NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships : All-Around Title Still Up for Grabs Tonight

The gymnastics version of a quilting bee was played out Thursday night at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.

But while the compulsory exercises may not allow for a great deal of excitement, they provided a vital part of the all-around competition in the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships.

The compulsories--prescribed and identical routines for each of the gymnasts--make up 50% of the competitors’ total scores.

So, senior Mike Rice of Oklahoma and junior Tom Schlesinger of Nebraska, who scored 55.10 points in the compulsories, have a slight advantage going into tonight’s optional exercises. The combination of the two scores determines the all-around winner.

Rice, a three-time All-American, beat Schlesinger by two-tenths of a point to win the Big Eight championship three weeks ago.

UCLA’s David St. Pierre is third at 54.75.

But even the top scorers weren’t able to elicit much response from the sparse crowd.

“It’s just not exciting for the untrained eye,” said Wayne Young, a former Olympian and chairman of the NCAA gymnastics committee. “But if you’re into gymnastics, the compulsories can be very exciting because of the aesthetics and the dynamics of the skills.”

But to the untrained eye. . . .

The compulsories are so boring that the NCAA executive committee eliminated them the last two years. They have traditionally been such a poor draw--about 250 people attended Thursday night’s session--that the NCAA figured it could cut expenses by simply doing away with them and making the national championships a two-day meet.

But they were brought back this year at the request of the coaches, who believe that the prescribed routines are essential not only to the competition, but also to the development of potential Olympians.

“Compulsories are a very important part of the international program,” said Young, who argued for their reinstatement. “We felt it was necessary to assist those athletes who were training for international competition by encouraging training in the compulsories.”

About half of the 35-man field battling for the all-around title this week--including UCLA’s Tony Pineda, who competed for Mexico in the 1984 Games, and three members of the Houston Baptist team, who competed for Spain--are considered potential Olympians.

But as important as they may be in developing international athletes, Young said, “compulsories are also an integral part of the all-around competition. Without the compulsories, you weren’t really determining the true all-around champion.”

Still, the executive committee turned down the coaches’ request to reinstate the compulsories last year, and has said that the compulsories will be eliminated again for one year after next year’s Olympics.

“The NCAA is saying, ‘It’s not really our purpose to provide a strong international training program,’ ” said Jerry Miles, the NCAA’s director of men’s championships. “We’re proud that NCAA member schools produced the 1984 Olympic team, but our purpose is to provide a strong national championship.”

And not to put the fans to sleep.

Gymnastics Notes Curtis Holdsworth of UCLA is fifth at 54.50. . . . Tony Pineda of UCLA had the night’s highest scores on the pommel horse and floor exercise, but fell off the rings and almost took himself out of contention with a 6.5. He rallied to finish the night in eighth place at 53.35. . . . Collin Godkin of Minnesota, who was third after two rotations, injured his left ankle during the floor exercise and had to withdraw.