Bhardwaj Is Gymnast With a Cause

Mohini Bhardwaj has a reputation for putting her 4-foot-10 body through some of the most difficult routines in college gymnastics.

As good as the senior has been for UCLA on the mat, nothing compares to the 180-degree turn she made off it.

Bhardwaj is on the best run of her career--amateur or collegiate. Last year, she won the NCAA uneven bars championship and helped lead the Bruins to their second national title.

She has followed that with a brilliant start this season. Already, Bhardwaj has recorded four perfect 10 scores in competition and has an average meet score of 39.525. Illustrating top-ranked UCLA’s dominance this season, Bhardwaj’s all-around score is third in the nation behind teammates Onnie Willis and Jamie Dantzscher.

Valorie Kondos Field, UCLA’s coach for 11 years, knew all this was possible when Bhardwaj arrived. But teacher and pupil clashed often before this season.

Already bothered by an ankle injury that sidelined her most of her freshman year, Bhardwaj did not stay in shape and also let her grades drop. She nearly flunked out of school.

“I came in with the mentality that college gymnastics is easy and I’m not going to have to work as hard,” said Bhardwaj, a six-year U.S. national team member who competed in the 1996 Olympic trials. “I don’t think I was happy at that time. I was burned out.

“I didn’t have any set goals, and I’m the type of person where if I don’t have any goals to shoot for, I’m aimless.”

Kondos Field finally got through to Bhardwaj.

“We had a little chat and it was basically about how much I wanted her to be a part of the team but that no one person was greater than the team,” the coach said.

“I cared enough to hold her accountable for the things that she was doing.”

Bhardwaj, 22, has gotten better with age. Despite the presence of two U.S. Olympians in freshmen Dantzscher and Kristen Maloney, she has thrived on the competition with her teammates. She is also motivated by her runner-up finish in the NCAA all-around and has her sights set on the title this year.

Most of all, Bhardwaj is enjoying the total college experience. She made the honor roll in the fall quarter and plans to attend law school.

Before then, she wants another shot at performing on the national and international level and scoffs at the notion that gymnasts peak in their teenage years.

“I don’t think that we should have to retire at 18,” Bhardwaj said. “Being with the team has changed my attitude toward gymnastics.”

Said Kondos Field: “She has matured, as we hope all college students would.”

Because of the initial trials and the eventual tribulations, Kondos Field said she will always have a soft spot for Bhardwaj.

“Those that you maybe make a bigger difference in their lives, you tend to remember more, especially when they’re appreciative of the help,” she said.

“[Assistant coach] Steve Gerlach once told me at a meet, ‘Appreciate this because it will be a long time before we see someone as talented as Mo.’ ”

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With Jean-Julien Rojer’s upset of NCAA singles champion Alex Kim, UCLA defeated Stanford, 4-2, to win the National Men’s Team Tennis Indoor Championships for the seventh time Sunday at Seattle.

Rojer, a sophomore, was down two service breaks at 3-0 in the third set before winning six of the final seven games for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. Tobias Clemens and Erfan Djahangiri also had singles victories for the Bruins (8-0), who dealt the Cardinal (7-1) its first defeat.

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UCLA’s No. 1-ranked softball team is off to a 15-0 start after winning five games in the UNLV Classic last weekend. Tairia Mims capped a five-homer performance in the tournament with a solo shot in the Bruins’ 10-0 mercy-rule victory over Florida International on Sunday.

On Saturday, Mims homered twice in a 9-2 win over Nebraska and added another in a 6-2 victory over Nebraska. The sophomore leads UCLA with eight home runs and 32 runs batted in while batting .449.

COLLEGE DIVISION

Great pitching performances highlighted Cal Poly Pomona’s four-game baseball series sweep at Cal State L.A. to open California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play last weekend.

Donnie Furnald, a sophomore who also plays in the outfield, threw a complete-game three-hitter in a 6-2 victory Saturday, and senior Steve Kaustinen threw seven no-hit innings before winning a 2-1 duel with the Golden Eagles’ Eric Biddlecome.

Kaustinen gave up two hits in 7 1/3 innings and Biddlecome yielded three hits and a run in seven innings.

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Azusa Pacific clinched its unprecedented ninth consecutive Golden State Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship with its 117-90 victory Saturday at Concordia. At 28-2 overall and 15-1 in league, the Cougars are ranked third in the latest National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics national rankings. . . . The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball title will be decided tonight when Whittier (20-4, 9-2) plays at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (18-6, 9-2). The winner will get the automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs. . . . Redlands captured the SCIAC dual meet titles in men’s and women’s swimming, with both going 6-0. . . . Cal State L.A.’s Louise Ayetoche ran an NCAA indoor qualifying time of 6.95 in the 55 meters at the Holiday Inn Invitational at Reno. Nicole Duncan also has a qualifying mark of 20-1 3/4 in the long jump.