March 21, 1998 LOS ANGELES -- The Washington women's gymnastics team placed a disappointing fifth at the Pac-10 Gymnastics Championships at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion on Saturday evening. The Huskies entered the event ranked sixth in the nation, the highest among any Pac-10 school. Stanford won its first Pac-10 gymnastics title by posting a score of 195.275. For the second year in a row UW head coach Bob Levesque was honored by his peers by being named the Pac-10 coach of the year. Levesque guided the Huskies to a 15-3 record this season. Washington saw any hopes of a top finish at the Pac-10 Championships vanish when the team posted a score of 47.725 on the balance beam. That was Washington's third lowest score of the year on the event in 11 outings this season. Husky senior Klara Kudilkova placed fourth in the all-around competition with a score of 39.125. UCLA's Stella Umeh claimed the All-Around title with a personal best score of 39.600. UW junior Tiffany Simpson was sixth in the all-around at 38.800. Simpson recorded Washington's only top-three finishes in the meet. She tied for third on vault (9.875) and floor exercise (9.875). The Huskies will have the week off before playing host to the NCAA West Regional championships April 4 at 6 p.m. in Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
Team Scores All-Around: 1. Stella Umeh (UCLA) 39.600; 2. Kiralee Hayashi (UCLA) 39.275; 3. Megan Murphy (OSU) 39.155. Vault: 1. Lena Degteva (UCLA) 9.925; 2. Lara Degenhardt (OSU) 9.900; 3. (tie) Heidi Moneymaker (UCLA), Keri Monaham (SU), Larissa Fontaine (SU), Tiffany Simpson (UW) 9.875. Bars: 1. Deanne Droegemueller (OSU) 9.975; 2. Fontaine (SU) 9.925; 3. (tie) Mohini Bhardwaj (UCLA) and Amy Slack (OSU) 9.900 Balance Beam: 1. Umeh (UCLA) 9.925; 2. Hayashi (UCLA) 9.900; 3. Murphy (OSU) 9.875. Floor Exercise: 1. Umeh (UCLA) 9.950; 2. Elizabeth McNabb (ASU) 9.925; 3. (tie) Hayashi (UCLA), Cami Banholzer (UA), Elizabeth Reid (ASU), Murphy (OSU) and Simpson (UW) 9.875. |
