U.S. Classic Meet Opens Door to New Talent

The search begins tonight. In the last 10 months, six of the eight women on the 2000 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team have either gone to college or retired from competition.

A seventh, Morgan White, has a shoulder injury. So only one Olympian, Tasha Schwikert, a 16-year-old from Las Vegas, will participate in tonight’s U.S. Classic Gymnastics Festival at Cal Poly Pomona’s Bronco Gymnasium.

The top 20 gymnasts qualify for the U.S. Championships in Philadelphia Aug. 8-11.

“Tasha’s considered the ranking favorite,” said meet director Don Peters, the U.S. national team coach from 1980-88. “But there’s a bunch of people we really don’t know much about.”

Mohini Bhardwaj, a 2001 UCLA graduate and four-time All-American, enters as one of Schwikert’s main challengers. She placed third at the 1997 U.S. Championships and is a six-time national team member. Several national team members are expected at the meet, among them Marie Fjordholm, Ashley Kelly, Ashley Miles, Amanda Stroud, Rachel Tidd and Tabitha Yim.

After the U.S. Championships, six women will be selected for the World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, Oct. 28-Nov. 4. However, the top six competitors at the U.S. Championships do not automatically qualify for the worlds.

Last year, Schwikert’s combined scores from the nationals and Olympic trials ranked her ninth, and she was chosen as the second alternate for the Olympic team. But after White withdrew because of a stress fracture, team coordinator Bela Karolyi selected Schwikert to compete instead of first alternate Alyssa Beckerman.