UCLA Gymnastics is still out there, waiting for you, as the gymnasts spend their summers at home (Danusia Francis and Jennifer Pinches) or on campus in summer school, or attending the ESPYs as part of one of their classes.
workout, class, ESPY's= typical Wednesday haha
— Samantha Peszek (@samanthapeszek) July 16, 2014
Someone thinking I was actually @BrendaSong at the ESPYS pic.twitter.com/eGSyUts8Cf
— Peng Peng Lee (@PengPengCLee) July 17, 2014
- Alyssa Pritchett has been making news this summer. First she got into graduate school:
OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED INTO GRAD SCHOOL AT USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION!!! Can't wait to start this journey to becoming a teacher ✏️
— alyssa pritchett (@alyssapritchett) July 15, 2014
Ugh, evil empire but still, congratulations!
- Pritchett also made it to "The Ranch" this summer as part of her quest to qualify at the Elite level. (The Ranch is the Karolyi ranch in Texas, where all female elite gymnasts that want to make the national team are invited to train under the watchful eye of Team Coordinator Marta Karolyi. You have to be noticed by Marta to even have a chance of making any of the international teams.) This is notable because Pritchett never competed at the Elite level before, and it is extremely rare to push for elite at this "late" stage in a gymnasts' career.
She came up short qualifying for elite this summer, but she's still going to work at it.
Check out her floor from qualifiers:
First 3 passes from my floor routine at the National Qualifier this past weekend http://t.co/IESjJFBp9G
— alyssa pritchett (@alyssapritchett) July 6, 2014
- Remember, UCLA is the only program to send college level gymnasts back to the elite ranks after their careers. Mohini Bhardwaj won an Olympic medal in 2004, Vanessa Zamarripa actually competed in 2010 while she was still at UCLA, and Anna Li was an alternate to the 2012 Olympic team.
- You may or may not watch American Ninja Warrior, but you may have heard about Kacy Catanzaro. She is a former D1 Gymnast at Towson University who is the ONLY female to actually complete the course and make it to the finals, as women everyone shout out "girl power." She is ridiculously strong, fast, everything, and her gymnastics background is a huge help. How is this UCLA related? Why, she rotated with the Bruins at the 2012 NCAA Championships as a single qualifier (her team did not qualify.)
#TBT to 2012 NCAA Regionals when we cheered on #AmericanNinjaWarrior history-maker @KacyCatanzaro. pic.twitter.com/lSvC1IJTs3
— UCLA Gymnastics (@uclagymnastics) July 25, 2014
Go Kacy!
- Congratulations to 2010 NCAA Champs Niki Tom and Brittani McCullough, who received post-graduate scholarships from UCLA. Tom is enrolling in the Masters Clinical Nurse Program, and McCullough is working on her Advanced Practice Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program.
- The Secret Classic Championships are this weekend, and you can watch all the Elite level gymnasts compete starting on Friday with podium training. You can watch possible future UCLA gymnast Kyla Ross (please pick us) (she probably will not enroll until after Rio) but you can also watch UCLA commit Madison Kocian out of WOGA (Nastia Liukin's gym), Macy Toronjo of Texas Dreams, (both of 2015-2016 class, meaning they enroll in 2015 and compete starting in 2016 since that's when the season starts), Felicia Hano of Gym-Max, and Veronica Hults of Texas Dreams, (class of 2016-2017). Madison is the one I'd love to see at UCLA, but I think she'll make a push for Rio and may not enroll right away in 2016 if she makes it, especially if she blows up on the international scene in the next two years.
- While not a UCLA gymnast, it's still BIG news - for Stanford. They signed Elizabeth (Ebee) Price, and she is retiring from international competition to enroll immediately at Stanford and start competing this year. This is a huuuuuuuge get for Stanford - I remember watching her in 2012 try to qualify for the Olympic team and was named an alternate, and had her on my list to watch for 2016. I was shocked by her retirement - she won the America Cup all-around in March and Pacific Rim in April, defeating 2012 Olympian Kyla Ross, was a lock for the Worlds team, and I thought had a good chance at the all-around in Rio. She would have been considered "old" though - 19 - and it's hard to continue when you peak between Olympic cycles. (They wind up being the best college gymnasts though.) If Ebee competes all-around, Stanford might not be the push over they have been in previous years. If Kyla Ross signs with Stanford, I just might die.
- Finally, I want to wish the best to Sarah Patterson, the coach from Alabama, who is stepping down after 36 years due to medical issues. She won 6 NCAA titles in her time and Alabama is always a force to be reckoned with in the SEC.
Go UCLA Gymnastics Bruins!