Q1: How the does the future look for the U.S. women's program?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: I think our team is going to be awesome in the next two years. We have so much depth. I have seen some of our juniors compete because we've gone on a few trips and things. They are talented and they are awesome. They throw a lot of big skills.

Q2: Can you win when you don't do your best?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: I'm just going for my personal best. Sometimes I think I'm capable of winning without doing my personal best in the States, but internationally when you go out there, you've got to be on. At your best. Perfect. Internationally, it's a different ballgame. I think, internationally, I'd still be up there but not winning. I think with my personal best I have a chance at medalling internationally.

Q3: How do you keep your focus at a competition when something goes wrong?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: Well, like tonight on the bars … I have dreams and a goal in front of me. It's a cool thing to be on top, when you're on top in the country, so I definitely want to stay there. And I had a talk with myself. I said, "Do you want to be national champion again. Well, you've got to will yourself to make this routine." I just had to let go of the bar a little earlier. The bars are a little more bouncy on the podium. They bounce more and make you fly higher and fly farther, so you got to feel your body and feel the equipment a little bit more.

Q4: How did you feel during warm-ups?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: On the inside everything didn't feel on. I felt like things were off and I didn't understand why. In gymnastics there are just those days where you don't feel on all the time. During the meet, it started to feel a little better and a little better. I started feeling my body … I just think in warm-ups I was kind of scrambling and I wasn't feeling my body in every little thing that I was feeling. I think tomorrow and Saturday for training I'm going to really concentrate on every little detail, what I'm feeling when I'm going through the motions, so I can be as close to being on as possible.

Q5: How do you handle stress?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: Sometimes I think I overreact a little. You know … "Everything is going wrong…" And my sister's like, "Everything is not going wrong. You're totally overreacting. You know it's okay. Calm down." I think sometimes I go to her all frantic and she doesn't even say anything because she knows that I know that I'm overreacting. Then I'll stop and say, "Okay, maybe everything's not so bad." I'll talk to myself and start thinking about technical corrections instead of going aaarrrgggghhhh."

Q6: Do you related more to figure skating or aerials or snowboarding as a gymnast?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: I think if you asked different gymnasts you'd hear different things … I guess to me it's more like aerials because … I'm not really graceful like Tabitha; I'm a little more powerful. She's like a ballerina … well, not like a ballerina … she's just so graceful, like a figure skater. Well, she is a figure skater, so there you go. I always get into the twists and the flips, so I think it's more like snowboarding. You have to know where you are in the air, like a snowboarder.

Q7: Do you enjoy the competition that Annia Hatch brings to the table?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: I do. She's an awesome gymnast. She's amazing that she is able to comeback … and at 24 … she's very strong. I love competition.

Q8: If you were a super hero, which one would you be?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: Okay, I don't know a lot of super heroes, I guess Superman, because in that movie he always was saving the day. It's not like I'm coming to save the day or anything. But I feel like sometimes when things aren't going well, like in warm-ups things might not be going well, but when it's time to count I suddenly pull myself together and do it. And I think when the person's about to fall off the building or whatever, Superman is like right there.

Q9: Do you have any favorite sayings?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: I was the student assistant in the P.E. office and there were like all these sayings all over the office and there's one that says, "Most people trade in what they want most for what they want in the moment." I always think about that because being a teenager sometimes you want to go with your friends and you don't want to go to the gym. You have to realize what do you really want in the end. Sometimes you can't give in to what you want in the moment. I always think about that one, when I'm about to make a bad decision or something. I think what is best for me.

Q10: How do you stay relaxed?

TASHA SCHWIKERT: After I salute, I close my eyes, take a deep breath and visualize how I want the routine to finish; how happy I'll be if I make it ... every time. The whole close-my-eyes-take-a-deep-breath thing really calms me down before I go.