NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships : Pineda Leads Bruins to a Narrow Victory

At 5 feet 3 inches, Tony Pineda really is a gutty little Bruin.

The junior from Mexico City, who led UCLA to the team title in the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, almost broke his neck on a vault three weeks ago in the Pacific 10 Invitational at Stanford. “I got lost in the air,” he said, “and almost landed on my head.”

Then Thursday night, during compulsory exercises in the all-around competition, he lost his grip on the rings and crashed to the mat, taking himself out of contention.

“I was pretty down because I had worked all year for this meet,” said Pineda, a 1984 Mexican Olympian who finished second in the all-around at the NCAA meet two years ago.

A pep talk from Coach Art Shurlock, who took him under the stands for some kind words, convinced him that it wouldn’t do anybody any good if he got down on himself, and he rallied to finish seventh in the all-around.

And then Saturday, at the end of his floor exercise, Pineda attempted a spectacular double-layout dismount, landed short and stretched ligaments in his left ankle. He limped off the mat, grimacing in pain.

About 20 minutes later, though, he was up on the parallel bars, putting together the sharpest routine of the day, a show-stopping performance that earned him a perfect 10 from one judge and a 9.9 overall.

He later added a 9.8 on the high bar, helping the Bruins outscore Nebraska and Penn State before a crowd of 1,435 in an in-doubt-till-the-end meet for the national championship.

“He showed a lot of spunk,” Shurlock said.

So did the Bruins, whose score of 285.30 gave them the NCAA championship.

Later Saturday, in the individual event finals, Pineda scored his second 9.9 of the day on the pommel horse, only to finish second behind Cal State Fullerton’s Li Xiao Ping, a former world champion from China, who scored a 9.95.

UCLA’s team championship was harder to come by than its 1984 title. The ’84 title was won in a rout with a team that included then-freshman Pineda, who red-shirted last year, and Olympic gold medalists Mitch Gaylord and Tim Daggett.

The only thing in doubt that year was whether the heavily favored Bruins would score a team record, which they missed by half a point in a meet they won by six points.

This time, they didn’t take the lead until after the fourth of six rotations, and then barely hung on.

Nebraska, which got meet-high scores of 58.0 from all-around champion Tom Schlesinger and all-around runner-up Kevin Davis, finished only .55 of a point behind at 284.75. The other team in Saturday’s finals, Penn State, won four of the six events but finished third at 284.20.

“This one was pressure all the way,” said Shurlock, comparing his second title with his first. “It was more exciting and a more satisfying win under the circumstances.”

UCLA was fourth at the Pac-10 Invitational, where Pineda missed his other five routines after crashing so awkwardly on the vault. “My confidence was totally shot down,” he said.

Shurlock changed the Bruins’ practice routine, making the workouts simulated competitions in order to cut down on his gymnasts’ need for warm-up time.

“We got down to brass tacks after the Pac-10 meet because we were very distraught that we performed so poorly there,” he said.

This time, the Bruins had the advantage of competing on their home floor in front of a partisan crowd, such as it was.

“You know that once you’re out there competing, you’ve got the attention of everybody,” Shurlock said. “I think we were just extra motivated to do what we were capable of doing, especially in front of the home crowd.”

Gymnastics Notes

UCLA’s David Moriel, a junior from Northridge, scored a 9.95 to win on the high bars in the individual finals Saturday night. . . . Other individual winners were Chad Fox of New Mexico, who successfully defended his title on the vault and also won in floor exercise; Paul O’Neill of Houston Baptist, who moved up from second last year to win on the rings, and Nebraska teammates Tom Schlesinger and Kevin Davis, who tied for first on the parallel bars. . . . UCLA’s Curtis Holdsworth, who became the first freshman to win the pommel horse national title last season, was fifth this time. . . . Cal State Fullerton’s Kevin Johnson was second in floor exercise. . . . Jerry Burrell of Arizona State, defending champion in floor exercise, was injured during his qualifying routine Friday and finished 73rd.