UCLA Breezes to NCAA Women’s Title

UCLA Coach Valorie Kondos said earlier this week the Bruins had the talent to dominate the NCAA women’s gymnastics meet. All they needed was to hit their routines.

She wasn’t boasting. Her prediction was right on the mark. The Bruins scored 197.3 points Friday night, never falling on any apparatus and locked up the title before they started their final event, the beam.

Utah surged late in the meet on the vault to place second at 196.875, almost half a point behind the Bruins. Georgia was third (196.8), followed by Nebraska (196.725) and Alabama (196.5).

Michigan, which came into the meet expecting to challenge UCLA for the title, had two early falls on the beam and never recovered, placing sixth at 195.725.

“One thing Lena [Degteva] and I talked about earlier was that we didn’t feel nervous,” senior Heidi Moneymaker said. “We felt so confident.”

The title was UCLA’s second in four years.