Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Schwikert beaming about new balance

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.

You never know who you might run into while changing channels.

There was no mistaking the familiar face lighting up Fox College Sports Pacific's rebroadcast of last weekend's Pac-10 women's gymnastics championships meet, although the smile on it was a little misleading.

This wasn't one of those wan grins that many competitors in the world of cutthroat international gymnastics flash when the cameras are rolling that would have us believe they are having a good time.

There's nothing contrived about Tasha Schwikert's smile these days. She's sincerely enjoying her freshman year on the gymnastics team at UCLA and, more importantly, she's sincerely enjoying her new life apart from the gymnastics team at UCLA.

At this point, she gives it about a 9.9.

"It's a big change," Schwikert said from her Seattle hotel room, where UCLA was competing in the NCAA West Regional Gymnastics Championship on Saturday. "I'm really looking at a more complete life. Before, gymnastics was always my first priority. But now school is a priority, too, and I've got time for friends as well as competing.

"Gymnastics will always be a big priority ... but I'm getting to experience a lot more things than when I was training for the Olympics. It was necessary to do that (then). Now my life is pretty balanced."

Schwikert was in a chatty mood, which is a far cry from the last time I talked to her, when she was preparing to lower the curtain on her international career -- for now, anyway -- as an alternate on last summer's U.S. Olympic team.

She had made the Olympic team as a precocious 15-year-old four years before and probably peaked as an international competitor in the non-Olympic years of 2001 and 2002, when she was the U.S. all-around champion. But a series of injuries turned her into a bit player for the Athens Games and about all Schwikert wanted to talk about was getting on with her life.

What she probably didn't know was that going to college would also rekindle her competitive spark. She tied her old friend and Bruins teammate Kristen Maloney, the captain of the 2000 Sydney Olympic squad, for the Pac-10 all-around title and was named All-Pac 10 in three of the four women's disciplines -- vault, uneven bars and floor exercise.

She was even better in Seattle this weekend. Schwikert won the all-around championship and tied for first in vault, bars and floor as UCLA won its 16th NCAA regional crown.

Schwikert's kid sister Jordan, all Pac-10 in the all-around herself, finished third at Seattle, as the Schwikert sisters sandwiched Maloney, giving the Bruins a sweep of the all-around and a leg up on their second consecutive NCAA title, that event getting under way Thursday at Auburn.

"We're doing pretty well," Schwikert said in an early candidate for understatement of the year. "I'm pretty happy with the way the season went. I really couldn't ask for much more, especially in not knowing what to expect. I've just been really consistent.

"It's definitely a big thing competing for your country. But in a way, you're also competing for yourself on the national team. Here, it's about the team. You have the support of your teammates and coaches and you definitely can feel that support."

Although she "sat out" a year after graduating from Las Vegas' Centennial High -- if you can call competing for a spot on the Olympic team sitting out -- Schwikert said that really didn't make her transition to college life any easier.

"I'm just trying to get through freshman year," she said, sounding like any other kid who has moved away from home for the first time.

Having Jordan nearby -- the two live in the same dorm but don't room together -- has helped. She has also been able to tap into Maloney (who followed the same path to college) for guidance and she said Bruins coach Valorie Kondos Field and her assistants have been wonderful.

And every now and then, a familiar face from her past -- or in one case, a lot of friendly faces -- will drop by to see how she's doing.

Schwikert said one of the highlights of her season occurred recently when her longtime coach Cassie Rice brought what seemed like half the enrollment of the Henderson Gymkats, her former club, to Pauley Pavilion to watch her perform.

"I love all my coaches (at UCLA). They are amazing people," Schwikert said. "But I will always love Cassie. She's been like a second mom to me and it's great to still have a relationship with her."

Having trained 6-8 hours a day, six days a week, under Rice since she needed a step stool to mount the balance beam, Schwikert said practicing 3 1/2 hours a day just four days a week at UCLA is almost like spring break in Ft. Lauderdale. Before, she said, it was all about gymnastics. Now, it's about blending gymnastics with the rest of campus life.

Sometimes, she even has to make decisions for herself, something she still is getting used to.

Schwikert said she even has time for a boyfriend -- lots of boyfriends, in fact, although not in the traditional sense. Her inner circle includes a group of UCLA football players who have been showing up to meets to cheer for the Bruins at a volume that most gymnastics fans aren't used to.

As for her chances in the NCAA meet, Schwikert didn't seem to know what events she would be competing in, who her stiffest competition would be, or even where the meet would take place. Getting all worked up about competing, like those grueling six-hour workouts, is pretty much a thing of her past.

"I have no idea," she said about the NCAA meet after being reminded that it was in Alabama.

"When they tell me to flip, I'll flip."

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