March 9, 1999

THIS WEEK -- The 17th-ranked UCLA women's gymnastics team (13-4) will travel to Ann Arbor, MI on Saturday, Mar. 13 to face sixth-ranked Michigan and Rutgers. Ten All-Americans will be competing in this meet - four Wolverines and six Bruins.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS-- The sixth-ranked Wolverines enter their final home meet coming off of a season-high 197.025 defeat of Arizona. The Wolverines are led by four returning All-Americans: Beth Amelkovich, Kathy Burke, Sarah Cain and Nikki Peters. Cain enters the meet with five consecutive all-around wins. The Wolverines demonstrated their strength on the vault, where they are rated second in the nation, by sweeping the event in their win against the Wildcats. Lisa Simes won the vault (9.950), followed by second through fifth place finishers Christine Michaud (9.825), Peters (9.800) and Sarah-Elizabeth Langford (9.775). Rutgers (10-9) scored a new school record team total with a 192.325 Feb. 27. Junior Rachel Ciarlante scored a school-record 9.925 on floor in the Scarlet Knights' last meet and has now won four consecutive floor titles.

LAST MEET -- The Bruins captured their third consective Bruin Classic team title last weekend by posting a season-high 196.5 in their win over Kentucky, Michigan State and California. Bruin junior Lena Degteva won the all-around with a career-high and Bruin-Classic record 39.425, the bars with a season-best 9.9 and the floor exercise with a career-high and meet-record 9.95. Heidi Moneymaker placed second all-around with a season-high 39.325, simultaneously capturing the vault with a career-high and meet-record 9.975. Senior Luisa Portocarrero shared the beam title with Moneymaker with a tied score of 9.800. Portocarrero reclaimed the beam title she won in the inaugural Classic in 1997 .

PORTOCARRERO VAULTS TO THE TOP -- Senior Luisa Portocarrero (Guatemala City, Guatemala) scored a career-high on vault for the second consecutive meet with a 9.875 (third place) at the Bruin Classic. She also tied for first on beam with a score of 9.800. Portocarrero made a dramatic return to the Bruin vault lineup at the UCLA Invitational Feb. 20, tying for first on her first vault in a year with a 9.85. The 1992 Olympian from Guatemala performed her first and last collegiate vault Feb. 7, 1998 at the UCLA Invitational and sprained her foot in the process, keeping her out of competition for two months. Prior to that vault last season, her last vault occurred at the 1993 World Championships. She performs a Yurchenko layout with a half twist (10.0 start value).

BHARDWAJ RETURNS FROM INJURY -- UCLA sophomore All-American Mohini Bhardwaj (Cincinnati, OH) placed second on floor at the Bruin Classic with a career-high 9.925 in her first performance on floor in almost two months. Out since Jan. 10 with torn ligaments in her elbow, she returned to competition on beam at the UCLA Invitational.

HEIDI IS MONEY ON VAULT -- Junior All-American Heidi Moneymaker (Santa Rosa, CA) had a stellar performance at the Bruin Classic. She captured her sixth-consecutive vault title with a career-high 9.975 and also won th e beamwith a 9.800. Moneymaker also placed second all-around with a season-high 39.325. Moneymaker now averages 9.842 on vault and 38.819 in the all-around for the season.

THE IRON WOMAN -- Junior All-American Lena Degteva (Mississauga, Ontario) has won the "Iron Woman" award this season, competing 35 of 36 possible routines so far this season. The only time this year she was held out of an event was on beam at the Bruins' season opener at Cal State Fullerton. Despite her lack of rest throughout the season, Degteva has been spectacular, winning 12 event titles and averaging 9.783 on vault and 9.744 on bars. She scored a career-high 39.425 in winning the all-around at the Bruin Classic on March 7 and also set a new career-high on floor with a 9.95.

BRUIN VAULTERS INCREASE DIFFICULTY -- With the addition of Luisa Portocarrero to the vault lineup, UCLA now has five vaulters with 10.0 start values. Freshman Lindsey Dong upgraded her vault to a 10.0 start value at the Bruins' last meet, throwing a Phelps and scoring a career-best 9.675. UCLA's other 10.0 vaults include a Yurchenko layout with a half-twist (Portocarrero, Degteva, Hayashi) and a handspring front pike with a half-twist (Moneymaker). When Mohini Bhardwaj returns to the vault lineup with her Yurchenko one-and-a-half, the Bruins will have six vaulters with 10.0 start values.

UCLA IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS -- In this week's national rankings (by regional qualifying score - average of the top two home, top two away, plus two other top scores, throwing out the high and low), UCLA ranked 17th for team RQS (194.025), 10th on vault (48.6937), 13th on bars (48.7), 22nd on beam (48.2125) and 23rd on floor (48.6125).

Individually, Heidi Moneymaker is the Bruins' top all-arounder at 17th (38.8875). She is folowed by Lena Degteva, who is tied for 25th (38.775). Moneymaker ranks eighth on vault (9.8437), and Kiralee Hayashi ranks 25th on floor (9.8375).

BRUINS SIGN GREATEST RECRUITING CLASS IN HISTORY -- UCLA has signed what is considered to be the greatest recruiting class in the history of the sport. Four current or past national champions highlight head coach Valorie Kondos' recruiting class of 1999-2000.

Signing with UCLA in November were current U.S. national all-around champion Kristen Maloney (Allentown, PA/Parkettes); 1997 Canadian national all-around champion Sarah Deegan (Oshawa, Ontario/Gemini Gymnastics); 1995 USA balance beam national champion Doni Thompson (Olympia, WA/Black Hills Gymnastics); and 1998 Level 10 national all-around, vault and bars champion Onnie Willis (Tacoma, WA/Puget Sound Gymnastics).

Maloney will defer college until after the 2000 Olympics, as will another Bruin signee, Alyssa Beckerman (Middletown, NJ/Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy). Beckerman placed eighth in the all-around and beam, second on bars and seventh on floor at the 1998 USA National Championships.

Also signing with UCLA are three top Level 10 competitors, Malia Jones (Sparks, NV/Flips Gymnastics); Kristin Parker (Hanford, CA/Central California Gymnastics Institute); and Carly Raab (Seattle, WA/Cascade Elite Gymnastics).

Said Kondos, "I am so excited about this year's recruiting class. This is the greatest collection of student-athletes gymnastics has ever seen."

SILVER ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED -- The UCLA Athletic Department will celebrate the Silver Anniversary of UCLA Women's Intercollegiate Athletics on May 1, 1999. "A Celebration of Champions" dinner will honor the accomplishments of the UCLA Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Program and its athletes over the past 25 years.

Top 25 Team Rankings
(by regional qualifying score)

Rnk School Avg.
1 Georgia 196.9562
2 Alabama 196.7125
3 Utah 196.2312
4 Penn State 195.6625
5 LSU 195.4125
6 Michigan 195.2312
7 Arizona State 195.1125
8 Nebraska 194.9125
9 Maryland 194.3687
10 Ohio State 194.3125
11 Oklahoma 194.2812
12 West Virginia 194.2312
13 Oregon State 194.1937
14 Minnesota 194.1625
15 Stanford 194.1500
16 Utah State 194.0375
17 UCLA 194.0250
18 Florida 193.9562
19 Illinois 193.4625
20 Iowa State 193.3875
21 Denver 193.3750
22 Kentucky 193.3500
23 Central Michigan 193.2875
24 North Carolina St. 193.2375
25 Illinois-Chicago 193.0750
*as of Mar. 2