UCLA, led by the 1996 and 1997 NCAA Coach of the Year Valorie Kondos, won the 1997 NCAA team championship in a dramatic come-from-behind finish over Arizona State. The title was the first ever in UCLA Gymnastics history and the first by a school other than Utah, Alabama and Georgia.

UCLA's chances of repeating in 1998 look good with the return of 1992 Olympian Stella Umeh, who won the 1995 NCAA Floor Exercise championship; two-time Canadian national all-around champion Lena Degteva; 1997 All-American Kiralee Hayashi; and 1997 Maccabiah Games all-around gold medalist Deborah Mink. In addition, 1997 World Championships competitor Mohini Bhardwaj will join the Bruin team as a freshman.

The 1998 Championships will mark the first time since 1984 that UCLA has hosted this event. Also that year, Pauley Pavilion hosted the gymnastics competition of the Olympic Games.

Teams from 12 universities plus 12 at-large individual all-around competitors and four individual event specialists will compete for team and individual titles. The first day of competition, Thursday, April 16, will be held in two sessions, at 1 pm and 7:30 pm. Those two sessions will consist of the team preliminaries and the individual all-around championship. The team finals will take place Friday, April 17 at 7:30 pm, and the individual event finals will be held Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available now at UCLA's Central Ticket Office, (310) UCLA-WIN.

In addition to hosting the NCAA Championships, UCLA will host the Pac-10 Championships March 21 at Pauley Pavilion at 6 pm.