MARY HOLSCHER Sophomore Onnie Willis
competes on the floor at Regionals.
By Eli Karon
Daily Bruin Contributor
Some dogs are territorial. The University of Georgia Bulldogs
are one such breed. When the Bruins compete in Athens, Georgia on
Thursday, they will be greeted with boos, barks, and rattling
newspapers.
Did we mention that this is a gymnastics meet?
The Bruins will be battling not only history, but
Georgia’s infamous crowd as well. Stageman Coliseum seats
approximately 9,500 fans for a normal gymnastics meet.
The National Championships will undoubtedly bring a standing
room only crowd of more than 10,000. As a reference, Pauley
Pavilion holds 12,819 people.
In a manner unrivaled in college gymnastics, the Georgia
Bulldogs routinely pack their home meets to the rafters with rabid,
cheering, sometimes downright nasty spectators.
“Any crowd that would boo someone when they do well, just
because they don’t like you ““ that’s out of
line,” Bruin sophomore Malia Jones said.
When UCLA arrives in Stageman Coliseum, it will attempt a nearly
impossible feat. The Gym Dogs, as Georgia’s highly touted
squad is called, have only lost inside Stageman Coliseum once since
1991. During that span the team also won back-to-back National
Championships, in 1998 and 1999.
The home loss came last year at the Super Six Challenge, where
Alabama upset the Gym Dogs.
In the same meet, UCLA suffered multiple falls and was soundly
beaten by Georgia. UCLA came in fifth, but went on to later win the
National Championship.
Together, the Bruins and the Bulldogs have accounted for the
last four NCAA Championships, with the Bruins winning the title
last year and in 1997.
 COURTNEY STEWART Freshman Kristen
Maloney performs her floor routine at UCLA. Sophomore
Kristin Parker was one of UCLA’s freshmen who received a rude
awakening to college gymnastics on the visit to Georgia.
“Going in we knew what to expect, but there’s really
no way to prepare for that,” Parker said.
This year, UCLA’s team consists of a large freshmen
contingent. However, the rowdy crowd will have a tough time
rattling the cages of this young Bruin squad. While they
haven’t experienced anything close to what will transpire
over the weekend, the younger Bruins are experienced in their own
right.
“Our younger girls are Olympians,” said Bruin Head
Coach Valorie Kondos Field.
Interestingly, Kondos Field says she feels the Georgia crowd has
always treated the Bruins with more respect.
However, it’s still a tough place to compete. While the
Pauley Pavilion seats are spread out, the crowd at Georgia is right
on top of the competition, barking and screaming through the whole
meet.
“They have their moments,” Kondos Field said.
“They’re a basketball crowd.”
Kondos Field feels this year’s team will be unaffected by
the raucous fans, and instead will use the crowd to get fired
up.
“It’s going to bring a level of excitement to the
meet,” Kondos Field said. “I think for us it’s
going to be a positive.”
Jones, who competed in front of Georgia’s crowd in her
first-ever college meet, has learned from experience that the crowd
must be looked at as a positive thing.
“I competed there last year and I was petrified,”
Jones said. “(But) you can use the crowd to your
advantage.”
The rest of the Bruins agree. They’ve anxiously waited for
the upcoming competition since they won the NCAA West Regional
competition on April 7.
Come Saturday ““ the last day of competition ““ the
Bruins hope to put a leash on the legendary crowd and mark their
territory as 2001 NCAA Champions.