Walk-on vaults to front
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 10, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Walk-on vaults to front
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA gymnast Karin Silvestri thought the Arizona State meet on
Friday night would be just another exhibition performance for her,
but when an injured Amy Smith pulled out of vaulting, Silvestri
filled the hole in the lineup.
The red-shirt freshman walk- on, who had never before competed
for UCLA, vaulted two solid handspring fronts for a 9.775, the
third highest score on the team. The mark helped the Bruins to
their highest team score this season in a 195.625-195.300 loss to
Arizona State.
"Karin has never competed for us," UCLA head coach Valorie
Kondos said, "and she nailed two vaults. The team went crazy; it
was like she scored a perfect 10.0."
"I was supposed to just vault exhibition," Silvestri said.
"Anton (Calderon, assistant coach) told me after warm up that I was
competing. I was really excited. It was crazy – just the chance
I’ve been waiting for."
Silvestri’s vault may have been an emotional spark for the team,
which had several major errors on beam but held together for a
strong team performance.
The Bruins started solidly on floor, where the lowest score
counted was Dee Fischer’s 9.750. Stella Umeh and Amy Smith both
scored 9.825s, and Leah Homma tied for third place with a
9.850.
On vault, the Bruins recorded their highest score of the year
(48.975), which included Fischer’s 9.825 and a 9.90 from Homma.
On bars, Kiralee Hayashi faltered, falling for a 8.725. Kristin
Harmell – competing for the first time since January – scored a
9.650, while Umeh earned a 9.825 and Homma won the event with a
9.925.
The usually rock-solid Susie Erickson slipped off the beam for a
9.225 and Homma fell during her signature Homma flip for a 9.40,
which factored a fall into the Bruins’ team total. Umeh finished
the evening with a 9.90 to tie for first place with Carie Courtney
and Lisa Vincijanovic from ASU, and notched up her fourth
all-around championship in a row with a 39.25.
It was a disappointing evening for Homma, who won both vault and
bars, but whose momentary lapse on the beam marred what might have
been her highest all-around total ever. Homma’s final all-around
(39.075) was respectable despite the fall, foreshadowing intense
competition in the all-around between her and Umeh in the
future.
"It was a really good meet," Kondos said. "We handed it to them,
with our falls on beam. In our scoring system, you don’t have to
throw high difficulty. We were beat by a team that was clean and
hit their stuff, but when we were walking out the ASU crowd was
saying that it was obvious we should have won."
Small errors cost gymnastics win
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