UCLA Gymnastics Team Voted Preseason No. 1
December 01, 2010 | Gymnastics
Dec. 1, 2010
The defending NCAA champion UCLA gymnastics team will open the 2011 season as the favorite after being voted No. 1 in the preseason coaches poll. The Bruins, who return 16 gymnasts from last year's championship squad, received 32 of 42 first-place votes.
Head coach Valorie Kondos Field returns two NCAA individual champions in vault champion Vanessa Zamarripa and floor champion Brittani McCullough, as well as three other All-Americans in senior Niki Tom and juniors Aisha Gerber and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs. The Bruins have 20 of their 24 routines back from last year's NCAA Championships and add a super recruiting class led by 2008 Olympic silver medalist Samantha Peszek, U.S. National Team member Olivia Courtney and two-time Canadian all-around champion Sydney Sawa.
UCLA will face 10 of the Top 25 teams in the polls this season, including Top 10 foes in No. 5 Utah, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Georgia and No. 8 Oregon State. Also on tap are meets against No. 16 Denver, No. 19 Arizona, No. 20 Southern Utah, No. 21 Washington, No. 23 Minnesota and No. 25 Arizona State.
The Bruins open the season with a pair of what are sure to be hotly-contested meets, first at No. 5 Utah on Friday, Jan. 7 and then at home on Sunday, Jan. 9 against the six other Pac-10 teams in the Pac-10 Women's Gymnastics Showcase. Tickets for the Pac-10 Showcase, along with season tickets, are on sale now at the UCLA Central Ticket Office (310-UCLA-WIN, tickets.ucla.edu).
2011 Pre-Season Coaches Poll
1. UCLA - 1035 points (32 first-place votes)
2. Alabama - 950 (3)
3. Florida - 948 (3)
4. Oklahoma - 881 (2)
5. Utah - 853 (1)
6. Stanford - 818 (1)
7. Georgia - 749
8. Oregon State - 702
9. Michigan - 696
10. Nebraska - 691
11. Arkansas - 648
12. L.S.U. - 647
13. Missouri - 479
14. Penn State - 456
15. Auburn - 415
16. Denver - 361
17. Illinois-Champaign - 333
18. Boise State - 311
19. Arizona - 274
20. Southern Utah - 195
21. Washington - 191
22. Iowa State - 114
23. Minnesota - 109
24. Kentucky - 102
25. Arizona State - 100
Players Mentioned
