Brummer and Zeis Are Double Trouble : New Yorkers Lead Arizona State to Gymnastic Invitational Win

They’ve been training together since they were seven years old, including these last four years at Arizona State. If in that time, they haven’t grown to look alike (it seems they have), they have at least grown to score alike. Saturday night in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, pals Jackie Brummer and Lisa Zeis scored first and third in the all-around, just three-quarters of a point separating them, to lead the Sun Devils in the UCLA/Times Gymnastics Invitational.

This time it was Brummer’s turn to take the all-around, as she scored 38.00 in the meet. Zeis, a two-time NCAA champion on the beam, actually had the meet won until she finished up on uneven bars with an unplanned dismount. Her 8.70 on that apparatus probably cost her in this friendly little rivalry.

“Oh well,” said Brummer, who finished the meet with a 9.40 on the uneven bars, the event she won in 1984 at the NCAA championships, “it was my turn. On our team, it’s been us two a lot, one up and one down. Whoever hits better that night wins, it seems.” Brummer, a senior from Cheektowaga, N.Y., hit vault with a 9.65, the beam for a 9.80 and floor exercises for a 9.6. Hers were the high scores in both vault and beam.

The beam, a slippery slab of wood just four inches wide, is where Arizona State, the second-ranked team in the country this season, won the meet. “The secret to this meet?” said Brummer. “It’s the secret to every meet.”

Cal State Fullerton, which finished second to ASU’s team total of 184.95 with a score of 184.15, actually did better than the Sun Devils on beam. But CSUF, ranked sixth in the nation, probably lost it on bars, where only Heather Thomas could break 9.0; she scored a 9.25.

UCLA, ranked seventh this season, finished third with 182.40, partially due to the limited services of Tanya Service and mostly due to the Bruins inability to stay on the beam. Only Maura Driscoll, a last-minute substitute for Service whose left foot is hurting her, and Gigi Zosa managed to stay on beam.

Zosa, a freshman, was the second-place finisher in the all-around with a score of 37.50, her season high. A member of the Canadian 1984 Olympic team, Zosa got the night’s high mark on the uneven bars with a 9.55.

UCLA Coach Jerry Tomlinson said keeping Service off beam and vault probably cost the team a point. “I’m not saying that point would have won the meet,” he said, “but down the line . . . “

Service was not an entire washout, of course. The freshman, who has not only led UCLA this season but who had scored the top-all-around of the year in collegiate gymnastics, scored 9.40 on uneven bars and the night’s best floor exercise score with a 9.75.

Nebraska, fourth in the four-team meet with a score of 179.10, was led by Jeanneane Smith, third-place finisher in the all-around with a score of 37.20.

Mostly, though, the night belonged to Arizona State, whose one-two punch of Brummer-Zeis looks to make them a force this season. The Sun Devils, undefeated in meet competition, have always been strong, finishing fifth or higher in the NCAA championships, the last four years. But UCLA’s Tomlinson thinks this might be the year they achieve higher distinction. “A very solid team,” he said, “depth and quality.”

If ASU does transcend its also-ran status, it will be due to the geographic quirk that place Brummer and Zeis in nearby towns (Zeis is from Tonawanda, N.Y.). “There was never any question we wouldn’t go to school together,” said Brummer, “because Lisa decided on Arizona State and said, ‘You’re coming with me.”’ And so goes Arizona State.