Tide Rolls to Title, UCLA Takes Third

Valorie Kondos Field’s words said no, she wasn’t disappointed that UCLA’s two-year reign as the NCAA women’s gymnastics champion was ended by Alabama Friday at Coleman Coliseum, because her team had competed with heart and passion.

But the expression in the UCLA coach’s eyes said yes, the Bruins deserved a better fate than third place behind the Crimson Tide and Georgia at the NCAA Super Six final.

Did Alabama, competing before a roaring crowd of 7,034, benefit from a home-gym advantage in winning its fourth national title?

“What do you think?” Kondos Field asked rhetorically. “I’m very pleased with how we performed. We competed very well, well enough to win the national championship. Our plan is always to come out and compete our meet. We had a great season and a great meet.”

Alabama, the highest-scoring team in Thursday’s preliminary team competition, was remarkably sharp for the second consecutive night, nailing its vaults and showing steely nerves on the beam. The Tide finished with 197.575 points, to 197.250 for Georgia and 197.150 for the Bruins.

Utah was fourth, with 196.950 points, followed by Nebraska (196.425) and Stanford (196.025 in its Super Six debut).

Unlike Alabama, UCLA had to overcome some small wobbles, a few imperfect landings, and a fall by Alyssa Beckerman on the balance beam. The lowest score among the six performers in each event is dropped and the rest are added to determine the team’s score for that event, and the team’s total is the sum of its scores on the four events. After dropping Beckerman’s 9.050, UCLA scored 49.150 on the beam, fourth behind Alabama, Georgia and Utah and its lowest event score of the evening.

“She only competes in two events. Beam is her event. She’s the beam queen,” Kondos Field said of Beckerman. “She put extra care into every skill instead of letting it flow.”

Alabama was exuberant and sure in every event. Despite losing senior all-around competitor Raegan Tomasek to a leg injury Thursday, the Tide got clutch performances from its entire lineup. Andree Pickens scored 9.95 on the vault, uneven bars and beam, and added a 9.90 on the floor for an all-around total of 39.750; when she completed her beam routine, the last performer on the last rotation, the partisan crowd leapt to its feet.

“This is the perfect end of a four-year career,” said Pickens, a senior from Houston. “I knew if we were solid, it was ours.”

The Bruins had completed their rotations by then and had gone to their locker room, knowing Georgia and Alabama could pass them but feeling no regrets.

“We congratulated each other for a great season and a great NCAA championship,” said Yvonne Tousek, who will defend her uneven bars title in tonight’s individual event finals. “We’re proud of each other.”

Onnie Willis agreed. “We came out and did what we wanted to do. [Beckerman’s fall] was a fluke. Overall, I think we did pretty good.”

The championships end today with the individual event finals. Willis, Doni Thompson, Jamie Dantzscher and Tousek will compete in the bars final, Beckerman and Dantzscher on the beam, Dantzscher and Willis in floor exercise and Dantzscher in vault.