Gymnastics meets expectations with season-high win against Oregon State

Coach Valorie Kondos Field said it was the toughest performance of Sophina DeJesus’ career.

The Bruins’ Saturday night win over Oregon State was not in question when the senior gymnast took the floor to carry out the hip-hop-infused routine that has turned her into an Internet sensation the past week, but that didn’t lessen the pressure.

“Everybody was expecting perfection,” Kondos Field said. “She could handle pressure. I was thrilled for her. She made a back-to-back, another great performance.”

DeJesus did not achieve perfection, but she earned a 9.900 with her now-famous sequence of tumbling and popular dance moves. It wasn’t her best display of the night – she scored a career-high 9.975 on beam, and the Bruins recorded a season-best mark as they triumphed over the Beavers 197.475-196.225.

Senior Danusia Francis, who received a 9.775 in her collegiate debut on vault, won the all-around title at the meet with an all-around score of 39.450.

“I knew I did well,” Francis said. “But when I came into it, if someone said, ‘You are gonna win,’ I would be like, ‘Are you sure?’”

Showing consistency throughout with a score of 9.850 in each of the four events, sophomore Sonya Meraz finished second.

“She had the best meet of the season for her. I think this meet infused her with that fire she had last year,” Kondos Field said. “She was on fire as a freshman. And she’s been working really hard, but I haven’t seen the fire and the passion. And this is the first time I saw that fire from her.”

Meraz tied career highs on three events – vault, uneven bars and balance beam – and the 39.400 all-around score also marked a new career high for the sophomore. She suggested that facing all-around competition from Francis helped.

“I think with both of us, it’s like iron sharpens iron,” Meraz said. “So it’s like we keep pushing each other. She pushes me to be better.”

Three other UCLA gymnasts made personal bests. Sophomore JaNay Honest and freshman Madison Preston each earned a career high of 9.900 on vault.

DeJesus’ top-notch beam performance was impressive, considering she had fallen on bars earlier in the meet.

Before she went on the beam, DeJesus said she laughed about her fall on bars, singing along to the music over the speakers and deciding to have fun with her beam routine, which features a moonwalk.

“When she fell and she came over to the chalk box, it was like you gotta get it out of your system: ‘Flip it, you gotta flip it, right here,’” Kondos Field said. “And I saw her eyes, like a camera lens, it’s super focused – as she was doing the chalk box. And I’m like, ‘She’s fine.’”

Kondos Field then watched as DeJesus, for the second-straight week, electrified the crowd.