W. gym breaks team score record in meet against ‘Zona

W. gym breaks team score record in meet against ‘Zona

Bruins win twice over weekend in meets with

Gauchos and Wildcats

By Esther Hui

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

At the start of the weekend the UCLA women’s gymnastics team
felt frustrated.

The roster was filled with gymnasts with twisted ankles and
aching muscles, and the Bruins had lost two consecutive road-meets,
one to top-ranked Utah, the other to No. 15 Nebraska.

But something sparked the Bruins Friday night in Arizona, and
again yesterday afternoon against UC Santa Barbara at theWooden
Center. Despite the grueling two-meet weekend, the Bruins put
together four solid events at both competitions, and the result was
a school-record 195.425 win over the Wildcats, and a 194.175 win
against the Gauchos.

"We wanted to show what we could really do," UCLA senior Megan
Fenton said. "The word in the gymnastics community is, ‘UCLA is a
great team, but they have to put it together’. We wanted to prove
ourselves this weekend."

Friday’s competition was highlighted by the return of senior
Kareema Marrow, after sitting out the Nebraska meet with sore
ankles. Marrow won the all-around with a 39.225 and sucessfully
performed her first- ever front handspring pike with a half-twist
on vault for a 9.9. The vault was the Bruins’ best event, with
Marrow, Leah Homma, Amy Smith, and Dee Fischer all scoring 9.85 and
above.

Also standing out was the 38.700 personal best all-around
performance of Fenton, which included a 9.85 on bars, and a
dramatic floor set.

The moment on floor came when, despite suffering from back
spasms provoked by an off-landing on vault, Fenton stepped up and
scored a 9.75, which overrode an 8.60 scored by a teammate.

"We had falls," Fenton said. "We needed one more score to count.
I thought, ‘This is my last year. It won’t make a big difference to
me physically, but it will make a big difference to the team.’"

Said UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos: "In that much pain, Megan
went out and hit the routine. When you lose a senior like that, you
hope there’ll be someone who steps up like that ­ someone who
will give whatever it takes."

Sunday’s competition was the last home meet for the Bruins and
was the sentimental last home appearance for seniors Fenton and
Marrow.

Freshman Stella Umeh won the all-around with a 39.075 and placed
second in uneven bars (9.850) and beam (9.850). Umeh’s beam set
included a floating roundoff layout step out mount and a
back-handspring, layout, back-handspring, layout combination which
she stuck solidly. The only routine to outdo Umeh was Homma’s,
which included a flawless handspring punch layout handspring, and a
layout step out to full twist off the side dismount for a 9.90.

The Bruins finished on floor, where Smith stuck all three of her
passes to win the event with a 9.825. The crowd gave a fare-well
standing ovation to Marrow at the finish of her routine.