Gymnastics’ win streak broken at Masters Classic
By Misael Peraza
Feb. 22, 2009 10:18 p.m.
Sunday’s meet was not what the UCLA gymnastics team was hoping for.
The Bruins earned second place in their second quad-meet of the season, ending a five-meet winning streak. This was UCLA’s first loss since their season opener at No. 1 Utah.
The Bruins finished one-tenth of a point behind No. 12 Nebraska.
The Huskers won the meet with a final score of 196.225, followed by UCLA at 196.125. Minnesota placed third with a 195.075, and NC State came in fourth with a 194.550.
The Bruins performed well throughout the meet until it came to their fourth rotation, the balance beam.
Sophomore Niki Tom and freshman Vanessa Zamarripa both fell, putting the Bruins in a deficit they couldn’t recover from.
Coach Valorie Kondos Field said that these mistakes made the difference in the meet.
“We did OK, we didn’t do great,” Kondos Field said. “It was our meet to win or lose, and we should have done better on beam. Two of our best game workers fell. The athletes that are your go-to players need to be able to hit meet after meet after meet. Then again, you’re going to have an off day once in a while, and today was their off day.”
Despite not taking first place in the meet and falling on beam, Sunday was another perfect day for Zamarripa in vault. The Masters Classic marks her second consecutive perfect 10 in the vault event and her third overall 10.0 of the season.
“After this one, I just think I get better every time,” Zamarripa said. “I get excited after each one happens, but after this one I was just surprised, and it was a great feeling.”
Freshman Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs also had a solid performance this weekend. She tied with a former Canadian national team member, Kylie Stone from Nebraska, for first place in the all-around. They each earned a 39.475.
“I think the meet went pretty well for me,” Hopfner-Hibbs said. “I improved on most of the things I wanted to improve on from my last meet, so I’m pretty happy. I fixed my landing on everything. My vault was much better, and my body landing was better.”
With their five-meet winning streak snapped, the squad is trying to maintain a positive attitude about a potential national championship.
“We’re not really concerned about them (the rankings), but we also don’t want to drop in the rankings,” Kondos Field said. “We want to stay in the top three, and I’m sure we’ll drop below that this week, so we need to get back up there just because it makes a statement nationwide.”
