March 2, 2002

Schwikert slips but still takes title By EDDIE PELLS

AP Sports Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Tasha Schwikert landed on her backside on the final routine of the day. A few minutes later, she found herself standing on the winner's podium.

The U.S. champion put a fitting close to an off-kilter day of gymnastics Saturday, winning the American Cup despite a fall and a slip out of bounds in the floor routine that still clinched the title.

"It's kind of a weird feeling," Schwikert said. "I'm not as excited as I should be about winning, because it wasn't a personal best or anything. But my name is still on the list of American Cup champions, so I'll take that."

Indeed, the victory puts the Schwikert in good company, right beside Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug as champion of one of the biggest international meets of the season.

Eric Lopez of Cuba won the men's competition, his second American Cup title in three years. Lopez scored a 9.25 on his final routine, the high bar, to defeat American Paul Hamm. U.S. men's champion Sean Townsend finished fourth.

Schwikert, 17, will have to pass on the $15,000 winner's check, because she wants to be able to compete for UCLA when her days with USA Gymnastics are complete.

Before that, however, the 2004 Olympics await, and Schwikert is the one the Americans are looking to as their leader.

Her coach, Cassie Rice, took the fact that she could win when she wasn't at her best as a great sign. Schwikert is coming off a bad tailbone injury, and has only been back in the gym for about four weeks.

"She's not even close to being 100 percent in shape," Rice said. "I thought it was a miracle that she did what she did today."

Her two middle routines - uneven bars and beam - were among the day's best from any of the eight female gymnasts. She scored a 9.45 on the bars. Her 9.525 routine on the beam was the most electric. She pulled off a flawless flip on the 4-inch-wide apparatus, then made a perfect, twirling dismount that brought big cheers.

The fans were on her side for the floor routine, too, but Schwikert botched the landing on a somersault combo into the corner, fell on her backside, then slid out of bounds. The mandatory deductions, totaling .6 points, left her with a score of 8.775 and kept the door open for 15-year-old American Courtney Kupets.

Kupets needed a 9.307 to win. Her routine was clean, but not difficult enough. She earned a 9.212 to finish second, ahead of Verona Van De Leur of the Netherlands. American Tabatha Yim finished fifth.

"I'm happy I won and everything, but this is definitely a great lesson for me," Schwikert said. "It encourages me to go back to gym and work harder, get in shape for championships and worlds."

U.S. Championships are Aug. 7-10 in Cleveland.

On the men's side, there was a clear distinction between who was in it for a victory and who was in it for fun.

Count "Sexy Alexei" Nemov of Russia, the defending Olympic champion, among the fun bunch.

He spent more time mugging to the crowd than doing anything brilliant on the mat. He fell out of the running after the first rotation when he skidded off the pommel horse. A few minutes later, he fell off the rings and cut his routine short - asking for applause from the fans, who were shocked he didn't get back up and finish the set. Nemov finished sixth of eight.

Hamm took things more seriously.

He was the best gymnast through five rotations, but he did only two consecutive release moves instead of his normal four on the high bar. That earned him a score of 9.1, and allowed Lopez to take the title despite his own less-than-scintillating turn on the bar.

Hamm conceded that pulling out of the difficult bars maneuver may have been an aftereffect of last year's World Championships, when he bopped his lip hard on the bar while going for the second of the two combinations.

"It's hard to say you can do something like that, then not think about it when you try the same thing again," Hamm said.

Still, he and coach Stacy Maloney deemed the day a success.

"It would have been better to win," Maloney said. "But we're making progress. We're doing a lot of new stuff. We're trying to do real big gymnastics. Our goal is to win the whole thing" in 2004 in Athens.

Hamm's twin brother, Morgan, missed the American Cup. He's recovering from a nerve injury to his shoulder and is expected back later this year.