UCLA
NCAA Regionals
UCLA Seeks NCAA Championship Berth Saturday
March 28, 2017 | Gymnastics
No. 5 UCLA at NCAA Champaign Regional (Host: Illinois)
Saturday, Apr. 1 - 4 pm CT (State Farm Arena)
Watch Online: fightingillini.com
Live Stats: fightingillini.com
Twitter: @uclagymnastics
UCLA Seeks NCAA Championship Berth
No. 5 UCLA (13-4-1) is the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Champaign Regional and will compete for one of two available berths in the NCAA Championships, which will be held in St. Louis, Mo. Apr. 14-15. The NCAA Regional meet will take place at the University of Illinois' State Farm Center on Saturday, Apr. 1 at 4 pm CT. Also competing at the Regional are 10th-ranked Oregon State, 16th-ranked Iowa, 19th-ranked Illinois, 22nd-ranked Eastern Michigan and 26th-ranked Ohio State.
Follow Live
A live stream, including one on each apparatus, as well as live stats, will be provided on fightingillini.com. Live updates can be found on Twitter by following @UCLAGymnastics.
Rotation Order
The rotation order for the Regional was determined by blind draw prior to the selections. The No. 1 seed Bruins will begin the meet on uneven bars and move to balance beam in rotation two. Following a bye, their competition will resume in rotation four on floor exercise. UCLA wraps up its day on vault in rotation five and ends on a bye. Oregon State begins on vault, Iowa starts on a bye before floor, Illinois begins on a bye before bars, Eastern Michigan is on beam, and Ohio State begins on floor.
Regional Championship History
The Bruins have won 21 regional titles, most recently at the 2015 Columbus Regional, where Christine Peng-Peng Lee won three events (vault, bars and beam). UCLA placed second at last year's Regional meet at Utah but had event winners on every apparatus - Madison Preston on vault, Lee on bars, Danusia Francis on beam and Sadiqua Bynum on floor.
Lee Named Pac-12 Specialist of the Year
After a vote of conference coaches, senior Christine Peng-Peng Lee became UCLA's first-ever Pac-12 Specialist of the Year winner. Lee, who competes on bars and beam, ranks in the Top 20 in the nation on both events, checking in at No. 3 on bars and No. 17 on beam. She has two perfect 10s on bars, along with three other scores of 9.95 or higher. On beam, she has six scores of 9.9 or better, including a 9.975. Lee was selected as a finalist fo the AAI Award, which is presented to the top senior gymnast in the nation.
Ross Voted Pac-12 Freshman of the Year
Kyla Ross became the eighth Bruin and first since 2011 to win Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist has consistently provided big scores for the Bruins this season, leading the team with four perfect 10s, two each on bars and beam. She leads the team with 10 scores of 9.95 or higher and 17 scores of 9.9 or higher and has the most individual victories on the team with 15, although she has competed mainly on three events. Ross ranks No. 1 in the nation on uneven bars No. 4 on beam and No. 19 on vault and won the Pac-12 title with the first-ever perfect 10 on beam at the Championship meet.
Five Bruins Named to All-Pac-12 Team
Five Bruin gymnasts earned a total of 12 All-Pac-12 honors in 2017, tying with Utah for the most in the conference. UCLA honorees were Madison Kocian (1st team AA, FX,; 2nd team V, BB), Kyla Ross (1st team V, UB, BB), Christine Peng-Peng Lee (1st team UB, 2nd team BB), Katelyn Ohashi (1st team BB, 2nd team FX) and Hallie Mossett (1st team FX)
Five Earn Regular Season All-America Honors
Five Bruins - Madison Kocian, Christine Peng-Peng Lee, Hallie Mossett, Katelyn Ohashi and Kyla Ross - have earned regular season All-America honors for 2017. Receiving first-team honors are Kocian in the all-around, Ross and Lee on bars, Ohashi and Ross on bars and Kocian on floor. Second-team honorees are Kocian and Mossett on floor. UCLA has now produced 68 All-Americans who have totaled 331 All-America honors.
10.0 Club
Four Bruins have joined the 10.0 club this season, as Kyla Ross (Jan. 28, Feb. 18, Feb. 20, Mar. 18), Madison Kocian (Feb. 11), Christine Peng-Peng Lee (Feb. 11, Mar. 12) and Katelyn Ohashi (Mar. 5, Mar. 12) have all scored perfect 10s. The four perfect 10 scorers this season are the most by a Bruin team since 2004, when five different gymnasts scored 10s (Jeanette Antolin, Jamie Dantzscher, Kristen Maloney, Kate Richardson and Yvonne Tousek). The nine perfect 10 routines are tied with Oklahoma for the most in the nation this year, and they are the most by a Bruin squad since the 2004 team scored a school-record 20, including 11 alone by Jeanette Antolin.
Twenty-nine different UCLA gymnasts have scored a total of 113 perfect 10s over the years. Twelve have totaled 25 perfect 10s on uneven bars, and seven have scored 13 perfect 10s on balance beam. Ross, Kocian and Lee are the first Bruin trio to score perfect 10s on the same event in one year since Richardson, Antolin and Maloney all did so on vault in 2004. Ross and Ohashi are the first pair of Bruins to score perfect 10s on beam in the same season since Maloney and Mohini Bhardwaj in 2001. And Ohashi and Ross are just the second and third Bruins ever to score multiple 10s on beam in the same year, joining Kate Richardson who did it in 2003 and 2004. Ohashi was the first Bruin ever to score back-to-back perfect 10s on beam.
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 nine routines in her last nine meets that have earned at least one perfect score. Ross has scored four perfect 10s (two each on bars and beam). Three of those perfect 10s have come on the road. Ross has the second-most 10.0s in the nation this season, behind only Oklahoma's Maggie Nichols, who has six.
Ross' first perfect 10 came on Jan. 28 at Oregon State on uneven bars, and her second was earned on bars again at Utah on Feb. 18. She nabbed her first 10 on beam in the Bruins' tri-meet on Feb. 20, giving her two 10s in less than 48 hours. Her most recent 10, on beam on Mar. 18, gave her the Pac-12 beam title and was the first-ever perfect 10 on beam at the Pac-12 Championships. Ross also has three 9.975s - one on beam on Feb. 4 and two on bars (Feb. 11 and Mar. 5) - and has also scored 9.925 on her 9.95 start-valued vault in two meets, receiving the maximum 9.95 score from one of the two judges. Ross is the first Bruin gymnast to score four 10s in a season since Tasha Schwikert in 2005.
Perfect Pair
Madison Kocian and Christine Peng-Peng Lee made history on Feb. 11 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.
In the Rankings
UCLA finishes the regular season ranked No. 5 in the nation with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 197.500. UCLA is second on bars, third on beam, seventh on floor and eighth on vault. Kyla Ross is ranked No. 1 on bars for the fourth-straight week and is also Top 20 on her other two events, tying for fourth on beam and 19th on vault. Madison Kocian is tied for fifth in the all-around, tied for 10th on floor, and tied for 17th on beam. UCLA has two of the Top 3 on bars - No. 1 Ross and No. 3 Christine Peng-Peng Lee. On beam, four Bruins are in the Top 20 - No. 1 Katelyn Ohashi, No. 4 Ross, No. 17 Kocian and Lee. Hallie Mossett moved up to No. 16. on floor. National rankings are based on Regional Qualifying Score, which takes the team's Top 3 away scores plus three other scores, drops the high and averages the remaining five scores.
Ross, Ohashi Finish Regular Season No. 1
Two Bruins finished the regular season atop the national rankings on bars and beam. Freshman Kyla Ross took over the top spot on bars on Feb. 27 and never relinquished it. She finished with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 9.965. Ohashi made a late run for the No. 1 ranking on beam, nabbing it in the final week with a RQS of 9.960. Ohashi finished the regular season with seven-straight scores of 9.9 or higher, including two 10.0s, a 9.975 and three 9.95s.
Streaks
UCLA has scored 49+ on vault in every meet this season. Dating back to last year, the Bruins have gone 49+ on vault in 12 straight meets … UCLA has scored 49+ on beam in its last 10 meets, with three 49.5+ marks in its last four meets … Mikaela Gerber has a streak of 34 consecutive hit routines dating back to 2015. She hit all 19 of her routines last year, including 14 as the leadoff on beam, and she is 8-for-8 this year on beam … Sonya Meraz has competed in 35-straight meets, and JaNay Honest has competed in 25-straight … Madison Kocian competed on 24 consecutive events to start the season, going all-around in the first six meets before being held to just bars and beam at the Bruins' tri-meet on Feb. 20 … Kocian has hit 33 consecutive routines without a fall … Katelyn Ohashi has scored 9.85 or higher on 15 consecutive routines.
Mossett Becomes Latest Bruin to Go Viral
For the second year in a row, a UCLA floor exercise routine has gone viral. This year's viral sensation is Hallie Mossett, whose floor routine set to Beyoncé music (Formation, Partition and Single Ladies) has been posted all over social media (4.2 million views on Facebook) and in the mainstream media by Entertainment Weekly, Cosmo, Time, People and the Daily Mail. She also secured a guest spot on Hallmark Channel's Home & Family talk show that aired Mar. 27. Mossett scored a 9.975 on that viral routine against Arizona on Feb. 25 and matched the score against North Carolina on Mar. 12.
Players Mentioned
