W. gym aims to maintain momentum
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 22, 1996 9:00 p.m.
W. gym aims to maintain momentum
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Staff
As the half way point in the season rolls by, the UCLA women’s
gymnastics team (8-2 overall) has had one thing on its mind:
building momentum.
And so far, it’s worked. After a slow start, the Bruins have had
three solid team performances in a row, and have climbed from 19th
in the country two weeks ago to fifth in the latest poll.
But the Bruins will compete in a quadrangular meet against three
relative collegiate gymnastics unknowns Saturday at 7 p.m. in the
Wooden Center. Seattle-Pacific and Denver are both unranked while
California was No. 21 in the latest poll.
UCLA is a team which strives under extreme circumstances, which
means that tomorrow’s biggest challenge will be keeping the
momentum it worked so hard to create.
"You would hope that every time they get to do gymnastics they
would get motivated," UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos said. "But
that’s living in dream world, and it’s rare to get 12 athletes
who’ve got that fire every time they put on a leotard. They just
have to constantly be looking at the big picture."
The big picture for the Bruins is the regional seedings which
determine the order of events at the West Regional championships in
April. Because this is the last home meet of the season, it will
determine which home meet score will count towards the average.
The Bruins most consistent performance this season was last
weekend against Oregon State, where the Bruins handed the then No.
5 Beavers (194.325 to 193.200) their first dual meet loss in nine
years. According to Kondos, if the gymnasts can recreate the
intensity of that evening, the team can consistently score above
194.
Highlighting the all-around for the Bruins will be Stella Umeh,
who won the all-around in both meets last weekend, as well as
Kiralee Hayashi, who scored a career-high 38.950 against Oregon
State. After tomorrow’s meet, the Bruins will have a two-week bye
before facing Arizona State on March 8.
"It might be a better meet (than against Oregon State)," Kondos
said. "The gymnasts will be relaxed, yet still have the excitement
at a meet. It could bring a sense of calm that gives them
confidence. The problem will be if they’re too relaxed, and don’t
fight for every 10th (of a point)."Comments to
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