The UCLA team that won big this weekend

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Lost in the hubbub over college basketball, the World Baseball Classic, tennis out in Indian Wells, we seem to have overlooked the UCLA women’s gymnastics team. Up in Stanford the Bruins came up big on their final rotation, the balance beam, and won their 14th Pac-10 title with a score of 196.725, edging out second-place Oregon State (196.550) and third-place Stanford (196.525).

The Bruins had struggled on balance beam this season and finished with that tough apparatus. Senior Ariana Berlin got things going with a lead-off score of 9.825. In just her second competitive beam routine of her career, Mizuki Sato earned a career-high 9.775. Niki Tom provided UCLA with a third strong routine, sticking her double twist dismount for a 9.875. Vanessa Zamarripa made it 4-for-4 with a beauty of a routine, scoring a career-high 9.9, and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs clinched the team title with a 9.9. Aisha Gerber’s 9.825 was icing on the cake as the Bruins improved their beam score to 49.325.

‘We fought hard and never gave up,’ said UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field. ‘They literally played hard to the very end. They’ve been in enough situations over the season that they’ve learned it’s not over till the last person competes, and I’m thrilled we were able to have our best beam performance here.’

-- Diane Pucin