SportsScope : Bruin Women Gymnasts Tumble in NCAA Seed

The top-ranked UCLA’s women’s gymnastics team is seeded seventh in the NCAA championships on Friday and Saturday at Salt Lake City.

Though the Bruins were 11-0 in dual meets this season and won their second consecutive Pacific 10 Conference championship, they received their low seeding after finishing second to Oregon State at the NCAA West Regionals.

In individual events, UCLA will be led by All-American sophomores Kim Hamilton, defending national champion in floor exercise, and Jill Andrews.

Max Sciandri, winner of the 1986 and 1987 West Hollywood Criterium bicycle race, will defend his championship in this year’s expanded version of the street race, which begins at 8 a.m. Sunday.

A field of world-class riders, including West Hollywood native Sciandri, will compete in the men’s 40-mile race on a closed course. There will also be a 20-mile race for top women cyclists and two age-group preliminaries for men. The course will be on Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica, Robertson and San Vicente boulevards.

There will also be a 15-mile recreational bike ride that starts at 8 a.m. and another race between celebrities and restaurant chefs that begins at 10:30 a.m.

The criterium is a project of Accord/Quick Release Bicycle Club. Proceeds from entry fees will benefit Meals on Wheels, a food service for the elderly and shut-ins.

UCLA’s men’s and women’s tennis teams will compete today through Sunday in the Pac-10 Southern Division championships for individuals as part of the 89th Ojai Tournament.

Last week the fourth-ranked Bruin women (18-4 and 6-3 in the Pac-10) won two conference road matches, defeating No. 2 Stanford and No. 5 California, both by 6-3 scores. In singles, UCLA freshman Kirsten Dreyer is ranked 15th in the nation and senior teammate Allyson Cooper is No. 25.

The Bruin men (16-7, 6-3) split two home matches with the same teams, losing to Stanford, 5-2, but defeating Cal, 6-0. Stanford (9-0) clinched the Pac-10 crown over the weekend, and UCLA and USC (6-3) are tied for second with one dual match remaining for each conference team.

UCLA’s Patrick Galbraith and Brian Garrow, defending Pac-10 doubles champions, are seeded fourth at Ojai, behind top seeded Scott Melville-Eric Amend of USC, No. 2 Brian Gyetko and Mike Holten of Arizona State and No. 3 Martin Blackman-Patrick McEnroe of Stanford. The Bruin doubles team of Robert Bierens-Buff Farrow is seeded seventh, and Farrow is the sixth seed in singles.

Glenn Bassett, UCLA men’s coach, said that the team of Galbraith-Garrow have been “coming on strong in recent weeks, and I look for them to be very tough at Ojai.” He said that the Bierens-Farrow duo is “capable of surprising” at the tournament.

In last week’s loss to Stanford, the 25th-ranked Farrow defeated Jeff Tarango in the top singles match, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 to run his dual-match record to 18-4. Bassett said that Farrow “appears to be gaining confidence and is a good bet to earn a berth in the NCAA draw” in May.

The No. 4 UCLA men’s volleyball team, defending NCAA champion, won two Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. matches last week to clinch a berth in the western regionals of the NCAA tournament.

The Bruins (27-9 and 10-7 in the WIVA as the week started), made it 700 career victories for Coach Al Scates by defeating Cal State Northridge in three games and San Diego State in four. Against the Matadors, Bruin junior Anthony Curci had 15 kills and 9 digs, and senior All-American Don Dendinger recorded 17 kills and 7 blocks against San Diego State.

The UCLA men’s and women’s track teams will compete Saturday and Sunday in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays at Walnut.

Bruin senior Gail Devers recorded a 22-2 1/2 in the long jump, the best mark in the world this year, in a triangular meet victory over Kansas State and Houston. She also won the 200 meters in a hand-recorded time of 22.8.

The Bruin men will be led at Mt. Sac by the 1,600-meter relay team of Anthony Washington, Kevin Young, Henry Thomas and Danny Everett. At last year’s NCAA outdoor championships, the UCLA quartet set a college record of 3:00.55 in the 1,600.

The top-ranked UCLA women’s softball team, first in the Pac-10, will play host to the Arizona teams in double headers this weekend. The Bruins (38-5 overall and 8-2 in the Pac-10) will meet No. 20 Arizona State (24-17, 7-7) at 1 p.m. Friday and No. 4 Arizona (39-11, 11-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Sunset Canyon diamond on campus.

Last week the Bruins made it five straight victories and 22 of their last 23 by taking double headers from Hawaii (8-0 and 5-0), and from U.S. International (1-0, 3-1).

Bruin freshman outfielder Lorraine Maynez leads the team with 47 hits, 8 doubles, 5 triples and a .367 batting average.

Coming off a third-place finish in the Redwood Shores/Stanford race, the UCLA men’s crew will play host to USC at 3 p.m. Saturday on Ballona Creek in Marina del Rey.

At the Stanford race, the Bruins defeated Brown’s varsity eight in an opening race but lost for the first time this season when they were topped by Harvard in the semifinals. UCLA then defeated Pennsylvania for third place. Harvard defeated Wisconsin in the final.

The UCLA women’s golf team will compete Monday through Wednesday in the Pac-10 championships. The Washington Huskies are the host team.