NCAA Men’s Gymnastics : UCLA’s Defending Champions Compete Against Nine Schools

Defending champion UCLA will join nine other gymnastics teams in the 3-day National Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s championship meet, beginning tonight at the University of Nebraska, traditional host and runner-up.

The Bruins, who are ranked only eighth this year, have won this title twice in the last four years.

UCLA’s leading competitor is senior All-American David Moriel, the defending high bar champion. He is ranked fifth in the country on rings, fifth on high bar and 13th in the all-around.

Also back for UCLA is Mexican Olympian Tony Pineda, who had not participated this season until March 19. Pineda, out with shoulder problems, came back to score a 57.2 in the all-around optionals at the Pacific 10 meet.

But second-ranked Nebraska, which has finished second in this meet in each of the last three years and which has played host to this event six of the last nine years, has most of the top performers, including the top two finishers from the all-around competition. NCAA champion Tom Schlesinger is back, as is second-place finisher Kevin Davis.

The meet will begin with optionals tonight in the Bob Devaney Sports Center, cutting the 10 teams down to 3. Those three will compete for the team championship Friday night. Then the individual gymnasts will compete for the all-around title Saturday, with individual events being contested that night.

Among the other teams entered are top-ranked Illinois, third-ranked Oklahoma and fourth-ranked Stanford.