressed with their
poise.”

Jeanette Antolin recorded both the highest vault and bars scores
of the meet (9.95 and 9.85 respectively).

“We just had to come together as a team,” Antolin
said. “We showed we have a lot of confidence.”

Several of UCLA’s top gymnasts were given the dual meet
off, but they were sharp as ever on Sunday.

Senior Onnie Willis, who did not compete on Friday, showed up
Sunday with a vengeance. Willis took the all-around competition
with a 39.8, third best in school history. Her score barely edged
Dantzscher’s 39.775. Richardson filled out the top three with
a 39.675. The next closest gymnast in the all-around was UC
Davis’ Flora Bare, who recorded a 38.925.

The Bruins were on pace to set a school record for highest team
score, but fell just short of that mark in compiling a 49.475
during the floor routine, UCLA’s final rotation. The floor
exercises were punctuated by Onnie Willis’ crowd-pleasing
9.95, which set up Dantzscher’s second perfect ten of the
meet.

“The first home meet is exciting,” Dantzscher said.
“I think we had a good show. The crowd was into it, and that
makes (competing) a lot of fun.”

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