Moving On

Mike Sciacca, Independent

She packed her bags Sunday and left Huntington Beach, eager to move

on and begin life on her own.

Jeanette Antolin didn’t go that far, however - Westwood is a mere 45

miles up the 405 freeway, but far enough to get out the national

spotlight.

For now, anyway.

Antolin, who graduated from Marina High in June, has graduated to

another level in her stellar gymnastics career, now that her attempt to

land a spot on the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team is over.

Just one month ago at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Boston,

Antolin, hampered by a recurring ankle injury, placed 11th overall at the

weekend competition. Only the top six performers make the US team, along

with two alternates.

Though disappointed at not making the team, Antolin, ever the positive

competitor and always a fighter, shifted her thoughts to her new team,

UCLA, where she is a member of the Bruins’ women’s gymnastics team.

“I can’t really say exactly why, but ever since I was a little girl,

I’ve always wanted to go to UCLA,” Antolin said. “They have a really good

gymnastics program, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Heavily recruited by several Division I schools, including Utah and

Michigan, Antolin said the choice to remain in California was never a

tough one.

“I never wanted to leave home,” she said. “I love California.”

Fall classes begin on the UCLA campus on Monday. Although she’s in a

new setting, Antolin, who doesn’t have a major as of yet, won’t be out of

the spotlight anytime soon. Not with her talent, nor due to the fact that

three members of the 2000 US Olympic women’s gymnastics team competing in

Sydney, Australia this week - Jamie Dantzscher, Kristen Maloney, and

Alyssa Beckerman (alternate) - are friends, as well as Bruin teammates,

of Antolin’s.

Antolin, Dantzscher, and Maloney also were teammates on the 1997 US

World team.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, and I’m really happy for all of

them,” the 18-year-old said. “We’ve really become close over the years,

sort of like becoming distance sisters. I’m glad that we’ll all be at

UCLA together. We all hope we can help keep the program at the level of

success it has enjoyed nationally throughout the years.”

After trotting the globe for international competitions much of her

adolescent life, Antolin, a member of SCATS Gymnastics of Huntington

Beach, now will compete on a national scale. She says that she’s ready

for the change.

“When I look back on these past few years, I see that gymnastics has

allowed me the opportunity to travel and see the world,” she concluded.

“Going to the Olympic Trials was an awesome experience, one I’ll never

forget. But I’m ready, really ready, to move on. Going off to college

will seem like a whole different world to me.”

One full of a whole lot of new experiences, too, but Jeanette Antolin

has never backed off from a challenge.