UCLA Gymnastics Season Wrap-Up
June 21, 1999 | Gymnastics
May 6, 1998
BRUINS PLACE FIFTH AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: What goes around comes around Just as UCLA won the championships a year ago after Georgia had three falls on beam in the first rotation, Georgia took the 1998 NCAA Championship in the same fashion when the Bruins had to count two falls on their opening rotation - beam. After drawing that dreaded beam first rotation, the Bruins' hopes of defending their national championship at home quickly faded as three Bruins fell. But UCLA's comeback from disaster will stand out in the minds of Bruin fans, as UCLA rebounded to score over 49.2 in every subsequent event and move up to fifth place overall with a 195.750. Georgia won its fourth NCAA title with a score of 197.725. The Bruins qualified to the NCAA Super Six by posting the second-highest team total in the preliminary round (196.925).
MONEYMAKER WINS FIRST BARS TITLE FOR UCLA: Sophomore Heidi Moneymaker (Santa Rosa, CA) became UCLA's first-ever NCAA uneven bars champion and the fourth Bruin to win any individual crown when she scored a 9.95 at the NCAA event finals. Moneymaker performed to near-perfection a piked Yaeger, a sky-high Tkatchev and a stuck double-layout dismount to win the title. She was the only competitor to win an individual event title outright. Said Moneymaker after her performance, "It is a great feeling to win at home. After we started off shaky (at team finals), I wanted something for us to be proud of I am so proud to be a Bruin tonight. We've had a tough year, but we've worked through it. I'm happy to be representing my school, team and coach."
UMEH BOOKENDS CAREER WITH ANOTHER FLOOR TITLE: Three years after tying for the NCAA Floor Exercise championship as a freshman in 1995, Stella Umeh (Mississauga, Ontario) captured a share of the 1998 floor exercise title as a senior. Umeh, performing a spellbinding routine to music from the movie "Dead Presidents" that included a double-layout, a whip to immediate double tuck and a double tuck dismount, tied Karin Lichey of Georgia for the title with a score of 9.95. After her final performance of her career, Umeh received a standing ovation from the crowd of 4,406, most of which booed when she did not receive a perfect 10. After the meet, Umeh said, "As it turns out this is the last time I will put on a gym suit. It is hard but really fun. I am full of Bruin pride. I did it for my coach and my sister The standing ovation from the crowd tonight was the most perfect thing that could have ended my career."
SIX BRUINS EARN 15 ALL-AMERICAN HONORS: Mohini Bhardwaj, Lena Degteva, Susie Erickson, Kiralee Hayashi, Heidi Moneymaker and Stella Umeh combined to earn 15 All-American honors at the 1998 Championships, the most ever in school history. Bhardwaj, a freshman from Cincinnati, OH, earned first-team honors on vault and bars. Degteva, a sophomore from Mississauga, Ontario, earned first-team honors on vault and second-team honors in the all-around for the second consecutive year. Junior beam specialist Erickson (Pomona, CA) earned second-team All-American honors on the beam for the first time in her career. Hayashi (Kailua, HI) came away with the most All-American awards, scoring four - first-team honors in the all-around (fifth place, career-high 39.4) and bars and second-team honors on vault and beam. Moneymaker earned first-team honors in the all-around and bars and second-team honors on vault, and Umeh earned first-team honors on beam and floor and second-team on vault.
UCLA BEST ON FLOOR AT CHAMPIONSHIPS : Just one rotation after taking themselves out of contention on beam, the Bruins recorded the highest team floor total of the night, a 49.5 which ranked as the second-highest in school history. Senior Andrea Fong started the set with a career-high tying 9.8 and was followed by freshman Alexis Norman's career-high 9.85. Lena Degteva and Kiralee Hayashi followed with a pair of 9.875s. Heidi Moneymaker scored a 9.9, and Stella Umeh punctuated her team's set by scoring the first perfect 10.0 in her career.
UMEH SETS SCHOOL, ARENA RECORD WITH 10.0: Senior Stella Umeh made history at the NCAA Super Six by scoring a perfect 10.0 on floor. It was her first perfect 10 ever on any event, the first ever on floor at Pauley Pavilion, the third by a Bruin on floor and the eighth perfect mark in school history. One rotation later on vault, Umeh scored another perfect mark with a 9.9 on vault valued at a 9.9.
UMEH NOMINATED FOR HONDA AWARD: Stella Umeh was one of five finalists for the 1998 Honda Award, which was recently given to Georgia's Kim Arnold. This was Umeh's second career nomination. She was also nominated as a freshman in 1995. Umeh was also a finalist for the AAI American Award, given to the nation's top senior.
UCLA STREAKS AND RECORDS:
UCLA qualified for its seventh consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships this season. It was UCLAs 15th appearance in the 17 NCAA Championships.
The Bruins qualified for the NCAA Super Six for the sixth consecutive year. UCLA and Georgia remain the only two schools to compete in the Super Six every year since its inception in 1993.
The Bruins won the UCLA Invitational for the seventh straight year in 1998 and at the same time broke the school record on the floor exercise with a 49.525.
UCLA eight times scored Top 10 school team marks in 1998 - its 196.925 at the NCAA Prelims was the third-highest team total in school history; its 49.45 vault score at the NCAA Prelims was the second-highest in school history, as was its 49.5 floor score at the Super Six.
Stella Umeh's 9.95 on beam at the NCAA Prelims tied her career high and was the second-highest beam total in school history.
Umeh set a school record with 10 All-American honors and seven Pac-10 titles.
In five floor exercise performances in Pauley Pavilion this year, Umeh scored a 9.9 or higher all five times (9.9 once, 9.95 three times, 10.0 once).
BRUINS, UMEH COME BACK TO QUALIFY FOR NCAAs: At the NCAA West Regionals April 4, UCLA mounted a furious rally in its last rotation on vault, scoring a 49.4, the third-highest vault score in school history. The Bruins did this thanks to career-high scores from Lena Degteva (9.925), Kiralee Hayashi (9.9) and Stella Umeh (9.9). Umeh came back from an injured neck suffered in the first rotation when during her dismount she hit her legs on the uneven bars and landed on her head. After being sent out for x-rays, Umeh returned to the arena and got clearance to vault in UCLA's last-ditch effort to qualify. She hit the best vault of her life, scoring a 9.9, the highest possible score she could have received. UCLA's final team score of 195.1 was enough to qualify in the tenth seed.
LANE NAMED WEST REGION ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR: Assistant coach Randy Lane was voted West Region Assistant Coach of the Year by his peers. Lane, who returned to UCLA in 1998 after serving as head coach at UC Santa Barbara for three years, is in his second run as assistant coach. He was a Bruin assistant from 1992-94. Lane is the second UCLA assistant to earn this honor in the last three years. Mark Cook, now the head coach at Stanford, earned this honor in 1996.
UMEH, DEGTEVA WIN PAC-10 TITLES: Stella Umeh won individual titles in the all-around (39.6), beam (9.925) and floor (9.95). Degteva won her first career conference title by winning the vault with a career-high 9.925. The four individual titles took some of the sting off a fourth-place team finish.
HAYASHI, UMEH NAMED ALL-CONFERENCE: Junior Kiralee Hayashi and senior Stella Umeh earned All-Pac-10 honors for 1998. Hayashi earned all-around honors for the second consecutive year and also earned honors on the balance beam. Umeh earned honors on the vault and floor. This is Umeh's first honor on vault and second on floor. All-conference honors are selected based on an individual's RQS plus score at the Pac-10 Championships.
THREE BRUINS NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-PAC-10: UCLA placed three athletes on the Pac-10 All-Academic team. Junior Kiralee Hayashi (3.01, Neuroscience) earned first-team honors, while Susie Erickson and Andrea Fong earned honorable mention acclaim. This is Hayashi's first first-team honor; she was an honorable mention selection last year. Erickson repeats as an honorable mention selection, while Fong makes her first appearance on the team.
Final Standings, 1998 NCAA Championships
Place Team Score1 Georgia 197.725 2 Florida 196.350 3 Alabama 196.300 4 Utah 196.025 5 UCLA 195.750 6t Arizona State 195.450 6t Washington 195.450 8 Michigan 195.425 9 LSU 195.300 10 Penn State 194.625 11 North Carolina St. 194.125 12 BYU 193.400
Place All-Around Score
1 Kim Arnold, Georgia 39.725 2 Karin Lichey, Georgia 39.700 3 Klara Kudilkova, UW 39.550 4 Betsy Hamm, Florida 39.450 5 Kiralee Hayashi, UCLA 39.400 6t Gwen Spidle, Alabama 39.375 6t Tiffany Simpson, UW 39.375 8t. Heather Kabnick, Michigan 39.350 8t. Heidi Moneymaker, UCLA 39.350 8t Shannon Bowles, Utah 39.350
Vault
1t Larissa Fontaine, Stanford 9.8625 1t Susan Hines, Florida 9.8625
Uneven Bars
1 Heidi Moneymaker, UCLA 9.950
Balance Beam
1t Betsy Hamm, Florida 9.875 1t Jenni Beathard, Georgia 9.875 1t Kim Arnold, Georgia 9.875
Floor Exercise
1t Stella Umeh, UCLA 9.950 1t Karin Lichey, Georgia 9.950