THIS WEEK - Second-ranked and defending NCAA Champions UCLA will travel to Tucson, Ariz. to take on Pac-10 foe Arizona Friday, Jan. 23 at the McKale Center at 6:30 pm (PST). The Bruins are 3-1 on the season and have totaled a season- high score of 194.025. Arizona is 1-1 on the year, having beaten Boise State with a season-best 189.2 in its season opener and then falling to nine-time NCAA Champion Utah last weekend.

A LOOK AT THE BRUINS - Defending NCAA champion UCLA entered the season ranked No. 1 in the pre-season coaches' poll and is currently ranked No. 2 based on its season-high score of 194.025 against Georgia in the season opener. Junior team co-captain Kiralee Hayashi has been UCLA's leader thus far, leading the Bruins in the all-around in each of the Bruins' two meets. Hayashi placed second against Georgia with a 39.075 and captured the all-around and beam crowns in the Bruins' home opener last Sunday against Arizona State, Denver and UC Santa Barbara. Also winning two events last weekend was freshman Mohini Bhardwaj, who placed first on vault and floor.

A LOOK AT ARIZONA - The Wildcats will be running on emotion the entire season, as head coach Jim Gault has announced that he will retire at the end of this season, his 18th. Arizona will need to use that emotion to compensate for the loss of its best gymnast, 1996 NCAA Floor Exercise Champion Heidi Hornbeek, who will redshirt the season following shoulder surgery. Fortunately for the Wildcats, they return all but one gymnast from last year, including All- Americans Maureen Kealey and Kristin McDermott.

LAST MEETING - UCLA returns to Arizona's McKale Center, where the Bruins took won the 1997 Pac-10 Championships with a score of 196.55, the fourth-highest team score in school history. Arizona placed fifth. The Bruins defeated the Wildcats one other time in 1997, at the Shanico Inn-vitational, which the Bruins won with a score of 196.5, over three points higher than Arizona's third-place total.

THE SERIES WITH ARIZONA - UCLA holds the advantage over Arizona in the series, winning 35 times in 42 meetings. Arizona's last win came in 1996, when it beat the Bruins twice (in a triangular meet with Stanford and at the Pac-10 Championships).

BRUINS WIN HOME OPENER - In front of a near-capacity crowd of 1,967 in its home opener at the John Wooden Center, UCLA defeated 1997 NCAA runner-up Arizona State, Denver and UC Santa Barbara. The Bruins scored 193.15 to ASU's 191.175, Denver's 184.225 and UCSB's 181.1. ASU held a .125 lead after one event, but the Bruins took a .225 lead after the second rotation and continued to expand the lead throughout the competition. The Bruins swept the individual events, with freshman Mohini Bhardwaj winning the vault (season-high 9.8) and floor exercise (9.825). Sophomore Heidi Moneymaker took first place honors on bars with a 9.9. Juniors Kiralee Hayashi and Luisa Portocarrero tied for first on the balance beam with scores of 9.825. In the all-around Hayashi for the second consecutive meet was the Bruins' highest finisher, placing first with a 38.575. Bhardwaj was second (season-high 38.325), followed by Moneymaker (38.225).

NORMAN RESURRECTS CHAMPIONSHIP FLOOR ROUTINE - For nine years, UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos has waited to find a gymnast worthy of using music she helped composed for three-time NCAA floor exercise champion Kim Hamilton. Kondos has finally found that person in freshman Alexis Norman, a Virginia native like Hamilton. Performing to Hamilton's piece which she used to capture the 1989 NCAA floor title, Norman dazzled the crowd in her collegiate debut last Sunday and showed that by season's end, she could very well be a worthy successor to Hamilton's legacy. Said Kondos, "I've waited and waited to use this music again until someone came along who could really move to it. And Alexis can do that."

JUNIOR DUO CONSTANTS ON BEAM - UCLA can always count on juniors Kiralee Hayashi and Luisa Portocarrero to stay on the beam when most needed. Twice this season, the duo has come up big when its teammates have faltered on the beam. At Georgia in the season opener, the Bruins watched their first three competitors fall off a crooked balance beam. But up stepped Hayashi, who put in a solid 9.725, and Portocarrero, who score a 9.675. The same thing happened last Sunday, when two of the first three Bruin gymnasts fell. But Hayashi and Portocarrero stepped in again with excellent routines which scored 9.825s, good for first place. This phenomenon is not new. At the 1996 Pac-10 Championships, the duo righted the ship and were the only Bruins to stay on that apparatus.

ATHLETE UPDATES

STELLA UMEH - Senior co-captain Stella Umeh had a solid meet against Georgia in the season opener, scoring a 39.0 in the all-around despite a fall on beam. Umeh's high score was attributed to spectacular performances on vault (career- high 9.875 on a vault worth a 9.9), bars (9.85) and floor (9.925). Last weekend, Umeh competed on just two events and tied for third on bars (9.825). 1998 Highs: V-9.875, UB-9.85, BB-9.35, FX-9.925, AA-39.0

KIRALEE HAYASHI - Junior team co-captain Kiralee Hayashi has been UCLA's top all-arounder so far this season, scoring UCLA's top all-around mark in both meets. Against Georgia, Hayashi placed second with an all-around score of 39.075. In the Bruins' home opener against ASU, Denver and UCSB, she placed first in the all-around (38.575) and beam (tied with a 9.825), second on floor (9.8) and third on vault (9.7). The Kailua, Hawaii native competed in an international meet in Taiwan in December and advanced to the event finals on bars, placing sixth. 1998 Highs: V-9.75, UB-9.85, BB-9.825, FX-9.8, AA-39.075

HEIDI MONEYMAKER - Sophomore team co-captain Heidi Moneymaker has enjoyed a strong opening to the 1998 season. She has established herself as UCLA's best bars performer, as evidenced by her two scores of 9.9 (third place at Georgia, first place vs. ASU, Denver and UCSB) in her two meets. On floor, she scored a career-high 9.925 at Georgia. In Taiwan last month, Moneymaker advanced to the event final on vault, where she placed fifth. 1998 Highs: V-9.775, UB-9.9, BB- 9.35, FX-9.925, AA-38.95

LUISA PORTOCARRERO - 1992 Olympian and two-time World Championships competitor Luisa Portocarrero is back in her 1996 form that saw her earn first-team All- American honors on the balance beam. In the Bruins' two meets this year, she is averaging a 9.75 and tied with Hayashi for first place in the Bruin's quadrangular meet last weekend. Portocarrero also competed on bars last weekend, scoring a 9.7. 1998 Highs: UB- 9.7, BB-9.675

MOHINI BHARDWAJ - Freshman Mohini Bhardwaj has impressed in her first collegiate season. In her collegiate debut at Georgia Jan. 9, she scored a pair of 9.875s on bars and floor. Bhardwaj took first place honors last weekend on the vault (9.8) and floor (9.825) and placed second on bars (9.85) and in the all-around (38.325). Bhardwaj performs some of the most difficult skills in the nation, including a laid-out Yurchenko one-and-a-half vault, worth a 10.0, and a full- twisting double layout dismount on bars. 1998 Highs: V-9.725, UB-9.875, BB-8.65, FX-9.875, AA-38.125

HEAD COACH VALORIE KONDOS - Now in her eighth year as head coach, Valorie Kondos has solidified UCLA Gymnastics as one of the top collegiate programs. In the process, Kondos has established herself as one of the top gymnastics coaches in the nation, earning National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC) Coach of the Year honors in 1997 and 1996. Under her guidance, the 1997 Bruins won the first ever NCAA title in UCLA Gymnastics history. In her 15 years of coaching (eight as an assistant coach), she has guided 24 athletes to 74 All- American honors.

UCLA TO HOST 1998 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - UCLA will get a chance to defend its 1997 NCAA title when it hosts the 1998 NCAA Championships April 16-18 in Pauley Pavilion. All-session tickets are priced from $14-$30. Single-session tickets range in price from $6-10. Tickets are available now at UCLA's Central Ticket Office by calling 310/UCLA-WIN.

BRUINS TO HOST 1998 PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS - UCLA will also get a chance to defend its 1997 Pac-10 title when it hosts the 1998 Pac-10 Championships Sat., Mar. 21 at 6 pm in Pauley Pavilion.