Bruins bend over backwards for Nationals
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 22, 1998 9:00 p.m.
Friday, January 23, 1998
Bruins bend over backwards for Nationals
PREVIEW: UCLA heads to Arizona with season-high score
By Christie DeBeau
Daily Bruin Contributor
After a win at last weekend’s home meet, where the Bruins were
cheered on by over 1,000 screaming fans, the UCLA women’s
gymnastics team are packing up their bags and heading for Tucson,
where they will compete against the University of Arizona tonight
at 7:30.
The Bruins will compete in their third meet of the season,
coming in with a record of 3-1.
However, more important than their win-loss record, is how many
points the team tabulates throughout the season.
"We have a weird sport, it is not like swimming or track." UCLA
head coach Valorie Kondos said.
"Your win-loss record does not matter. You have to accumulate a
certain amount of points to make it to the first round of
Nationals, which is Regionals and that is usually not a concern for
us."
The Bruins currently have a season-high score of 194.025, which
they reached at Georgia, while the Wildcats enter tonight’s meet
with their highest score of the season, a 189.2
In preparation for the Arizona meet, Kondos has been working
with the team to hopefully improve their scores on floor
exercises.
"I need to change the choreography so we get a little easier
points on floor," Kondos said. "We are working with new scoring
this season and so it is my job to make these changes for the
team."
In addition to new scoring, this year is also the first year in
which college gymnasts are allowed to compete in vault with a
round-off entry, the Yurchenko.
Veteran Kiralee Hayashi and freshman Mohini Bahardwaj both
performed this vault entry last weekend.
In the Bruins’ series with fellow Pacific 10 competitor Arizona,
UCLA has 35 wins out of 42 meetings.
The last win the Wildcats achieved over the Bruins was in 1996
at the Pac-10 Championships.
For Arizona this season is an important one, for this is the
last year for head coach Jim Gualt, who will retire after 18
seasons.
