UCLA
Utah
UCLA Travels to Utah for Top 5 Matchup on ESPNU
February 15, 2017 | Gymnastics
#4 UCLA at #5 Utah
Saturday, Feb. 18 - 8pm MT (at Salt Lake City, Utah)
TV: ESPNU (Bart Conner, Kathy Johnson-Clarke, Laura Rutledge, Holly Rowe)
Online: watchespn.com
Live Stats: utahutes.com
Twitter: @uclagymnastics
#4 UCLA vs. Bridgeport, Utah State
Monday, Feb. 20 - 1pm PT (Pauley Pavilion)
TV: Pac-12 Networks (Brian Webber, Samantha Peszek)
Tickets: uclabruins.com/tickets
Online: pac-12.com/now
Live Stats: uclabruins.com
Twitter: @uclagymnastics
UCLA Competes at Utah in Top 5 Showdown Saturday
No. 4 UCLA (4-1, 3-0 in the Pac-12) faces No. 5 Utah (7-1, 2-1 in the Pac-12) in a Top 5 matchup Saturday, Feb. 18 in Salt Lake City. The meet will be televised live on ESPNU at 8pm MT/7pm PT. Olympic medalists Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson Clarke will be on the call, with additional reporting from Laura Rutledge and Holly Rowe.
Bruins Host Tri-Meet Monday
Two days after competing at Utah, the Bruins will return home for a tri-meet against Bridgeport and Utah State on Monday, Feb. 20 in Pauley Pavilion. The meet will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks at 1pm. UCLA alumna and three-time NCAA champion Samantha Peszek will call the action with Brian Webber. Following the competition, the Bruins will conduct a post-meet autograph session.
Presidents Day Promotion
In honor of Presidents Day on Monday, free admission for up to four guests to Monday's meet will be granted to anyone sharing the last name of any of the 44 Presidents of the United States. UCLA is also honoring all military members by granting four free admissions with military ID.
UCLA Scores Nation's Highest Team Total
UCLA made a strong statement on Saturday, recording a national-best team score of 198.125 in a nearly four-point victory over Stanford. The score was UCLA's highest since also recording 198.125 en route to winning the 2004 NCAA Super Six Team FInals. The Bruins hit 24-for-24, with 10 scores of 9.9 or higher, including two perfect 10s and two 9.975s, and just three scores under 9.8. Eleven career-high marks were achieved by nine Bruins - Angi Cipra (vault), Madison Preston (vault), Gracie Kramer (vault), Sonya Meraz (bars), Stella Savvidou (bars and floor), Madison Kocian (bars and floor), Peng-Peng Lee (bars), Katelyn Ohashi (beam), and Napualani Hall (floor).
Perfect Pair
Madison Kocian and Christine Peng-Peng Lee made history when they became the first UCLA duo to score perfect 10s on uneven bars in the same meet. The perfect 10s were the first of their careers, and the second and third by a Bruin gymnast on bars this season. Kyla Ross scored the first 10.0 on Jan. 28. Kocian and Lee are the first Bruins to score perfect 10s on the same event in the same meet since Kristen Maloney and Jeanette Antolin scored a pair of perfect 10s on vault at the NCAA Regionals on Apr. 3, 2004.
10.0 Club
Three Bruins have joined the 10.0 club this season, as Kyla Ross (Jan. 28), Madison Kocian (Feb. 11) and Christine Peng-Peng Lee (Feb. 11) have all scored perfect 10s on the uneven bars in the last three weeks. Twenty-eight different UCLA gymnasts have scored a total of 107 perfect 10s, with 12 Bruins totaling 23 perfect 10s on uneven bars. Ross, Kocian and Lee are the first Bruin trio to score perfect 10s on the same event in one year since 2004 when Kate Richardson, Jeanette Antolin and Kristen Maloney all scored perfect 10s on vault.
Preston is Perfect on 9.95 Vault
Sophomore Madison Preston was the third Bruin to receive a perfect score on one of her routines against Stanford, scoring 9.95 on her 9.95-start value vault. Preston stuck a perfect Yurchenko layout full to score a career-high. She is averaging 9.925 on her two vaults this season and ranks fourth in the nation on the event.
Perfect Scores Abound for Ross
Freshman Kyla Ross, a member of the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. Olympic team and a five-time World medalist, has performed five routines in her last three meets that have earned at least one perfect score. Ross earned the nation's first perfect 10 of the season on uneven bars at the Bruins' Jan. 28 meet at Oregon State. Her perfect 10 was the first by a Bruin since Danusia Francis scored a 10 on beam on Mar. 6, 2016 and UCLA's first perfect 10 on bars since Samantha Peszek in 2014. Ross nearly scored another perfect 10 the following week at Arizona State, receiving a 9.975 on beam, and she earned a 9.975 on bars last week against Stanford. She has also scored 9.925 on her 9.95 start-valued vault in two of the last three meets, receiving the maximum 9.95 score from one of the two judges.
Kocian, Lee Win Pac-12 Weekly Awards
For the third consecutive week, a Bruin has won two of the three Pac-12 Weekly Awards. Madison Kocian earned her second consecutive Freshman of the Week honors, and Christine Peng-Peng Lee recieved her second Specialist of the Week award of the season. Both Bruins scored perfect 10s on uneven bars this past weekend. Kocian last week was the Pac-12 Gymnast and Freshman of the Week, and the week prior to that, Kyla Ross earned Specialist and Freshman of the Week honors. Kocian was also voted the UCLA/MuscleMilk Student-Athlete of the Week, beating out men's basketball's Lonzo Ball, softball's Delaney Spaulding and men's volleyball's JT Hatch in a Twitter vote by fans.
Kramer Hits First 10.0-Start Value Vault
During Saturday's win over Stanford, freshman Gracie Kramer became the first Bruin to hit a 10.0-start value vault - a Yurchenko 1.5. Kramer scored a career-best 9.925 on the vault to place second. Kramer has vaulted in every meet this season but had been throwing the 9.95-start value Yurchenko full in the four previous meets, with a high mark of 9.8.
In the Rankings
UCLA moved up one spot in the national rankings to No. 4 with a season average of 197.025. The Bruins remain second on bars and sixth on beam and moved up to fourth on vault and 13th on floor. Madison Kocian ranks in the Top 25 in the all-around (18th) and on vault (25th), beam (13th) and floor (seventh). Christine Peng-Peng Lee has moved up to second on bars. Four Bruins are ranked on vault - Madison Preston (4th), Kyla Ross (12th), Angi Cipra (16th) and Kocian (25th). Katelyn Ohashi and Preston are ranked 24th on floor. Rankings are currently based on average score but will flip to regional qualifying score (RQS) next week.
UCLA vs. Utah
Utah suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, getting edged out at Oregon State, 196.550-195.525, on the last routine of the meet, a 9.925 on floor by Kaytianna McMillan. The Utes, who have a season average of 196.879 and a high of 197.625, are led by freshman and Olympic alternate MyKayla Skinner, who has 23 out of 30 individual victories this season. Skinner swept the Pac-12 Gymnast and Freshman of the Week awards in the first three weeks of the season.
UCLA's all-time record against Utah in the regular season is 10-28. The Bruins won last season's matchup in Pauley Pavilion, 197.100-197.075, thanks to Sadiqua Bynum's meet-clinching 9.95 on floor exercise, and also won the matchup at the Pac-12 Championships, which the Bruins won while Utah tied for second. UCLA's last win in the Huntsman Center came at the 2012 Pac-12 Championships. The Bruins' last dual meet win at Utah came in 2003, when UCLA's 197.225-196.750 victory snapped Utah's 23-year, 170-dual meet win streak.
Streaks
Mikaela Gerber has a streak of 31 consecutive hit routines dating back to 2015. She hit all 19 of her routines last year, including all 14 as the leadoff on beam โฆ Four Bruin returners competed in all 14 meets last season - Mikaela Gerber, JaNay Honest, Sonya Meraz and Madison Preston. Meraz has competed in 29-straight meets, and Gerber has competed in 24-straight โฆ Madison Kocian is the only Bruin to compete on every event in every meet this year for a total of 20-straight routines.
Vaulting Upwards
Although the Bruins have only thrown one 10.0 start-value vault all season, the team ranks fourth in the nation on vault with a season average of 49.270 and a season-high of 49.5 set last weekend. Four Bruins are ranked in the Top 25 on vault - No. 4 Madison Preston, No. 12 Kyla Ross, No. 16 Angi Cipra and No. 25 Madison Kocian. Preston holds the team's highest vault score of the season with a 9.95. Kyla Ross has two 9.925s and a 9.9. Gracie Kramer performed the only 10.0 vault of the season, a Yurchenko 1.5, and scored a career-high 9.925 last weekend.
Raising the Bar
UCLA scored the highest uneven bars total in the nation on Feb. 11 with a 49.725 that included two perfect 10s and a 9.975. Three Bruins have scored perfect 10s in the last three meets, with Kyla Ross recording the first in the nation on bars on Jan. 28 at Oregon State and Madison Kocian and Christine Peng-Peng Lee each earning a perfect score against Stanford on Feb. 11. Lee is ranked second in the nation on bars with an average of 9.935 and has won the uneven bars in four of the team's five meets this season. She performs three difficult release moves in her routine - a Ray (toe-on Tkatchev), a Bhardwaj (full-twisting Pak salto) and a Shaposh half. Kocian is the reigning World co-champion and Olympic silver medalist on the event and now has a perfect 10 to her credit. Ross, who has three bars victories in five meets, has won a world silver medal and was the U.S. national championship on bars in 2013. Additionally, JaNay Honest is the reigning Pac-12 co-champion with a career-high score of 9.95, and Stella Savvidou and Sonya Meraz each scored career-highs of 9.875 in the Bruins' last meet. Savvidou placed fourth at the conference championships last year and is averaging 9.825 this season. Meraz is averaging 9.835 and has added difficulty to her routine this year, upgrading her Tkatchev to a toe-on Tkatchev (Ray).
Bruins are Beaming
UCLA's balance beam lineup is stacked with experienced, consistent, difficult and elegant routines from start to finish. Solidified in the leadoff position is Mikaela Gerber, who has hit 22 consecutive beam routines. Gerber has a career-high of 9.925 and is averaging 9.825 this season. She captured her first career win on beam in the season opener. Competing for the two-spot is Sonya Meraz, who scored 9.85 or higher eight times last year, with a high of 9.9, and Hallie Mossett, whose 9.875 on Feb. 4 tied her career-high. Kyla Ross has a 9.975 to her credit, scoring that total at ASU. She was the U.S. beam champion in 2013 and 2014 and the world silver medalist in 2013. Madison Kocian ranks 13th in the nation on beam with an average of 9.870 and a high of 9.95 set at ASU. Christine Peng-Peng Lee owns a career-high of 9.975 and a season-high of 9.95. She does some of the most unique skills in NCAA, including the Homma flairs mount, a backhandspring-two-foot layout and a double turn. Katelyn Ohashi successfully completed possibly the most difficult flight series in NCAA history, a backhandspring-backhandspring-layout full. Ohashi set her career-high last week with a 9.975. The Bruins rank sixth nationally on beam with an average of 49.240 and have averaged 49.369 in the last four meets.
Show-Stoppers
UCLA's floor exercise routines are not to be missed. With routines choreographed by Valorie Kondos Field and Hallie Mossett, the Bruins put on a show every time they step onto the floor. Mossett helped choreograph the floor routines for JaNay Honest, Gracie Kramer, Giulianna Pino and Mercedez Sanchez, along with co-choreographing her own Beyonce-inspired routine with Kondos Field. Madison Kocian is the highest-ranked Bruin on floor, currently ranking seventh in the nation with an average of 9.920 and a high of 9.95 set at the last two meets. Kocian has three event titles on floor and has never finished lower than second on the event this season. Although she has not competed on floor since the season opener due to an ankle injury, Madison Preston is ranked 24th based on her meet-winning 9.875 score against Arkansas, tied with Katelyn Ohashi, who matched that mark in her last two meets. Honest is averaging 9.863 in two meets and holds a career-best of 9.925, and Mossett has a 9.855 season average and career-high of 9.95. UCLA's floor lineup was bolstered by the return of Angi Cipra, who earned All-America and All-Pac-12 honors a year ago and scored 9.825 in her season debut last week. Cipra scored 9.9 or higher seven times in 2016, with a high of 9.975. Stella Savvidou and Napualani Hall each scored new career-highs last weekend with scores of 9.925 and 9.875, respectively. Sonya Meraz has a season-high of 9.85, and Gracie Kramer hit a 9.825 in an exhibition at ASU. UCLA has had its strongest showings of the season on floor the last three weeks, scoring 49.2 at Oregon State, 49.3 at ASU and 49.475 vs. Stanford.
Looking Ahead
UCLA begins a grueling stretch next week in which the Bruins will compete three times in seven days, starting with Saturday's meet at Utah. UCLA will then return home and compete on Feb. 20 against Bridgeport and Utah State before hosting Arizona on Feb. 25.
Get Social
UCLA Gymnastics has one of the largest social media followings in all of women's collegiate sports, ranking third across all women's sports in combined likes/followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The Bruins rank first among all NCAA gymnastics teams on both Instagram (112k) and Facebook (128k) and third on Twitter (16k). Among all UCLA teams, gymnastics ranks first on Instagram and Facebook, and UCLA Gymnastics is the most followed Instagram team account in any sport in the Pac-12 and the most followed collegiate athletics team in the nation. Follow the Bruins at @UCLAGymnastics on Instagram and Twitter and on Facebook at facebook.com/uclagymnastics. The team's Snapchat name is also uclagymnastics.
Players Mentioned
