Tuesday, April 7, 1998
Stanford ends UCLA’s Pac-10 reign
CHAMPIONSHIP:
By Christie DeBeau
Daily Bruin Contributor
The 1998 women’s gymnastics Pac-10 Championships marked the end
of an era on Saturday, March 21 in Pauley Pavilion. In the history
of the program, which began eleven years ago, only UCLA and Oregon
State had won the Pac-10 crown until now. The Stanford Cardinal
pulled ahead of UCLA in the final rotation to win the championship
title with a team score of 195.275.
Oregon State took second place (194.950), followed by Arizona
State (194.900), and fourth-place UCLA with a score of 194.700.
This meet concluded the Bruins’ regular season competition, ending
with a record of 16-6.
Prior to this year’s competition, the Bruins had won the crown
seven times, and Oregon State had emerged victorious four
times.
Stanford head coach Mark Cook had held the position of assistant
coach at UCLA for the past three years. Being successful at Pauley
Pavilion is nothing new for Cook.
"It just feels really exciting to come back to Pauley Pavilion
and feel the success with this team that I felt last year with
UCLA," Cook said. "I miss UCLA, but I love competing in this arena.
It just feels really good to win here. Hopefully we’ll be back next
month for the NCAA (Championships)."
The University of Washington placed fifth (193.700), University
of Arizona received sixth place (192.800) and the University of
California, Berkeley came in at No. 7 (189.200).
As a team, this was not No. 13th ranked UCLA’s strongest
performance of the season, but for senior Stella Umeh, the Pac-10
Championship was her meet to shine. Umeh placed first in all-around
competition with a career high of 39.6. On the floor exercise, Umeh
also scored a career high and tied the record at Pauley Pavilion,
to win the event title with a 9.95. Balance beam was another event
where Umeh received first place, scoring a 9.925.
Following the meet, Umeh was awarded the honor of Pac-10 Gymnast
of the Year.
Sophomore Lena Degteva also walked away from the meet with an
event title. She hit a career high of 9.925 on the vault to come in
first place.
The only event in which a UCLA gymnast did not take first place
in was the uneven bars, which went to Oregon State’s Deanne
Droegemueller, who scored a 9.975.