Dedicated to the gym

Rattle off the sports that require the most dedication and the usual answers are the same.

Football, basketball, baseball and soccer all immediately come to mind.

What doesn’t register at first is a sport that tends to fly under the radar.

Sure, the amount of collegiate gymnasts in Hawaii is smaller than most other sports, but the dedication required to make it is unquestioned.

There’s a reason Sacramento State senior Emiko Ono has been a gymnast since she was 4.

Arizona senior Rebecca Cardenas has twice competed in an NCAA regional championship, but only because she’s been practicing since she was 5.

And seasons? Forget about seasons. This is a sport that requires an amazing attention to detail from the first of January until the last day in December.

"You can’t ever really stop," said Ono, a 2008 Roosevelt graduate who scored a career-best 9.825 on the vault to finish in first place in a meet against San Jose State last Friday. "It’s too risky. You might lose your skills. It requires constant training."

Unfortunately, sometimes the amount of practice a gymnast puts in is out of his or her control.

Cardenas was a six-time All-American with the Hawaiian Island Twisters club team while going to high school at Hawaiian Mission Academy.

She competed in three events at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships as a freshman for the Wildcats, but suffered a torn ACL and had to sit out her entire sophomore year.

"It was on a skill I’ve always kind of had trouble with," said Cardenas. "It was on beam on one of my landings."

She’d broken her toe and fractured an ankle, but neither injury forced her to miss as much time as the knee injury.

She came back as a junior and competed on bars and the floor, but gave up the chance to do the all-around, deciding against getting back on the beam.

"After (the injury) I talked to my coach and pretty much said I didn’t want to do beam anymore," she said.

The injury lingered for such a long time that it wasn’t until last weekend that Cardenas competed in the vault event since the injury.

She posted a career-best score of 9.825 to tie for third and also set a career high with a 9.825 on bars in a loss to rival Arizona State on Friday.

The biggest adjustment for Cardenas at the collegiate level was competing as part of a team instead of individually as she did on the club level.

"It’s not about you, it’s about the team, which makes it that much more fun," she said.

Ono, who originally went to Brigham Young for a year before transferring to Sacramento State, said it also helps in transitioning to a college lifestyle.

"It made everything a lot easier because you already have this group of friends to spend all your time with," said Ono, who competed in the 2007 Junior Olympic Nationals.

Ono and Cardenas aren’t the only two gymnasts from Hawaii competing collegiately on the mainland. Cardenas went up against Sun Devils senior Kahoku Palafox, a 2008 Maryknoll graduate, just last weekend.

Here’s a look at a few other athletes that were also involved in competitions in the last few days:

» Eastern Michigan senior Tracie Tamashiro (Kalani ’08) placed third on the balance beam with a score of 9.60 to help the Eagles take second in a meet against Central Michigan and Texas Women’s University on Friday.

» Maryland senior Becca Pang (Punahou ’08) earned a 9.725 on the balance beam as the Terps finished third in a quad meet with No. 1 Arkansas and No. 8 Florida on Friday.

» Louisiana State freshman Randi Lau (Thompson Academy ’11) finished eighth on the floor exercise (9.775), 11th on beam (9.725) and 12th on bars (9.05) in a narrow loss to Georgia on Saturday.

» UC Davis freshman Tiana Montell (St. Joseph ’11) finished third in the all-around competition, scoring a 9.475 on vault, a 9.575 on bars, a 9.5 on beam and a 0.450 on floor to help the Aggies finish second in a meet against California and Seattle Pacific on Friday.