Bruins determined not to falter again
By Joseph Kuehn
Feb. 28, 2008 10:06 p.m.
Right on the heels of its first loss of the season, the Bruin gymnastics team will once again be taking on a top-10 opponent this Sunday when No. 10 Oregon State comes to town.
After suffering their first loss at the hands of No. 2 Utah last Sunday, the Bruins will not have it any easier as they face a tough Oregon State team. The Beavers are looking for revenge after suffering their only loss of the season to the Bruins in the Lady Luck Invitational held on Jan. 4.
Since that loss, Oregon State has won six straight meets, including a meet last weekend against BYU in which the Beavers scored a season high of 197.150.
The Bruins, on the other hand, are coming off of a tough meet where, in addition to losing for the first time all season, the team saw two of its top gymnasts go down with concussions. The status on those two gymnasts, sophomore Anna Li and redshirt freshman Brittani McCullough, is listed as day-to-day.
The Utah meet was close after two rotations, but after having to count a fall on the beam and the injuries, the team was unable to overtake Utah.
“There was a nervous feeling … whereas in the last meets we competed in, where we did really well, there was a nice calm confidence,” senior Tasha Schwikert said after last weekend’s meet.
Schwikert was one of the few bright spots for the Bruins, placing third in the all-around with a season-high-tying score of 39.55. Another bright point for the team on Sunday was the return of junior Kristina Comforte, competing on the bars for the first time after injuring her right knee in a meet on Jan. 27.
“(Comforte) got injured here four weeks ago,” coach Valorie Kondos Field said. “It was a very bad injury; we thought it might be career ending, and she was back in, so that was really exciting.”
The return of Comforte, as well as the addition of freshman Shavahn Church to the Bruins’ uneven bars rotation, strengthens a solid bars lineup.
To get back on track against Oregon State on Sunday, the Bruins will need more strong performances from their uneven bars lineup as well as strong performances on the other three events.
But for Schwikert, the solution is more simple: Just hit the routines.
“We can do so well ““ we have to just put it all together,” Schwikert said.
