Las Vegas gymnast rolls the dice

Victoria Sun

Monday, Aug. 14, 2000 | 10:28 a.m.

Gymnastics coach Cassandra Rice concedes the risk is enormous.

That risk is asking her top pupil to incorporate two new tricks into her routine right before the U.S. Olympic Trials begin later this week.

But when weighed against the possible payoff, it is a risk Rice and 15-year-old Las Vegan Tasha Schwikert are willing to take.

So when Schwikert competes Friday and Sunday in Boston, she will unveil a brand new vault and a tumbling pass during her floor exercise.

"I'm nervous. I think everyone is nervous about this," Schwikert said. "It's very important.

"This is only a once in a lifetime thing, it's not something you can do every year. It's a privilege to have a chance at it, a pretty good chance, so I'm excited."

Rice, head coach and owner of Gymcats in Henderson, decided Schwikert needed to upgrade her routine after her 11th-place finish at the U.S. National Championships in July.

Although Schwikert performed well on the first day of the competition, she had a series of miscues on the second day that caused her scores to plummet.

"I had two weeks to get my tricks back," Schwikert said. "I was definitely not satisfied with 11th."

In theory, the results of that competition will account for 40 percent of determining who will make the team, while this week's trials will make up the remaining 60 percent.

An estimated 12-17 girls will be competing for the six spots on the team and a seventh gymnast will be picked as an alternate.

This year, the scores from the trials and the nationals won't guarantee a spot, because the team will be handpicked by an Olympic committee headed by gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi. Rice likes Schwikert's chances of nabbing the sixth spot because of her performance throughout the year at Karolyi's camp.

Both coach and student are hoping the new moves will help her case.

"We really want to put in everything we can to go for it because she needs to kind of make up for nationals," Rice said. "If she was in the top two or three we wouldn't do this.

"But we want her to move up. She's the youngest, least experienced of the girls and we have to do it. We have to go for it."

Schwikert and Rice, along with family and friends, are leaving for Boston today.

Schwikert will have four days to train before the first competition on Friday, another training day on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. After the final competition, the committee will announce the team members.

"I'm not sure," Schwikert said of her chance to make it. "It's so hard to say who is going to be the top or what is going to happen.

"I just want to go out there and get it right and do the best I can."

If she does not make it this Olympic year, she will have another shot in 2004, provided she stays healthy.

Either way, Rice said she is proud of the way Schwikert has represented Las Vegas.

Schwikert has been a national team member three times, and has made it to the world championships and now the Olympic trials -- which Rice said are all firsts for a Las Vegan.

"She has definitely improved on her consistency," Rice said. "The thing I appreciate most is the fact that she has grown up here and been able to be successful here without moving around to a bunch of different gyms.

"We are very proud of her."