UCLA and the South Central Regional

by BruinsFan

Once again, UCLA looked phenomenal. They began on bars with a 49.475, and all six routines had great landings on their dismounts.  Jeanette opened with her inverts to piked Jaegar, and I noticed that some of her handstands were a bit improved in terms of having more open hips. Kristin Parker threw a clean piked Jaegar and double layout, and Onnie Willis did a nice job (just a little short on the straddle back HS).  Yvonne then went for what is IMO probably the most difficult bars routine ever attempted in NCAA gymnastics. She hit her Kim pirouette to piked Jaegar before surprising me by connecting a Hindorff to Pak salto!! I saw her do several beautiful ones back in December without any problem but this was her first time competing it in NCAA competition. Unfortunately, she dragged her knees on the Pak, which was a real shame. She finished with a double layout. Jamie brushed aside a very strange warmup to nail her routine, punctuating it with a stuck full-in, and Doni finished up nicely, leaving out the toe-on shoot to the HB she sometimes does.

Doni was just a little off on her ff-ff-layout on beam but otherwise had a nice routine to lead off. Jamie did a beautiful routine with an agressive punch front-wolf jump-Korbut and a stuck ff-gainer 1 1/2 twist off the end. Malia had a bit of a break on her ff-ff-layout and her switch-straddle-straddle was a little off as well, so I thought her score of 9.85 was a little on the high side. Onnie did a great routine, nailing everything and just taking a step on the dismount. Yvonne followed with an amazing routine. She was solid as can be, and I thought her 9.9 was a little low in comparison with some of the other routines. Alyssa finished off well. She had a slight break on her full turn with leg horizontal but her front aerial-ff was beautiful, as were her ring leaps. She's added a fun new section of choreography in there too.

Malia got things off to a great start on floor. Her tumbling was right on (high whip through to double pike opening) but the wolf-full in her leap series was a tiny bit short of rotation. Kristin Parker launched and stuck her Arabian double front and hit her double pike dismount. Jeanette then competed her first floor of the year and did a great job. Her whip-double pike mount was beautiful, and she followed up with a front through to full to layout step-out. The wolf-full in her gym series (double turn-Popa-wolf full) was a little short, and she ended with a double full. Yvonne's opening triple twist came up a bit short, but everything else was beautiful. Onnie nailed her routine, and Jamie, after having a few uncharacteristic problems on floor at Pac-10s (because of the springs, maybe?) was back to her old self. Everything was fantastic, and I thought she should have scored a 10.

Michelle Conway opened vault with a Hristakieva, but struggled on the landing, underrotating and taking two big steps back. Jamie sailed a beautiful Yurchenko-full with just a tiny hop on the landing, but Yvonne landed off-center on her Hristakieva. Jeanette followed up with another beautiful and solid Yurchenko-full before Kristin Parker did her piked barani, landing a little awkwardly. Onnie finished off the meet for the Bruins with another great Yurchenko-full.

Arizona started on floor, and first-up Kristine Harper touched her hands down on her opening 2 1/2 twist. Monica Bisordi opened with a double pike and followed it up with a double-twisting front. One gymnast (McCabe) for them opened with a nicely-done piked full-in and came back with a whip through to double tuck. Another (Johnson) opened with a double pike before doing a 2 1/2 twist-punch front as a second pass and closing with a double pike. Anchor Liljenquist underrotated her triple twist but did a nice front full-front pike and ended with a double full. I love watching her - she always has wonderfully expressive dance.

On vault, Schell missed her Phelps but Liljenquist and McCabe did strong Yurchenko-fulls, both with steps on the landing.

On bars, one of their gymnasts hit a foot on a Tkatchev, and since with the exception of Liljenquist, I don't see anything under 9.7, I'm thinking that may have been a bit on the high side. Liljenquist's miss on a piked Jaegar was really surprising, as she's usually very consistent. She finished with a stuck blind change-healy-rudi, but this was obviously a disappointing routine for her.

The pressure was really on them to nail beam, as they finished the meet on a bye with ASU on bars. Nail it they did, with all counting scores being 9.8 or above. Liljenquist did a nice ff-ff-layout, straddle-3/4, and RO-1 1/2 twist to end the meet for Arizona.

ASU had a bit of a wobbly beam rotation to open but got through it without counting a fall. Kari Muth opened with a solid gainer ff-ff-layout with nice extension and a cartwheel-gainer full off the side with a small hop. I think it was Margaret Wojciak (?) who had a break on her ff-2 layouts but saved it. Fifth-up Maggie Germaine fell on her series and was not at all happy about it. Laura Moon closed out their first event, ending with a gainer back pike off the end.

They moved on to floor, where they had a really nice rotation, but unfortunately I didn't get to see much, as UCLA was on beam. On vault, both Carla DeMartini and Maggie Germaine hit nice, high Hristakievas.

ASU ended on bars, with Arizona already finished with their competition. Ashley Ellsberry had a short straddle-back and ended with a double tuck dismount. Carla DeMartini hit her routine that opened with a toe-on shoot to HB, included a Jaegar, and ended with a toe-on front with a step forward. Maggie Germaine went over on a straddle-back HS and had to do a half turn and drag her feet. She threw a nice Tkatchev and took a step back on her double tuck. Kari Muth followed, showing a rarely-seen Endo, a healy, and a Pak salto. She was having lots of trouble with her double front dismount in extended warmups, usually sitting it down, but with the pressure on following Germaine's miss, she pulled it around and took a big step forward. Laura Moon showed a double layout dismount to end ASU's meet.

I didn't see much of BYU, CSUF, or Illinois-Chicago. Kelly Evanson of BYU surprisingly sat down her double front dismount on bars and I saw that Kelly Mathiasen did a nice floor for CSUF (whip through to double tuck, double pike, double full) but that's about it.

Ashley Godwin of SEMO was the individual AA competitor who rotated with UCLA, and we had fun watching her. She's a *very* tall gymnast and has some nice skills. On bars she showed a giant full-Gienger-overshoot combination (a little bit sloppy). As she was setting up for her dismount, she had some problems, stalling in a handstand on a giant but pulling it through. Then she again stalled in the next handstand and had to fall forward into a front giant. She had too much momentum and had to do another front giant and hop her grip back before reaching the handstand into her double tuck. She showed a ff-layout on beam. Floor was her best event. She opened with a great, high full-in, and also tumbled double full and whip-double full. She ended on vault with a nice-looking stuck tucked Phelps.

Arizona and ASU were obviously very close, and we didn't know who advanced until they announced third place in the awards ceremony. We thought that ASU had likely pulled it out, but then saw Arizona celebrating like they had made it. But of course, it turned out that Arizona edged out ASU. I'm really happy for Randi Liljenquist, who this year gets to go to Nationals with a full team. She was emotional during the awards ceremony after being named the South Central Regional Gymnast of the Year and again when the announcement was made that they made Nationals.

This was quite a fun meet and a nice way to finish the season in terms of meets I get to attend.