UCLA gymnastics aims to iron out minor errors after season-opener

The UCLA gymnastics team has a successful mount to the season as it heads toward the season’s dismount with eight new faces in play.

The Bruins’ first meet went well as the team landed a win against the Oregon State Beavers. The final score was 196.000 to 195.450. However there were some minor errors that cost the team, such as shaky dismounts during balance beam, which was the final rotation. Although the team faced challenges with inconsistencies, the team is positive.

“It’s going to get better from here,” said redshirt senior Samantha Peszek. “And we are really excited to build on what we did (Monday).”

The highlight of the first meet was the appearance of many new gymnasts, as they made their collegiate debuts. Christine Peng-Peng Lee, a redshirt sophomore, led the team in the first rotation of uneven bars with a 9.900, registering a strong performance for her first college competition. Also, freshman Sonya Meraz scored a 9.775, boosting the team’s lead as well. In the second rotation, the newcomers added to the Bruins’ lead once more, as freshman JaNay Honest and graduate transfer Jordan Williams both scored 9.825 on vault.

Two of the newcomers, Lee, who had not competed since 2012 after she injured her knee at the 2012 Canadian Gymnastics Championships, and sophomore Angi Cipra, who lost the final three months of last season with a heel injury, showed great potential and helped the team with their solid routines.

“The question marks that we had – coming into the meet – the girls didn’t just erase the question marks, but they replaced with exclamation points,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field.

Although it had a number of uneasy landings and errors in its routines, the team said the focus remained on itself, as the gymnasts continuously cheered one another on at the meet, instilling positive energy and confidence throughout the competition.

“Every member of our team competes for each other. We compete for UCLA,” Peszek said.

Now, the team prepares for its next meet, a home-opener, on Monday at 1 p.m. UCLA will host No. 18 Arizona Wildcats at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins are already in competition mode as they focus on each upcoming meet to get closer to the national championship in April.

“We watch videos of ourselves from this meet and learn (from our) mistakes,” Lee said. “We are going to incorporate more of that into our practice and then bring it in for our (upcoming) Monday meet.”

Now that they have already had a taste of competition in 2015, the Bruins said they are ready to focus on carrying over what they practiced in the gym into the competition.

“They got the jitters out,” Kondos Field said.