LV’s Schwikert steps up to help U.S. team

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2003 | 9:11 a.m.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Las Vegas' Tasha Schwikert came through in a pinch Wednesday night and helped make a little history.

Stepping in as an emergency replacement for injured teammate and reigning U.S. all-around champion Courtney Cupets, Schwikert received solid scores in the vault and uneven bars to help the short-handed American women win their first gold medal in the World Gymnastics Championships at the Arrowhead Pond.

Cupets suffered a serious Achilles' injury during training on Tuesday and was scratched from the team finals, as the injury-riddled American team turned to Schwikert and alternates Terin Humphrey and Hollie Vise to offset her absence and those of two more fallen teammates.

"We've been through so many different things this week and we are just in shock that we made it through another injury and that we are all still standing," said Schwikert, a member of the 2000 Sydney Olympic team and the American team captain. "It was awesome."

The Americans, who were considered a threat for the gold medal before the championships began, were all but ruled out after injuries and sickness left them without three top performers heading into Wednesday.

Cupets was the third U.S. gymnast to go down in Anaheim, joining vault specialist Annia Hatch (torn knee ligaments) and reigning balance beam world champion Ashley Postell (virus) on the sidelines.

Schwikert, who had an off night during preliminaries on Sunday and failed to qualify for the women's all-around championship or any of the individual apparatus finals which will be decided this weekend, received a 9.325 in the vault and a 9.600 in the uneven bars.

Her score in the vault was the best of the three Americans who competed in the event. Her composite score of 18.925 ranked 16th among the 44 gymnasts comprising the eight finalists in the team championship.