CHRIS BACKLEY/Daily Bruin Jamie
Dantzscher performs the floor routine.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff
The Bruins are finally going to get a taste of travelling.
This weekend, the No. 1 UCLA gymnastics team heads east to
Michigan to take on the No. 8 Wolverines and the No. 23 Michigan
State Spartans.
The trip marks the farthest the Bruins will travel all year
until the NCAA Championships in Athens, Georgia on April 20.
Even more importantly, the Bruins face one of the better teams
in the nation tonight in Michigan.
“I hear they’re doing pretty well,” sophomore
Kristen Maloney said. “I know they have another Olympian,
Elise Ray.”
Maloney, UCLA freshman Jamie Dantzscher, and Ray competed as
teammates for the United States in Sydney last summer. The Michigan
meet is being billed as a battle of Olympians, but for the Bruins,
it is a valuable opportunity to gain road experience.
Maloney said there is no sense of rivalry between herself,
Dantzscher and Ray, but that doesn’t mean the competition
won’t be fierce.
Ray is currently ranked 14th in the nation all-around. No Bruins
are ranked nationally in the all-around because they have not
competed six times in each event.
In addition to Ray, Michigan boasts returning five All-Americans
and a season-high of 197.225.
“Michigan is going to be one of the toughest competitors
we’ve come against this season,” Head Coach Valorie
Kondos Field said.
The Bruins will head to East Lansing Sunday, where they will
meet the Spartans for their second dual meet in three days.
“The travel shouldn’t be too bad, although we
haven’t traveled much this year,” sophomore Onnie
Willis said.
Michigan State features Jane McIntosh, who ranks 23rd nationally
on the balance beam. Though she has been competing with a broken
finger, she scored a school-record 9.95 on the beam in the
Spartans’ latest meet.
“This is the first back-to-back meet we’ll have over
a weekend that isn’t at home,” Kondos Field said.
“We’re staying away from home for quite a long
time.”
The Bruins are looking to extend their five-meet win streak. To
do this, they will have to be in top form on both Friday night and
Sunday afternoon.
“I think we’re just trying to improve each time,
maybe not score wise, but just in general our routines,”
Dantzscher said.
The weekend is important because the Bruins are looking to gain
momentum heading into next week’s showdown with the No. 4
Georgia Bulldogs.
With contributions by Eli Karon, Daily Bruin Contributor.