Gymnastics carries distinguished group into final postseason stretch
Fifth-year senior Jordan Williams was named a Second-Team All-American and First-Team All-Pac-12 athlete for the vault apparatus. (Angie Wang/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Boer Fu
March 31, 2015 1:41 a.m.
The John Wooden Center may have been empty of most students over the course of spring break, but neighboring Yates Gymnasium was still full of UCLA gymnastics team members.
“We are really, really intense (as) a group,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field. “The team was very prepared to come in every day and train. And we got better.”
Pac-12 championship
The Bruins started their postseason in Salt Lake City on March 21 in the Pac-12 championship. No. 7 UCLA finished second with a score of 197.350, edging out No. 11 Stanford to third place by 0.175, but falling short of No. 3 Utah’s winning score of 198.150.
Redshirt senior Samantha Peszek claimed her second Pac-12 balance beam championship with a score of 9.950. With the same score, Peszek also won the floor exercise for the first time, sharing the title with two others.
As the only Bruin competing in all-around, Peszek tied with Ute senior Corrie Lothrop in second place, scoring 39.575. The title was won by another Ute senior, Georgia Dabritz, with a score of 39.775.
Regular season All-America and All-Pac-12 honors
Five UCLA gymnasts have been named regular season All-Americans.
Redshirt sophomore Christine Peng-Peng Lee was named a First-Team All-American for both bars and beam in her debut season at UCLA.
“Knowing that I had two years off and that I could come back and still be where I want to be feels amazing,” Lee said. “It’s been an incredible season.”
Graduate student Jordan Williams was named to her first All-American team after four years of competing for Arizona. Williams received a second-team honor on vault.
“Since I came in as a freshman, even at Arizona, it was my main goal to get All-American and all-conference,” Williams said. “So the fact that I did that after five years now, it feels really great. It’s a huge accomplishment.”
Peszek received First-Team All-American honors on beam with the nation’s No. 1 ranking. She also made her way into the second team on vault. Junior Danusia Francis received First-Team honors on beam. Redshirt junior Sadiqua Bynum was named a Second-Team All-American on the floor exercise.
These five Bruins were also named to the All-Pac-12 first teams.
Kondos Field said the number of All-America honors the gymnasts received showed the team’s depth.
“I think we are just killing it in all areas,” Kondos Field said. “It’s really been a rewarding year because the whole team is contributing and that’s what team effort is all about.”
#DontDoubtTheDrought
While training hard for postseason meets, the UCLA gymnastics team did not forget to have a bit of fun. And the gymnasts made sure the fun was for a meaningful cause.
Inspired by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the Bruins started a campaign to raise people’s awareness of California’s drought Thursday.
The team posted a video on Twitter that called for actions to conserve water. In the video, the gymnasts said they would reuse the ice bags in the training room, watering the plants or even filling their water bottles with the melted ice. At the end of the video, they challenged the UCLA softball team to come up with more ideas to conserve water and named the challenge #DontDoubtTheDrought.
“We are trying to get this thing through all the UCLA teams,” Kondos Field said.
