UCLA Hosts NC State Feb. 21 In Heart Of A Champion MeetUCLA Hosts NC State Feb. 21 In Heart Of A Champion Meet

UCLA Hosts NC State Feb. 21 In Heart Of A Champion Meet

Gymnastics

This Week - The ninth-ranked UCLA gymnastics team (6-6) will compete at home for the first time in six weeks this Monday, Feb. 21 in its first annual Heart of a Champion meet. The Bruins will host 25t

Feb. 16, 2011

Complete Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

This Week - The ninth-ranked UCLA gymnastics team (6-6) will compete at home for the first time in six weeks this Monday, Feb. 21 in its first annual Heart of a Champion meet. The Bruins will host 25th-ranked North Carolina State at 1 pm in Pauley Pavilion. The Heart of a Champion meet will help raise funds for Camp del Corazon, a non-profit organization that provides a summer camp to youngsters with heart disease. ( Camp del Corazon video)

Tickets - Fans can purchase a commemorative t-shirt for $10 at the Camp del Corazon website (campdelcorazon.org) and receive free general admission to the meet. The t-shirts will also be on sale at the meet outside Gate 2 while supplies last. All proceeds from the t-shirt sales will go to Camp del Corazon. Lower-level seats are also on sale at the UCLA Central Ticket Office for $12 (adults)/$10 (youth). UCLA students are free with student ID.

Celebrity Appearance - iCarly star Noah Munck, who has worked extensively with Camp del Corazon, will be in attendance at Monday's meet to give more information about the camp and how to help its cause. Munck and the UCLA team will also sign autographs after the meet.

Promotions - The 2011 team poster will be distributed at the conclusion of the meet for the autograph session. Other giveaway items include glow sticks to the first 500 in attendance, UCLA foam fingers to the first 250 fans, and meet programs to the first 2,000 in attendance. A group of children from Camp del Corazon will be singing the national anthem.

Live Coverage - UCLABruins.com will host a free live video and audio feed, along with live scoring.

In The Rankings - UCLA moved up one spot to No. 9 in the national rankings with a season average of 195.575. The Bruins rank eighth on vault (49.046), seventh on bars (49.000), 11th on beam (48.642) and 13th on floor (48.888). Individually, the Bruins have four gymnasts ranked in the Top 25 in the all-around - Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (16th, 39.2), Sydney Sawa (20th, 39.125), Brittani McCullough (21st, 39.1) and Olivia Courtney (24th, 39.067). Three Bruins are ranked on bars - No. 2 Samantha Peszek (9.9), No. 16 Monique De La Torre (9.845), and No. 20 Hopfner-Hibbs (9.838). Tauny Frattone is ranked 20th on vault (9.854), and Aisha Geber is tied for 22nd on beam (9.808).

Bruins Score 196.3 At IGI/Chicago Style - Tenth-ranked UCLA scored its second-highest team total of the season (196.3) but finished in a close third at the IGI/Chicago Style. Second-ranked Stanford was first with a 196.475, and sixth-ranked Oregon State placed second with a 196.35. The Bruins suffered big deductions on floor exercise, with three gymnasts going big on powerful tumbling passes that sent them out of bounds. Four Bruins took home first-place finishes with season-high marks, with Tauny Frattone winning vault (9.9), Samantha Peszek and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs tying with three others for first on bars (9.9), and Olivia Courtney tying for first on floor (9.9). UCLA claimed the highest team totals on vault (season-high 49.2), bars (season-high 49.275) and beam (48.975, tied with Stanford).

Peszek Makes Collegiate Debut - In her collegiate debut, freshman Samantha Peszek scored a 9.9 to tie for first place on uneven bars at the IGI/Chicago Style. Peszek, who had not competed on bars in a meet since the 2008 Olympics, was originally scheduled to just do an exhibition routine but was placed in the lineup after warm-ups and hit for a 9.9 to help the Bruins score a season-high 49.275 on the event. She had missed all five of UCLA's previous meets this season after suffering a foot fracture in early January. Peszek was awarded the Pac-10 Special Performance of the Week honor for this routine.

Frattone Vaults Ahead - Junior Tauny Frattone continues to be UCLA's top vaulter this season, averaging a team-high 9.854 to rank 20th in the nation. She has posted three consecutive wins on the event and has scored 9.8 or better in 17 consecutive meets and in 21 of 23 career meets. Frattone's career-high is 9.95, set Mar. 14, 2010 against Michigan State and Cal State Fullerton. She recorded her season-high of 9.9 at the IGI/Chicago Style last weekend.

Gerber Takes Lead On Beam - Junior Aisha Gerber has taken over the all-important leadoff position on beam the last four meets. Although she is first in the lineup, she has maintained the team's highest season average, at 9.808, which ranks her 22nd in the nation. In her first leadoff performance at Southern Utah, her 9.775 score led the way towards a then-season-high 49.1 team mark. At Stanford, she led off with a 9.8, and at OSU, her 9.75 leadoff led to a season-high team score of 49.175 and a final rotation comeback win. She scored 9.8 in her last competition at the IGI/Chicago Style, and the Bruins scored a meet-high-tying 48.975 on the event. Gerber had been fifth in the lineup in the first two meets of the season and scored 9.875 and 9.85.

Oh Canada - UCLA's Canadian trio of Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, Aisha Gerber and Sydney Sawa have been amongst the team's standouts so far this season. Hopfner-Hibbs won the all-around at the Pac-10 Showcase with a nation-high score of 39.55 and also placed first on beam (9.95) and floor (career-high tying 9.95). She also tied for first on bars at Utah with a 9.8 and at the IGI/Chicago Style with a season-high 9.9. Hopfner-Hibbs has been UCLA's top scorer in all four meets in which she has competed all-around. Gerber won beam at Utah with a 9.875 and has placed first on uneven bars in two meets. At Stanford, she placed second in the all-around with a 39.225, her highest all-around total since 2009. Sawa has been extremely consistent all season, hitting all 18 of her routines without a fall and averaging 9.7 or better on all four events. She has highs of 9.85 on vault, 9.9 on bars, 9.825 on beam and 9.85 on floor.

Consistent Bruins - UCLA ended its 2010 season with amazing consistency, hitting 95 of 96 postseason routines without a fall. Three returning Bruins missed just one routine all of last year (all on beam) - Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and Brittani McCullough, who each went 40-for-41, and Aisha Gerber, who hit 30-for-31. Vanessa Zamarripa, who is redshirting this season, hit 52-for-53, and graduated senior Anna Li was a perfect 47-for-47. This season, McCullough is 17-for-18 on the year and has hit 107 of 112 career routines. Gerber has hit 46 of her last 48 routines and is 16-for-17 on the year. Hopfner-Hibbs is 16-of-17 in 2011 and has hit 71 of her last 73 routines. Freshmen Sydney Sawa is 18-for-18, and Olivia Courtney has hit 17-for-18. Senior Niki Tom has hit 12 of her 13 routines.

Making The Grade - Fifteen UCLA gymnasts made the UCLA Director's Honor Roll (3.0 GPA or higher) for Fall 2010: Kaelie Baer, Monique De La Torre, Aisha Gerber, Danielle Greig, Tiffany Hyland, Talia Kushynski, Rachel Luba, Brittani McCullough, Samantha Peszek, Alyssa Pritchett, Mizuki Sato, Courtney Shannon, Allison Taylor, Niki Tom and Lichelle Wong.

Season Tickets On Sale Now - Tickets for the 2011 season are on sale now. For just $45, fans can purchase a UCLA season ticket which includes a lower-level seat at three upcoming regular season home meets (Feb. 21 vs. North Carolina State, Feb. 27 vs. Denver and Minnesota and Mar. 6 vs. Georgia and Arizona) and the Pac-10 Championships on Mar. 19. All home meets take place in legendary Pauley Pavilion. Tickets can be purchased online at www.tickets.ucla.edu or by phone at 310-UCLA-WIN.