WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS vs. Sunday 3pm Fullerton,
Calif.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Reporter
The preseason No. 1 UCLA women’s gymnastics team will
compete in their first Southern California meet of the season on
Sunday. Although the meet is not at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins
won’t have to travel far when they take on the Cal State
Fullerton Titans at 2 p.m. in Titan Gym.
The meet has special meaning for two Bruins in particular.
Junior Valerie Velasco returns to her hometown to compete in front
of friends and family, and freshman Jeanette Antolin has a sister,
Katie, who competes for the Titans.
“It’s nice because friends and family come to
watch,” Velasco said. “But it isn’t all that
different from other meets. I try my best for each one.”
Velasco seems to compete just fine in front of her hometown
crowd. Last year against Fullerton she posted a career-high 9.85 on
the beam to claim second place. The Rosary High School graduate
hopes to post similar numbers this year.
Jeanette and Katie Antolin are two years apart in school, but
that doesn’t stop them from adding another dimension to the
Fullerton meet.
“It’s going to be a really fun meet because of
Jeanette’s sister,” UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos
Field said. “It is a fun, healthy rivalry.”
The two girls trained together in their hometown of Huntington
Beach, but this will be the first collegiate head-to-head battle
for the Antolins.
As a team the Bruins are looking to continue the success they
discovered in Hawaii last weekend, hopefully creating momentum as
they head into next weekend’s competition with
No. 7 Stanford.
“We know we are prepared,” junior Lindsey Dong said.
“We’re always ready to compete.”
Fullerton is coming off it’s best year ever, having
recorded a school record 195.5 team total. In addition to Antolin,
Fullerton returns 1996 Australian Olympian Joanna Hughes, Kellie
Francia, Natalia Acosta and Kelly Mathiasen.
In order to win, the Bruins will have to compete at their
fullest potential in every event.
“Our team goals are to go down and hit 24 of 24
events,” Kondos Field said. “Regardless of who we put
up and where they go in the lineup, they need to be ready to
compete.”
Kondos Field cited the ability to fulfill any routine at any
point in the lineup as an integral part of the Bruins’
season. She said that if they are to be successful this year, each
athlete must be ready to step in when needed.
“That’s not as easy as it may sound,” she
said. “We have to have everyone ready to go at any moment
this year.”