UCLA Bruins gymnastics

UCLA Women's Gymnastics
Founded: 1974 (1974)
University	University of California, Los Angeles
Conference	Pac-12
Location	Los Angeles, CA
Head Coach	Valorie Kondos Field (1991-present year)
Home Arena	Pauley Pavilion (Capacity: 13,800)
Known As	UCLA Bruins
Colors	True Blue and Gold
National Championships
6 (1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010) NCAA Championships
NCAA Regional Champions
18 (Regionals)
Conference Champions
15 (Pac-12 Championships)

The UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics team represents the University of California at Los Angeles and competes in the Pacific-12 (Pac-12) Conference. They currently compete in Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA. The team, coached by head coach Valorie Kondos-Field, has won 6 NCAA Women's Gymnastics championships (1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010) and 18 Regional titles, including nine in the last 10 years. UCLA won the 2010 NCAA Women's Gymnastics championship on April 23, 2010. Vanessa Zamarripa was the vault champion with a score of 9.9250 and Brittani McCullough won the floor exercise championship with a 9.9375.

There had been some doubts as to the stability of women's gymnastics at UCLA after the athletic department cut the program in the fall of 1993.

In 1994, the UCLA women's gymnastics team signed Kerri Strug. Strug's letter of intent was for the season following the 1996 Olympics. After her participation in the Ice Capades and Disney on Ice, Strug announced her retirement and enrolled in UCLA. As a professional, she could not compete in NCAA gymnastics events, so she worked for a time as team manager. She later transferred to Stanford University.

Some notable former UCLA gymnasts include current stuntwoman Heidi Moneymaker and Olympic Team members Jamie Dantzscher, Mohini Bhardwaj, Kate Richardson, Tasha Schwikert, Kristen Maloney, Yvonne Tousek, Stella Umeh, Luisa Portocarrero and Sam Peszek.

Highlights

• 2008 Canadian Olympic Gymnastics team member Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs is attending UCLA, a member of the team since the 2008-2009 season.
• The Bruins won the 2009 Pac-10 title, their 14th, and was 7th seeded in the NCAA National Championships. They competed at the NCAA North Central Regionals at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, Apr. 4 with Florida (#6), Minnesota (#18), Denver (#20), Iowa State (#23) and Iowa (#28). The Bruins came in second behind Florida.^[1]
• 2009 – In the second session of the national championships, the Bruins finished tie for third place with Utah. But Utah won the tie breakers by counting all the scores of the six competitors in each event and advanced to the Super Six team finals.^[2]
• 2010 – The team won its 15th Pacific-10 Championship, with Anna Li scoring a perfect 10 on uneven bars. Vanessa Zamarripa won all-around and vault, and was named 2010 Pac-10 Gymnast Of The Year.
• 2010 – UCLA Gymnastics won the Los Angeles Regional and qualified for the NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Florida.^[3] Anna Li again scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars at Pauley Pavilion, where both of her parents, Li Yuejiu and Wu Jiani won medals at the 1984 Olympic Games.
• 2010 - USA Olympic team silver medalist Sam Peszek is attending UCLA, and is a new member of the 2011 UCLA gymnastics team.
• 2011 – UCLA finished second in the national competition; Athens Regional champions; Sam Peszek was first in balance beam with a 9.90 score.
• 2012 – Third place finish in team competition; Olivia Courtney was third in uneven bars, and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs was second in floor exercise.
• 2013 – UCLA was 4th in the team competition held at its own Pauley Pavilion; Four Bruins finished as top-eight performers in individual competition, three (Olivia Courtney, Kaelie Baer, and Vanessa Zamarripa) on vault and one (Danusia Francis) on beam.

Coaches

List of coaches for the 2013-14 team:^[4]

• Valorie Kondos Field - Head Coach
• Chris Waller - Associate Head Coach
• Randy Lane - Assistant Coach
• Kassidy Kozai - Undergraduate Assistant Coach
• Cory Tomlinson - Team Manager
• Cassie Whitcomb - Team Manager
• Jordyn Wieber - Team Manager

Current roster (2014)

Future recruits

These are gymnasts that have committed to UCLA and hence will be competing in future years:^{[citation needed]}

• Napualani Hall - KGDC - Former International Elite (2014)
• Melissa Metcalf - Desert Devils - Former International Elite (2014)
• Madison Kocian - WOGA - U.S Senior National Team Member (2015)
• Felicia Hano - West Coast Elite - 2013 P&G Championships qualifier (2016)
• Veronica Hults - Texas Dreams - 3rd AA and 1st UB at the 2013 P&G Championships (2016)

NCAA Championships

Banners honoring the NCAA national championships won by UCLA.

With the titles in 2010, UCLA now has 30 NCAA individual titles and six team titles:^[6]

Former team members

Notable rosters (1996-1997 Championship):

• Lena Degteva
• Anne Dixon
• Susie Erickson
• Andrea Fong
• Kiralee Hayashi
• Lisa Hiley
• Leah Homma
• Deborah Mink
• Heidi Moneymaker
• Luisa Portocarrero
• Karin Silvestri
• Amy Smith
• Carmen Tausend
• Stella Umeh

Others:

• Kristina Comforte
• Anna Li
• Jordan Schwikert
• Tasha Schwikert
• Kim Hamilton Anthony, first African-American female gymnastics champion.
• Vanessa Zamarripa

Team notes

• 2008 Record: 18-6, 3rd place in Conference, 2nd place in Regional, 7th place in NCAA.
• Both of Anna Li's parents competed at the 1984 Olympics in Pauley Pavilion for China. Li's father Yuejiu was a silver medalist. He was also the first World Champion on floor exercise in 1981 for China. Yuejiu led both of the Chinese men's and women's Olympic Gymnastics teams to the 2008 Olympic gold medal, and the 2006 World Championship team title. Her mother Jiani was a five-time Chinese National Champion, World Championship bronze medalist on beam in 1981 and an Olympic bronze team medalist in 1984.
• 2009 - UCLA has now qualified for 25 NCAA Gymnastics Championships.
• Lichelle Wong, of Ossendrecht, Netherlands, has signed a letter-of-intent to join the team in the fall of 2009.

Men's team

The Bruins men's gymnastics team won two NCAA national champions in 1984 and 1987. The program has since discontinued.

Some of the team's members have participated in the Olympic Games. They include:

• Tim Daggett (1984 Olympics)
• Mitch Gaylord (1984 Olympics)
• Scott Keswick (1992 Olympics)
• Peter Vidmar (1984 Olympics)

References

1. ^ "UCLA Daily Bruin Archives". 
2. ^ "UCLA Bruins Roster". 

External links

• UCLA Gymnastics official website

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