BIG WEST WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS : Delia Steals Spotlight as Fullerton Wins Title

Lynn Rogers has seen Celeste Delia in her own little world before, but this time it was different.

She was a little deeper, a little more distant, a little more focused.

A little better.

Delia, a junior from Covina who is ranked 15th nationally, successfully defended her all-around gymnastics title in the Big West Conference Championships, leading Cal State Fullerton to the team title in front of 1,393 Saturday at Titan Gym.

The 20th-ranked Titans scored 191.7 points, ahead of 16th-ranked Utah State (189.5), 26th-ranked UC Santa Barbara (185.8), Cal State Sacramento (183.95) and San Jose State (182.45).

Delia was also named the conference’s gymnast of the year, and Rogers was named its top coach.

It was a night of near perfection for the Titans, who swept the top three positions in the all-around scoring. Delia’s 39.35 broke her own school record (39.30) that she set two weeks ago in a meet that included UCLA.

Following Delia in the all-around were Christi Clifford (38.90) and Karena Mills (38.45).

The Titans completed the meet without any falls or major breaks, the first time that has happened this year.

But Delia stole the show, equaling her previous best in the vault (9.9) and uneven parallel bars (9.8) and bettering her school record of 9.85 on the floor exercise (9.95). She won each event.

She was fourth with a 9.7 on the balance beam, an event won by Clifford (9.85). Mills (9.75) was third.

“The other kids pretty much did what they can do,” said Rogers, in his 18th year as the Fullerton coach. “This is what you hope for at the end of the season.”

But Delia went above and beyond.

“I knew she was on when she walked in the gym,” Rogers said. “She gets in this zone where she doesn’t talk much. I don’t know how to describe it--it’s a place she goes into and you can’t take her there as a coach, and she can’t go there whenever she wants.”

But she had the directions. The vault--her best event--opened the meet, and she hit a 9.9. She knew then it was her night.

“That definitely made me feel I was in the right place,” she said.

And she worked her way around the the room to the final event, the floor exercise, and she performed center stage, the audience clapping its hands in time with the music and Delia turning in the best performance of her career.

“I was nervous before the floor routine,” Delia said. “Once I hit the first tumbling pass (a roundoff flip-flop double-pike), I knew it was something special.”

As for that zone she was in . . .

“I try to keep myself calm because I am so excited,” Delia said. “So I try to put myself in the position where I’m focusing only on my routine and I think it has helped me relax and compete more consistently.”

The Titans’ journey toward the NCAA national championships continues April 3 with the regionals at Oregon State. The finals are April 15-17, also at Oregon State.