Gymnastics Team Faces Bigger Challenge Without Lott

It won’t be the team Coach Lynn Rogers had hoped it would be. That’s not possible with Alexis Lott out of the lineup.

But the Cal State Fullerton women’s gymnastics team begins a new season at 7:30 tonight in Titan Gym against UCLA, and Rogers is still optimistic the Titans will make a good showing, even if they don’t get to the national championships.

The Titans qualified for the NCAA finals 13 times in the first 19 years of the program that Rogers started, but Fullerton hasn’t made it since its eighth-place finish in 1990.

Rogers had particularly high hopes before Lott was sidelined for the season because of torn knee ligaments from a fall on the uneven bars in practice in October.

“It was such a shock to us all,” Rogers said. “Alexis is everyone’s favorite, everyone’s ‘go-to’ person.”

She also was the Big West co-gymnast of the year last season as a sophomore when she finished first in the uneven bars and was second in the all-around in the conference meet.

The dual match with UCLA is traditionally one of the season highlights for the Titans. UCLA won the NCAA West Regional last year with the Titans taking sixth, four points behind. The Bruins went on to finish fourth in the NCAA championship meet.

“We really thought we had a chance to beat UCLA this year, but we’re not the same team now,” Rogers said. “That’s a disappointment, but we still have a great group competing and they all want to show how much they’ve improved during the off-season. We think we still have enough left to win another conference championship.”

Rogers said he and his associate head coach, Julie Knight, have had to alter their thinking about team goals after Lott’s injury and a knee injury to freshman Holly Tennison.

“What hurts is that both Alexis and Holly were two of our better vaulters,” Rogers said, “so we can’t help but be weaker in that event.”

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Freshman Cortney Bogart was a standout vaulter in high school, but after a severe injury, she decided to give up the event. “She broke her leg in a fall, so she doesn’t want to come back and do that event again, and we support her 100% on that,” Rogers said. “We’re just happy we have her in the other three [floor exercise, beam and uneven bars], and she’s doing well in all of them.”

Another freshman, Katy Maty, had outstanding credentials as an elite club gymnast when she joined the team this fall. She was fifth in the all-around in the national senior club championships last summer, then took fifth in free exercise at the World University Games in Japan in August.

“She’s looked great so far in practice,” Rogers said. “We backed her up just a little this fall to work more on some of her basics. We’ve been working a lot on improving her strength. She muscled up a lot. Floor exercise is still her best event, but her beam routine has steadily improved.”

Rogers said he also has been pleased by the improvement shown by freshman Sara Taylor. “She’s a walk-on who has done very well, and keeps getting better all the time,” Rogers said. “Her whole attitude has changed with the increased confidence.”

Rogers said sophomore Michele Lotta has made significant improvement since the end of last season, and has improved the difficulty of all her routines.

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Three-year standout Cristi Clifford is back for her senior season and Rogers expects her to continue to do well. Clifford had a sub-par performance in the all-around in the Big West meet last year, but came back to finish a team-leading ninth at the NCAA regionals. Another experienced gymnast, Christy Lutz, also returns.

No matter how the team does, Rogers said he’s already found it a pleasure to coach.

“They’re a bunch of good kids who work hard,” Rogers said. “They exercise their own discipline, and we really don’t have to pull on the reins that much. It’s really nice to have a group this committed.”

And though Lott won’t be able to compete this season, she’s still having an impact on the team.

“She comes to every practice, and does some videotaping for us, and stuff like that, but mostly she gets on everyone, encouraging them, and trying to help any way she can,” Rogers said. “That’s the kind of person Alexis is.”

Titan Notes

Baseball America’s preseason poll has Fullerton ranked third behind Louisiana State and Stanford, with Wichita State fourth and Georgia Tech fifth. Tennessee, California, Clemson, Mississippi State and UCLA also were picked in the Top 10. Golden Spikes Award winning outfielder Mark Kotsay was selected to the preseason All-American team. Catcher Brian Loyd was picked for the second team. A.J. Hinch of Stanford was the first-team catcher. The magazine rated Kotsay as the seventh-best draft prospect this season, rating pitcher Braden Hooper of Wichita State No. 1. . . . The Titan softball team is ranked sixth in the nation in the preseason by College Sports magazine. Defending national champion UCLA is rated No. 1. . . . Fullerton’s overtime men’s basketball victory over Pacific last week stopped a streak of six consecutive home-court losses dating back to last season. Fullerton still has won only two of its last 12 games in Titan Gym going into Saturday night’s game with UC Irvine.