UCLA Hosts Georgia, Stanford Sunday
March 02, 2016 | Gymnastics
#7 UCLA vs. #10 Georgia, #16 Stanford
Sunday, Mar. 6 - 12:00 pm
TV: Pac-12 Networks (Jim Watson, Amanda Borden, Greg Marsden)
Live Stats: uclabruins.com
Tickets: uclabruins.com/tickets
UCLA Hosts Georgia, Stanford on Sunday
No. 7 UCLA (6-2) hosts No. 10 Georgia (4-5) and No. 16 Stanford (9-6) in a non-conference tri-meet Sunday, Mar. 6 in Pauley Pavilion. The meet begins at 12pm and will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks and Pac-12 Los Angeles. Jim Watson, Amanda Borden and Greg Marsden will be on the call.
Meet Format
Each competitor will compete one at a time so that fans will not miss a routine. UCLA will have Olympic order and will start on vault. Georgia will begin competition on uneven bars, and Stanford will start on balance beam.
Tickets & Promotions
Tickets for Sunday's meet start at just $8 and can be purchased in advance at the UCLA Central Ticket Office or online at Ticketmaster. UCLA students are free with ID and eligible to win a raffle prize each home meet. This week's prize is an Apple Watch. Veterans and members of the armed forces can receive free admission with up to three guests with valid veteran or military ID on Military Appreciation Day.
UCLA Gymnastics Alumni, Pac-12 All-Century Team to be Recognized Sunday
UCLA Gymnastics alumni will be introduced at the conclusion of the meet on Sunday. Receiving special recognition will be UCLA's Pac-12 All-Century team members, including Coach of the Century Valorie Kondos Field and Gymnast of the Century Tasha Schwikert. Schwikert headlined a total of 12 Bruins on the 16-member Pac-12 All-Century Gymnastics team. Also selected to the All-Century team from UCLA were Jill Andrews (balance beam), Mohini Bhardwaj (all-around, uneven bars, floor exercise), Jamie Dantzscher (floor exercise, all-around), Kim Hamilton (floor exercise), Kristen Maloney (vault), Heidi Moneymaker (vault), Samantha Peszek (balance beam, all-around), Kate Richardson (floor exercise), Sharon Shapiro (all-around), Stella Umeh (floor exercise) and Vanessa Zamarripa (vault).
Follow Live
Live stats for Sunday's meet will be available at uclabruins.com. Live updates can also be found on Twitter: @UCLAGymnastics. British Olympian and undergraduate assistant coach Jennifer Pinches will live tweet from the arena during the meet.
In the Rankings
UCLA dropped one spot to No. 7 in the nation with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 196.825. RQS is determined by taking the top six scores, three of which must be on the road, dropping the high score and averaging the remaining five marks. The Bruins are No. 2 on floor (49.420), No. 5 on beam (49.240), and No. 11 on vault (49.070) and bars (49.140). Although only three Bruins are ranked in the Top 25 nationally, they are all ranked in the Top 6 - Sadiqua Bynum is No. 1 on floor, Danusia Francis is No. 2 on beam, and Angi Cipra is No. 6 on floor.
UCLA-Georgia-Stanford Matchup
UCLA is 5-18 in regular-season action against Georgia and 51-16-1 against Stanford. The Bruins have not faced Georgia in the regular season since traveling to Athens in 2012. This is Georgia's first trip to LA for a regular season matchup since 2011. UCLA's last regular season win over Georgia came in 2007, a 197.150-197.000 victory in Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins went 3-0 against Stanford last year, with a road win, a home win and a neutral site win at the Pac-12 Championships. Stanford's last win over UCLA came at the 2014 Pac-12 Championships.
Georgia ranks in the Top 10 on vault, bars and floor. Seniors Brandie Jay and Brittany Rogers rank in the Top 25 in the all-around, with Jay 11th and Rogers 22nd. Stanford is Top 20 on vault, bars and beam and is led by sophomore Elizabeth Price, who ranks eighth in the nation in the all-around.
Gymnastics Invades Basketball Mar. 2
UCLA Gymnastics will be featured prominently at the UCLA Men's Basketball game against Oregon on Wednesday, Mar. 2. Junior gymnasts Christine Peng-Peng Lee and Hallie Mossett and team manager Alex Waller will sing the national anthem prior to the game, and the team will be introduced and perform at halftime.
Bynum Remains Ranked No. 1 on Floor
Senior Sadiqua Bynum may have started her UCLA career as a redshirt walk-on, but she is ending her career as a superstar. Bynum is ranked No. 1 in the nation on floor exercise for the second consecutive week and was the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week after recording two victories in UCLA's win at Washington on Feb. 21. Bynum won both events that she competed, tying her season-high on vault with a 9.875 and recording a 9.95 on floor exercise. Bynum has a team-high five event titles and also leads the team with seven scores of 9.9 or higher and five scores of 9.95 or higher. She has scored 9.95 or higher on floor in five consecutive meets, with a high of 9.975 recorded on Feb. 13.
Last Time Out
UCLA showcased its depth in a 196.625-192.950 victory over Arizona State on Saturday afternoon. With the Bruins resting star gymnasts Danusia Francis and Angi Cipra and with Hallie Mossett and Christine Peng-Peng Lee out with injuries, some fresh faces emerged as top contributors alongside veteran stars Sadiqua Bynum and Sophina DeJesus. Sophomore JaNay Honest earned career-high marks on bars (9.9) and floor (9.925), while her classmate Rechelle Dennis achieved a new season high of 9.85 on bars to claim third place for the second-straight week. Freshman Stella Savvidou scored 9.825 on beam in her first-ever collegiate routine, earning a 9.9 from one of the judges, and also added a 9.875 exhibition score on bars.
Saturday's meet also marked the return of freshman Katelyn Ohashi, who had missed the last four meets with a sternum injury. Ohashi owned the balance beam, scoring a career-best 9.9 to win the event. Napualani Hall also returned to the lineup and scored a season-high 9.85 on floor exercise. DeJesus and Bynum maintained their season-long excellence, with DeJesus winning bars with a 9.925 and Bynum winning floor with a 9.95.
High Marks
After eight meets, UCLA has posted 14 9.95 scores this season - Danusia Francis three times on beam, Christine Peng-Peng Lee and Sophina DeJesus once on beam, Sadiqua Bynum five times on floor, Angi Cipra three times on floor and Hallie Mossett once on floor. Francis leads the crew with 12 9.95+ scores in her career (11 on beam and 1 on floor). Lee has eight (3 on bars, 5 on beam), Bynum has six, all on floor. Cipra has four on floor, and Mossett has one on floor. DeJesus has one each on bars and beam. The Bruins have also tallied 41 scores of 9.9 or higher this year and had a season-high eight in the meet vs. Oregon State.
Notables
Seven Bruins have hit all of their routines without a fall so far this season. Danusia Francis is 22-for-22, JaNay Honest is 18-for-18, Sadiqua Bynum is 16-for-16, Madison Preston and Mikaela Gerber are 12-for-12, Melissa Metcalf is 6-for-6. and Rechelle Dennis is 5-for-5 … Francis has hit 57 routines in a row without a fall, with 51 of those routines scoring 9.8 or above … Bynum hit all 23 routines in 2015 and has hit 46 in a row since 2014 … Sophina DeJesus has scored 9.8 or higher on 17 of her last 18 beam routines … Sonya Meraz is a perfect 17-for-17 on beam in her career, with 12 of those routines scoring 9.8 or higher … Hallie Mossett choreographed the floor exercise routines for JaNay Honest, Napualani Hall and Rechelle Dennis and helped head coach Valorie Kondos Field choreograph others on the team, including her own.
Bruin Depth
The depth of the UCLA team has been on full display this season, with 16 gymnasts getting into the lineup at least twice. The latest newcomer to crack the lineup is Rechelle Dennis, who has competed in the last three meets. She scored a career-high 9.85 on bars vs. ASU and has placed third on bars in her last two meets. She also competed on vault in the last two meets and has a high of 9.725. Nicki Shapiro has also solidified her place in the lineup on beam in the last three meets, scoring 9.9 on her debut routine vs. Oregon State and 9.85 at Washington. JaNay Honest is making a strong case for staying in the floor lineup, scoring 9.85 on her season debut performance at Washington and then following it up with a career-high 9.925 vs. ASU on Feb. 27. Stella Savvidou made a strong beam debut on Saturday, scoring 9.825 and placing third. She also hit an outstanding routine on uneven bars, scoring 9.875 in an exhibition performance.
Unique Skills
UCLA gymnasts have long been known for their unique skills. Most notably, Danusia Francis is the first gymnast ever to connect a sideways side aerial to a full-twisting layout dismount on beam. She was also the first collegiate gymnast to do the sideways side aerial back in 2013. After completing a double layout as her first pass, Sadiqua Bynum does her second pass - a double tuck - as a side pass across the short length of the floor. Christine Peng-Peng Lee mounts beam with the Homma Flairs and does a double turn. She also performs a Bhardwaj (full-twisting Pak salto) on uneven bars.
Sophina Goes Viral
Senior Sophina DeJesus gained overnight fame when a video of her floor exercise routine went viral on Super Bowl weekend. The video has topped 28 million views on Facebook and 12 million on YouTube. DeJesus was the top trending topic on Facebook for two days and was featured on countless news programs and websites around the world, including People Magazine, Time, New York Times, BuzzFeed, Upworthy, Good Morning America, The Today Show, NPR and Cosmo. Celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon, Jamie Foxx, Ludacris, Chris Brown and Ashton Kutcher posted about her routine on social media.
DeJesus made her biggest appearance yet on Feb. 17 with a guest turn on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. During the broadcast, DeJesus did a modified version of her floor routine and reminisced with Ellen about her first appearance on the show 10 years ago when she performed with her dance crew Diamonds in the Rough. DeJesus and her teammates also danced on stage during a commercial break with dancer/actor/DJ Stephen “tWitch” Boss.
Vault Changes
With the Yurchenko layout full and Yurchenko layout half vaults being devalued to 9.95 start values, several Bruins have been working on new vaults in 2016 to maintain a 10.0 start value. Two Bruins have competed 10.0 vaults in their four meets. Napualani Hall has scored career-highs of 9.9 on stuck Yurchenko 1.5s twice, and Sadiqua Bynum has twice scored 9.875 on her Yurchenko Arabian. JaNay Honest and Madison Preston have UCLA's highest score on a Yurchenko layout full with 9.9s against Oregon State.
Francis Hosts Bruin Banter
Senior Danusia Francis has taken over hosting duties from Samantha Peszek in the weekly gymnastics web series Bruin Banter, which can be viewed every Thursday on uclabruins.com. This week's episode features guests Sonya Meraz and Stella Savvidou.
Get Social
UCLA Gymnastics ranks first among all NCAA gymnastics teams in Instagram followers (42k) and Facebook likes (84k+) and ranks sixth in Twitter followers (9.2k). Follow the Bruins at @UCLAGymnastics on Instagram and Twitter and on Facebook at facebook.com/uclagymnastics.
Looking Ahead
UCLA concludes the regular season on Sunday, Mar. 13 against top-ranked Oklahoma. The meet will take place in Pauley Pavilion at 1pm. At the conclusion of the meet, the Bruins will honor their three seniors - Sadiqua Bynum, Sophina DeJesus and Danusia Francis.