Schwikert vaults to early lead

Nancy Armour

Friday, Aug. 10, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA -- Las Vegan Tasha Schwikert has come a long way from that quiet girl who needed a strange twist of events to get to the Sydney Olympics.

The braces are gone, removed five months ago to reveal a dazzling grin. She wears her hair straight now, looking more like a glamorous young model than a teenager going through those awkward years.

And when she takes the floor to compete, she exudes an air of confidence few others can match. She's the favorite now, and she likes it that way.

"I don't think it's something I've worked on. As I've grown older and matured, I think it just comes naturally," said Schwikert, who is in first place after Thursday night's all-around preliminaries at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

Tabitha Yim made a run at Schwikert, leading halfway through the competition. But the 15-year-old Yim, competing in her first senior nationals, faltered on the balance beam and is in second place, nine-tenths of a point back.

UCLA All-American Mohini Bhardwaj, back at nationals for the first time since 1997, was third.

All-around finals are Saturday, and the top three finishers make the world championship team. A selection committee will pick the last three.

Schwikert knows better than anyone how quickly things can change in gymnastics. When the Olympic year started, she wasn't even expected to make it to Sydney. She was supposed to be too young and not experienced enough, especially when the Magnificent Seven members came back.

But she worked hard, steadily improving and impressing Bela Karolyi with her determination and consistency. Though she finished ninth at the Olympic trials, Karolyi picked her as the second alternate.

And when Morgan White withdrew a few days before competition began with a stress fracture in her foot, Karolyi bypassed first alternate Alyssa Beckerman and put Schwikert on the team.

With the rest of the Olympians moving on, Schwikert became the favorite, the leader around whom the rest of the U.S. team would be built.

"She likes that role," said Cassie Rice, her longtime coach. "I'm going to work to get her there physically. Mentally, she's ready to take that on. She likes the spotlight."

Trailing Yim, Schwikert took control with a beam routine that was far better than anything anyone else did. Her tumbling passes were so sure she looked as if she was doing them on the floor, not three feet off the ground on a four-inch-wide beam.

While most other gymnasts were scoring in the 7s or 8s, her routine earned her a 9.525.

Her floor routine was equally impressive. She played right along with her sultry jazz number, swinging her hips and working the crowd just like the best in the world do. Her tumbling runs were huge, carrying her across the full length of the mat.

She made them look so easy, too, punctuating one pass with a toe point to the corner that almost looked like a strut.

She was more consistent than anyone else, too. All of her scores were in the 9s, the only one in the competition to manage that.

"Last year, I was always like, 'Man, I wish I could be on top,' " Schwikert said earlier this week. "Now it's actually here. But I know I still have to focus on what I want to accomplish."

Though Schwikert had the lead by the time Yim did her beam routine, a couple of errors dropped Yim farther behind. On the third of three back handsprings, she misplaced her foot and tumbled off the beam.

"I didn't have a good warmup, and I just didn't get in control fast enough," she said.

Bhardwaj, after burning out a few years ago, rediscovered her love for the sport at UCLA. She won All-America honors 11 times and helped lead the Bruins to two national titles, the most recent in April.

Though the rest of her UCLA teammates are enjoying a relaxing summer -- many were in the stands Thursday to cheer her on -- Bhardwaj wouldn't be anywhere else.

"I love to compete," she said. "It's fun for me and I enjoy it."