Monday, February 9, 1998
New moves are anything but routine for tumblers
Team overcomes injuries, slow start to win at invitational
By Christie DeBeau
Daily Bruin Contributor
The annual UCLA women’s Gymnastics Invitational had an exciting
start Saturday, with waves of enthusiasm from the crowd as the
banner commemorating the 1997 NCAA National Champions for
gymnastics was lowered for the first time in Pauley Pavilion.
However, after almost two weeks off from competition, the Bruins
had a shaky beginning. Despite a few falls on the beam and bars and
an injury for junior Luisa Portocarrero, the Bruins were still able
to beat their season high and post a winning total of 195.400,
against Stanford (194.300), Michigan (192.600) and Cornell
(178.125).
With one of the Bruins’ top all-around gymnasts, Mohini Bardwaj,
out with a sprained ankle, the team knew they would have to make
adjustments to pull through. In addition, a few of the gymnasts
attempted routines that were new or had not competed with for
years.
"It was of our most successful meets because we had a lot of
unknowns," said UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos. "I had one of my
top all-arounders sprain her ankle two days ago, so we had to
readjust the lineup. I had Luisa Portocarrero injured on the first
event, so we had to pull her out of other events.
"It really tells what kind of a team you have when you can
continue with the flow, after having to make so many adjustments,
and that is what I am so proud of."
The top three all-around scorers from the meet were all from
UCLA. Senior Stella Umeh finished first, followed by fellow Bruins
Heidi Moneymaker and Kiralee Hayashi. Umeh received the highest
marks at the meet on floor, a 9.95. She was the last to compete on
this event and performed a routine she recently learned.
"I am usually last to compete on floor, so that was nothing
new," Umeh said. "It was my new floor routine, where the pressure
came from. I had just learned it last Thursday."
For seniors Andrea Fong, Carmen Tausend and Umeh, this meet was
important because it was their last performance at the UCLA
Invitationals. For sophomore Lena Degteva, Moneymaker and junior
Hayashi, this meet was significant because they were successful
with routines they were not used to performing.
"I think this was a very important meet for Stella, being a
senior, it was her last meet at invitationals, and it was very
important for Andrea and Carmen for that respect, they all did
exceptional," Kondos said. "Heidi did a new move on floor which she
has not done for two years flawlessly.
Kiralee did a vault that she had never competed in her life, and
afterwards she said ‘This is the first time I stuck a vault.’ Lena
Degteva did a new vault that she had not done in three or four
years. We had so many things tonight that were new to many of the
gymnasts."
"Performing tonight felt really good," Umeh said. "It’s my
senior year and I love to compete in Pauley. It’s so awesome. Floor
felt the best for me, well actually everything did. I was really
fighting especially to stay on beam. I was digging deep on
everything, it was just a great meet."
Moneymaker also felt she had a successful meet, one of her best
this season.
"I feel pretty good about the meet," Moneymaker said. "I have
not been too consistent this year, so it felt really great to
finally have a good meet."
Although the Bruins did not have a strong start at the meet,
they were able to overcome their misses – part of what the team
does best.
"We are notorious for starting off slow, and in fact it has
become a national joke how pathetic we are in the very beginning of
the season," Kondos said. "We are right on track and we are
actually doing a little better than we have in the past few years.
As far as the falls go, we need the practice, they need meets like
this where they do well but they have setbacks. How are they going
to handle this? Are they going to go in the tank or are they going
to make it happen?
"Gymnastic meets are won by half a tenth; we won nationals last
year by three-tenths, so if they give up in any way, shape or form,
even one little wobble will kill you.
"We are the slow-start gang, we don’t do anything but start
slow," Umeh said. "It was a real positive experience in terms of
team performance because we pulled it all together, a few faults
here and there. We kept climbing up the ladder as the meet
progressed."
AARON TOUT/Daily Bruin
Kiralee Hayashi performs her floor routine during the UCLA
Invitational at Pauley Pavilion.