UCLA gymnastics looks to repeat its strong performance against Oregon State in IGI/Chicago Style Classic
Senior Brittani McCullough will compete against Stanford and OSU today.
GYMNASTICS
IGI/Chicago style classic
Today, 5:30 p.m.
Chicago, Ill.
No TV
UCLA will compete against two teams it has faced already (Stanford and Oregon State) in a three-way Windy City meet.
By Patricia Lee
Feb. 11, 2011 10:11 a.m.
The UCLA gymnasts never settle for good, not even when they hit a perfect 24-of-24 routines as they did during their last meet against Oregon State.
Naturally, the gymnasts hit the gym as usual in preparation for a rematch.
The No. 10 Bruins will compete at the IGI/Chicago Style Classic today against No. 2 Stanford and No. 6 Oregon State, who they faced in their previous two meets. UCLA lost badly at Stanford, 196.2-194.825, and beat Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore., 196.675-196.625.
The Bruins had a week off since their last meet and took advantage of it, getting some rest while aiming to carry the momentum from their last meet.
“We had three solid days in a row where we went back to basics and got their body lines stronger and tighter,” coach Valorie Kondos Field said. “This affects every event in gymnastics. … It was a great week of training.”
Considering Brittani McCullough’s impressive showing last week, the Bruins will look to the senior to guide them in the coming meets.
McCullough was vital for UCLA against Oregon State, and is coming off of her season-high score in the all-around of 39.4.
“I want to compete well for my team,” McCullough said. “I need to just keep training hard and focusing on things I need to do to make my team better. I need to continue to get one percent better every day in the gym so I can get better in the meet.”
The UCLA gymnasts can perform as well as they can, but the performance of the other teams also factors into a meet.
The last time out, Oregon State’s Leslie Mak won the all-around with a 39.45. The Bruins can guarantee that Mak will bring her best to the next meet, as well as the rest of the Oregon State and Stanford teams.
However, Mak’s numbers do not change junior Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs’ focus.
“Leslie was actually my teammate in Canada, so I trained with her a lot,” Hopfner-Hibbs said. “It doesn’t intimidate me in any way because it’s all about what I can do for the team. If that gets me a great all-around score, then that’s a success.”
Kondos Field knows that her team cannot focus on their opponents and must concentrate on what they are capable of.
“We’re going to go in and compete the best we can,” Kondos Field said.
“Last week’s victory was a great step, but it’s still nowhere near what we’re capable of doing. We’re going to try to hit 24-for-24 routines that are better than we hit last time.”
