Gymnastics National Collegiate Women’S
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Gymnastics NATIONAL COLLEGIATE WOMEN’S Highlights Bruins Win Sixth Women’s Gymnastics Championship: At the precise moment UCLA gymnast Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs finished her floor exercise routine April 23, enthusi- astic screams of “UC-LA! UC-LA!” echoed around the seating area at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. “I felt my teammates jumping around and going crazy before I even got up there,” Hopfner-Hibbs said. “I knew something was going on.” Like, say, a national championship? One minute later, smiling widely, Hopfner-Hibbs landed her final jump to complete a 9.95 performance. She bounced off the stage into a sea of UCLA gymnasts, and the University of Florida’s home arena turned into a cheer-fest of Bruins blue. UCLA had won its sixth NCAA Division I Women’s Gymnastic Championship, but its first since 2004. For the Bruins, a team that considers legendary basketball coach John Wooden its mentor, it was a defining moment. Remember, this was a gymnastics program that once had five Olympians and won five national titles in eight years. Its head coach, Valorie Kondos Field, says she was actually told by another coach that a “monkey” could have coached those squads. “This championship means a lot more to me than the other five did,” Kondos Field said, “because the other five came in such quick succession.” A Bruins bubble, they called it. “The whole journey, looking back on the whole thing, is so excellent,” said Anna Li, a senior who had three scores of 9.9 in four events. “We were our own Bruin bubble, and we brought the Bruin bubble to Florida.” Did they ever. UCLA, which had lost twice to Stanford during the regular season and once to 2009 national champion Georgia, arrived in Gainesville as the top seed in a 12-team field. The Bruins scored a semifinal-high 196.875 points. They scored 197.725 in the team finals. UCLA scored at least 49.325 points in every event, and needed only to compete cleanly in the floor exercise to hold off runner-up Oklahoma (197.250 points) and third- place Alabama (197.225). Alabama’s Morgan Dennis placed fourth in the all-around results with 39.550 points, placing third in the vault behind two UCLA gymnasts and fourth in two other events. Oklahoma, which hadn’t ever finished higher than ninth in the national championships and placed just third in the semifinals, was a contender in the finals. Hollie Vise scored a 9.925 in the floor exercise, and hit 9.9 in both the bars and balance beam. Host Florida finished fifth with 197.000 points, and, as it did in the semifinal session when it finished runner-up to Alabama, the Gators struggled in a pair of events, the balance beam and uneven bars. “They just seemed so uptight and caught up in the atmosphere of hosting,” Florida coach Rhonda Faehn said. “We made errors here and there, and that really hurt us.” Even so, Ashanee Dickerson, a Florida freshman from Jacksonville, Florida, had the arena rocking when she finished her floor exercise routine with three somersaults and landed perfectly. Her score of 9.95 tied the best of the night, and produced a standing ovation from a crowd of 5,386 that was dominated by fans wearing Gator orange. “Her floor was just unbelievable. She really had the crowd going,” Faehn said. “She did phenomenal. She responded from the semifinal performance.” Dickerson also hit 9.9 in the vault, 9.850 in the bars and 9.875 on the balance beam. She fell on the bars in the semifinals. Three other gymnasts also had 9.95s: UCLA’s Brittani McCullough in the vault, Stanford’s Carly Janiga in the bars and Alabama’s Ashley Priess on the balance beam. UCLA came out strongly, scoring 49.475 on the vault, its first event. With Bruin gymnasts screaming encouragement from the holding area just behind the beginning area of the runway for the vault, McCullough hit her 9.95, Vanessa Zamarripa hit 9.925 and Lit hit 9.9. Kondos Field still marvels at one attribute of her gymnasts this year; they didn’t care which event was first. “Our goal for tonight was to soak in every moment and that’s what we did,” Zamarripa said. “It feels great to know that at the end of the day, we did what we said we were going to do.” “We just had a blast the entire week,” Hopfner-Hibbs said. 2 WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS—Team Standings 2010 TEAM STANDINGS Maria Scaffidi, Nebraska, 39.250; 20. Stephanie McAllister, Uneven parallel bars: 1. Carly Janiga, Stanford, 9.9375; (Note: Scores for the top six teams are from the team-final ses- Utah, 39.225; 21. Brianna Artemev, Denver, 39.175; 22. (tie) 2. (tie) Summer Hubbard, LSU, and Hollie Vise, Oklahoma, sion. Scores for all other teams are from the team-preliminary Rebecca Simbhudas, Iowa, and Elise Wheeler, Southern 9.9250; 4. Susan Jackson, LSU, 9.9125; 5. (tie) Casey Jo session.) Utah, 39.150; 24. Shelley Alexander, Stanford, 39.100; 25. Magee, Arkansas, and Maranda Smith, Florida, 9.9000; 7. 1. UCLA ......................................................................197.725 Sarah Shire, Missouri, 39.000; 26. Ashanée Dickerson, Florida, Anna Li, UCLA, 9.8750; 8. (tie) Amanda Castillo, Florida, Kayla 2. Oklahoma ............................................................197.250 38.900; 27. Lauren Swankoski, Missouri, 38.750; 28. Ashley Hoffman, Alabama, and Kassi Price, Alabama, 9.8625; 11. 3. Alabama ...............................................................197.225 Priess, Alabama, 38.700; 29. Mary Burke, Missouri, 38.675; Daria Bijak, Utah, 9.8000, 4. Stanford ................................................................197.100 30. Taylor Seaman, North Carolina St., 38.650; 31. Nicole Balance beam: 1. Susan Jackson, LSU, 9.9625; 2. (tie) Carly 5. Florida ....................................................................197.000 Curler, Michigan St., 38.625; 32. Kelley Hennigan, Denver, Janiga, Stanford, and Courtney McCool, Georgia, 9.8875; 6. Utah ........................................................................196.225 38.575; 33. Mary Atkinson, Arizona St., 38.500; 34. Kyndal 4. Casey Jo Magee, Arkansas, 9.8750; 5. Kyndal Robarts, Utah, 9.8625; 6. Geralen Stack-Eaton, Alabama, 9.8500; 7. 7. Nebraska ..............................................................196.175 Robarts, Utah, 38.475; 35. Sarah Schmidt, Illinois, 38.425; 36. 8. Oregon St. ............................................................196.050 (tie) Jamie Deetscreek, Utah, and Brandi Personett, Penn Allyse Ishino, Stanford, 38.150; 37. Alexis Russell, Minnesota, 9. LSU ..........................................................................196.025 St., 9.8375; 9. Kelsey Knutson, Michigan, 9.7000; 10. Ashley 10. Michigan...............................................................195.700 38.075; 38. Deanna Graham, Arizona, 37.925; 39. Brittnee Priess, Alabama, 8.8250. Martinez, Michigan, 37.875. 11. Arkansas ...............................................................195.600 Floor exercise: 1. Brittani McCullough, UCLA, 9.9375; 2. (tie) Vault: 1. Vanessa Zamarripa, UCLA, 9.9250; 2. Susan Jackson, 12. Missouri ................................................................194.600 Brandi Personett, Penn St., Sarah Shire, Missouri, and Hollie LSU, 9.8938; 3. Mandi Rodriguez, Oregon St., 9.8348; 4. Vise, Oklahoma, 9.9000; 5. (tie) Morgan Dennis, Alabama, 2010 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS Marissa King, Florida, 9.8250; 5. Sarah Shire, Missouri, 9.8188; and Marissa King, Florida, 9.8875; 7. (tie) Natalie Beilstein, All-around: 1. Susan Jackson, LSU, 39.625; 2. Casey Jo Magee, 6. Ashanée Dickerson, Florida, 9.8000; 7. Kylee Botterman, Michigan, Annie DiLuzio, Utah, and Vanessa Zamarripa, Arkansas, 39.550; 3. Carly Janiga, Stanford, 39.525; 4. Geralen Michigan, 9.7938; 8. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, UCLA, 9.7818; UCLA, 9.8750; 10. (tie) Ashanée Dickerson, Florida, and Jaime Stack-Eaton, Alabama, 39.500; 5. Brandi Personett, Penn St., 9. (tie) Mary Atkinson, Arizona St., Ashley Lee, LSU, and Pisani, Arkansas, 9.8500; 12. Casey Jo Magee, Arkansas, 39.475; 6. Sharaya Musser, Penn St., 39.450; 7. (tie) Daria Bijak, Blair Ryland, Stanford, 9.7625; 12. (tie) Brittnee Martinez, 9.8125; 13. Makayla Stambaugh, Oregon St., 9.7375. Utah, Kylee Botterman, Michigan, and Vanessa Zamarripa, Michigan, and Jaime Pisani, Arkansas, 9.7188; 14. Anna Li, UCLA, 39.425; 10. (tie) Sarah Curtis, Michigan, Marissa King, UCLA, 9.6688; 15. Geralen Stack-Eaton, Alabama, 9.6625; 16. Florida, and Jaime Pisani, Arkansas, 39.400; 13. (tie) Morgan Allison Buckley, Illinois, 9.5063; 17. Sharaya Musser, Penn St., Dennis, Alabama, Ricki Lebegern, Alabama, Anna Li, UCLA, 9.4813; 18. Lora Evenstad, Nebraska, 8.7563. and Mandi Rodriguez, Ohio St., 39.375; 17. Elyse Hopfner- Hibbs, UCLA, 39.350; 18. Jamie Deetscreek, Utah, 39.300; 19. History Team Results Championships Year Champion Coach Points Runner-Up Points Host or Site Attendance 1982 ............................Utah Greg Marsden 148.60 Cal St. Fullerton 144.10 Utah 22,316 1983 ............................Utah Greg Marsden 184.65 Arizona St. 183.30 Utah 25,861 1984 ............................Utah Greg Marsden 186.05 UCLA 185.55 UCLA 21,563 1985 ............................Utah Greg Marsden 188.35 Arizona St. 186.60 Utah 21,303 1986 ............................Utah Greg Marsden 186.95 Arizona St. 186.70 Florida 25,655 1987 ............................Georgia Suzanne Yoculan 187.90 Utah 187.55 Utah 25,620 1988 ............................Alabama Sarah Patterson 190.05 Utah 189.50 Utah 23,220 1989 ............................Georgia Suzanne Yoculan 192.65 UCLA 192.60 Georgia 21,269 1990 ............................Utah Greg Marsden 194.900 Alabama