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University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
NCAA Championship Blog - April 12, 2008
April 12, 2008
Gainesville, FL -
9:30 pm ET - UCLA more or less wrapped up a spot at Nationals, scoring 49.275 on vault for a final team score of 196.625. Nebraska will need a 49.8 on floor to pass the Bruins, which is highly unlikely at a NCAA event. Tasha Schwikert grabbed the team's highest vault score with a 9.925, and Kristina Comforte added a 9.875.
9:15 pm ET - UCLA survived floor, scoring 48.875. Floor scoring has been tight, with 9.85 being the highest score so far. Anna Li hit what looked to be a beauty, highlighted by a gorgeous double layout, but she scored just 9.825, which was the second-highest floor score at the time. Tasha Schwikert watered down her opening pass to an open tuck double and then pulled a serious balancing act to keep her double pike in bounds and scored 9.8. And Tasha somehow managed to make it look somewhat graceful.
On to vault to close the show ...
8:15 pm ET - The pressure was on for the Bruins on balance beam after Ariana Berlin suffered a rare fall, but her teammates had her back and hit five straight routines to score 49.1. Niki Tom went immediately after Ari and scored a 9.725. The judges were really mixed on that routine. Two judges went 9.8, and the other two went 9.65. The Bruin fans weren't feeling Jordan Schwikert's 9.825 - too low, in their opinion. Forte nailed her routine once again and scored a 9.875, and Tasha and Anna went 9.85 and 9.825, respectively.
UCLA has a bye in the third rotation and will compete next on floor. The expected lineup is Ariana, Mizuki, Jordan, Anna, Jenkins and Tasha.
7:38 pm ET - UCLA just finished up on uneven bars and went stick-stick-stick-stick-stick, starting with Shavahn Church's double tuck and ending with Anna Li's effortless double layout. Anna, who got the crowd gasping as usual with her huge Tkatchev, earned three 9.95s and a 10. The Bruin faithful seated right behind me were not in agreeance with the 9.825s given to Shavahn and Jordan.
On to beam next ... with Ariana Berlin, Niki Tom, Jordan Schwikert, Kristina Comforte, Tasha Schwikert and Anna Li due up.
7:15 pm ET - The participants are currently being introduced. The Bruins will begin the meet on uneven bars. The lineup for bars is the usual - Ariana Berlin, Shavahn Church, Jordan Schwikert, Kristina Comforte, Tasha Schwikert and Anna Li.
The new leos are similar to the warm-up leos, but with sparkles around the pattern of the V neck and back.
5:50 pm ET - We've completed two warm-up rotations at the O'Connell Center, and so far, so good for the Bruins, who showed quite a few stuck dismounts on uneven bars and looked very confident and secure on balance beam. The Bruins are going to unveil new leotards tonight. Their warmup leos are also new and usually a variation of the competition leos, so check out the photo to the right for a hint.
They've just opened the doors to the public, and the fans are pouring in to catch warm-ups. There were tens of thousands of people on campus for the Spring Football game, so if they get even one-tenth of that audience to stick around for gymnastics, it will be a really big crowd tonight.
This is the Bruins' first visit to Gainesville since 2004. That meet was as close as could be, with UCLA squeaking out a .025 victory. Scoring back then was a little loose, to say the least. The final score of that meet was 198.250-198.225 and was the Bruins' third of four 198s that year. There has only been one 198 by any team since that season.
This arena has great memories for Miss Val, who guided UCLA to its first-ever NCAA title right here at the O'Connell Center in 1997. Let's hope the success here continues tonight!