Squad hopes to impress, as usual, at Invitational

  EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Bruin sophomore Kristin
Parker performs on the beam in a meet earlier this season.
The UCLA Invitational will be held this weekend.

By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff

The top-ranked UCLA gymnastics team returns to Pauley Pavilion
after a weekend break to host the 24th annual UCLA Invitational.
Washington, Arizona and Fullerton will attend the quadrangular
meet, which takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The team should be well rested following its first off-weekend
after four meets in two weeks.

“They needed the break,” UCLA head coach Valorie
Kondos Field said. “It was good for them both mentally and
physically.”

The Bruins have been unkind hosts, having won the tournament the
last nine years. Oregon State is the last visiting team to win the
UCLA Invitational, doing so in 1991, before any of the current
Bruins were even in high school.

The meet will mark the third time UCLA has competed against the
Titans this year. Early this year the Bruins followed their
Hawaiian trip with a visit to Fullerton, taking the meet
196.825-192.9. Two weeks ago Fullerton competed in a meet with
UCLA, Southern Utah and Alabama.

Freshman Jeanette Antolin will get another chance to compete
against her sister Katie, a junior at Fullerton. In their last
meeting Katie outscored Jeanette on the uneven bars
9.850-9.350.

The tournament also provides two Bruins from Washington a chance
to compete against their local university. Sophomore Onnie Willis,
who will compete in the all-around for the first time this year, is
especially looking forward to the chance to take on friends who go
to Washington and Arizona.

“I’m really excited,” the Tacoma native said.
“I have a (former) teammate who competes for UW, and another
who competes for AU, so I’m just really excited to get to see
them compete.”

Redshirt freshman Carly Raab’s club coach is an assistant
at Washington, but she is determined to stay focused.

“It will be fun to have him come down, but I don’t
think there’s any pressure,” she said.

UCLA plans to put up a mixed lineup for the meet. Freshman Jamie
Dantzscher will compete all-around for the first time this year.
While the Bruins will not fire their big guns, the team still plans
on being competitive, looking to avoid a loss similar to the one
suffered to Arizona State.

“We’re looking to get a few other people into the
lineup and give them an opportunity to compete,” Kondos Field
said. “We’re going with a pretty strong lineup
still.”

The meet also gives UCLA the opportunity to see two of the
Pacific-10 Conference teams they will face in March at the Pac-10
championships. Regular season meets have no bearing on the
championships, but the team can get an idea of how the competition
looks.

“It’s nice to see what your competition is going to
be like for the Pac-10s,” Kondos Field said.

The Wildcats are ranked sixth in the southwest region and the
Huskies are ranked sixth in the west behind Fullerton. All three
teams should provide some competition, but the Bruins seem set on
taking their 10th straight UCLA Invitational.