MEET INFORMATION
Venue: St. John Arena
Date: Saturday, Apr. 7
Time: 6 p.m. ET /3 p.m. PT
Live Stream: ohiostatebuckeyes.com
Live Stats: ohiostatebuckeyes.com
Tickets: $15 adults, $10 students/seniors
UCLA VIES FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP BERTH AT COLUMBUS REGIONAL
No. 3 UCLA (22-2) is the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Columbus Regional and will compete for one of two available berths in the NCAA Championships, which will be held in St. Louis, Mo. Apr. 20-21. The NCAA Regional meet will take place at The Ohio State University's St. John Arena on Saturday, Apr. 7 at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT. Also competing at the Regional are No. 10 Arkansas, No. 15 Boise State, No. 25 Ohio State, No. 33 Pittsburgh and No. 34 Kent State.
FOLLOW LIVE
A live stream, as well as live stats, will be provided on ohiostatebuckeyes.com. There will be a live feed on each event (Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor). 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 floor exercise in rotation one and will conclude competition in rotation five on balance beam, sitting out rotation six with a bye. Kent State begins on vault, Ohio State starts on a bye before bars, Pittsburgh begins on bars, Arkansas is on beam, and Boise State begins on a bye before floor.
REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Bruins have won 22 NCAA Regional titles, most recently last season at the Champaign Regional, where Madison Kocian won the uneven bars and floor exercise titles. This is the second time in four years that the Bruins are competing at the Columbus Regional. In 2015, UCLA won the Columbus Regional, with Christine Peng-Peng Lee taking first place on all three events in which she competed (vault, bars and beam). Then-freshmen JaNay Honest and Sonya Meraz also competed at the meet, with Honest participating on vault and Meraz on bars and beam.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONS
UCLA made a strong second-half comeback to win its 18th Pac-12 Gymnastics Championship, outscoring defending champion Utah, 197.500-197.350. The Bruins found themselves in third place after scoring 49.275 on vault in the first rotation and then had a nearly disastrous rotation two on uneven bars, with three scores under 9.8, including a 9.65 and 9.45. Kyla Ross, though, stopped the bleeding with a meet-high 9.975 to salvage a team score of 49.15, keeping the Bruins just .125 behind first-place Utah and .050 behind Cal. The Bruins came roaring back on balance beam in the third rotation, scoring 49.600, led by Christine Peng-Peng Lee's 10.0, and then clinched the victory with a 49.475 on floor exercise in the final rotation. Ross won a share of the all-around and uneven bars titles, Lee won balance beam, and Katelyn Ohashi tied for first on floor exercise.
OHASHI SELECTED PAC-12 SPECIALIST OF THE YEAR
After a vote of conference coaches, junior Katelyn Ohashi became UCLA's second consecutive Pac-12 Specialist of the Year winner, following in the footsteps of 2017 winner Christine Peng-Peng Lee. Ohashi, who competes on bars, beam and floor, ranks in the Top 3 on beam and floor, tying for first on floor and ranking third on beam. She has scored a national-best three perfect 10s on floor and has scored 9.95 or higher on her last seven floor routines. She also scored season-highs of 9.95 on bars and 9.975 on beam.
LEE NAMED PAC-12 GYMNASTICS SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Senior Christine Peng-Peng Lee was honored as the Pac-12 Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year, which is awarded to the top senior student-athlete who is a standout both academically and in their sport. Lee, a Sociology major, currently holds a 3.49 cumulative grade-point average and is a four-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and a National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches / Women (NACGC/W) Scholastic All-American. Her achievements on the competition floor include being named the 2017 West Region Gymnast of the Year, the 2017 Pac-12 Specialist of the Year and an AAI Award Finalist. The eight-time All-American set a conference record with nine career Pac-12 Specialist of the Week awards. Lee has scored eight career perfect 10s; three in 2017 (two on bars, one on beam) and five in 2018 (one on bars, four on beam).
BRUINS EARN PAC-12 ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS
A total of six gymnasts from UCLA's Pac-12 championship squad earned Pac-12 All-Academic honors in 2018. Sophomore Madison Kocian earned second-team honors, while seniors Napualani Hall, Christine Peng-Peng Lee and Sonya Meraz and sophomores Gracie Kramer and Kyla Ross earned honorable mention nods.
UCLA TOPS WITH SIX ALL-AMERICANS
Six Bruins - Grace Glenn, Napualani Hall, Felicia Hano, Christine Peng-Peng Lee, Katelyn Ohashi and Kyla Ross - have earned regular season All-America honors for 2018, as awarded by the National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W). The six student-athletes honored are the most by any school in the nation this year. Two Bruins earned their first-ever All-America honors, as Glenn was a first-team honoree on beam, and Hall received second-team acclaim on vault. Hano earned first-team honors on floor and second-team on vault. Lee received first-team honors on beam and second-team on bars. Ohashi earned first-team acclaim on beam and floor, and Ross was a first-team honoree in the all-around and on bars.
EIGHT CLAP FOR EIGHT ALL-PAC-12 HONOREES
Eight UCLA gymnasts earned a total of 14 All-Pac-12 honors in 2018, the most in the conference this season. Kyla Ross led UCLA with a total of four honors, being selected to the first team in the all-around and uneven bars and to the second team on vault and balance beam. Katelyn Ohashi was a first-team honoree on both balance beam and floor exercise, and Christine Peng-Peng Lee earned first-team acclaim on uneven bars and balance beam. Two other Bruins earned first-team honors, with senior Napualani Hall honored on vault and freshman Grace Glenn honored on balance beam. Sophomore Felicia Hano earned second-team honors on both vault and floor exercise, and Bruin freshmen Nia Dennis and Pauline Tratz each earned second-team honors on uneven bars and floor exercise, respectively.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the nation with a RQS of 197.840. The RQS takes teams' Top 6 scores, three of which must be on the road, throwing out the high and averaging the remaining five. UCLA is ranked No. 1 on floor exercise (49.575), No. 2 on beam (49.570), and No. 4 on vault (49.435) and bars (49.425). Three Bruins rank in the Top 25 on vault - No. 9 Napualani Hall, No. 15 Felicia Hano, and No. 19 Kyla Ross. Two are in the Top 10 on bars - No. 1 Ross and No. 9 Christine Peng-Peng Lee. UCLA has four in the Top 20 on balance beam, with No. 1 Lee, No. 3 Katelyn Ohashi, No. 6 Grace Glenn and No. 18 Ross. Three Bruins rank in the Top 25 on floor - No. 1 Ohashi, No. 7 Hano and No. 22 Pauline Tratz. Ross is UCLA's lone all-arounder in the Top 25 at No. 6.
THREE NUMBER ONES
Three Bruins ended the regular season ranked No. 1 on three separate events. Kyla Ross tied for first with three other gymnasts with a RQS of 9.960. Christine Peng-Peng Lee finished first on beam with a RQS of 9.985. Katelyn Ohashi tied for first on floor exercise with a 9.970 RQS. This is the second consecutive year Ross has finished the year ranked No. 1 on bars. Ohashi finished 2017 ranked No. 1 on beam.
OHASHI GOES VIRAL
Katelyn Ohashi's floor exercise routine, set to music by Michael Jackson, is sweeping the nation, with nearly 40 million views on Facebook and front page status on Reddit. Ohashi won a share of the Pac-12 title on floor exercise in the Bruins' last competition and has scored a total of three perfect 10s this season. She finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation and has scored 9.95 or higher on her last seven routines. Since changing her last pass on floor exercise from a double tuck to a front handspring/front full/front half/split jump to the ground at the Metroplex Challenge, Ohashi has averaged 9.969 with three 10s and a 9.975 and no score lower than 9.925. This is the third consecutive year that a UCLA floor exercise routine has gone viral. Sophina DeJesus was the first in 2016, with her hip-hop routine getting her on Ellen. Hallie Mossett's Beyoncé routine in 2017 was posted on Entertainment Weekly and People and got her a guest spot on Hallmark Channel's Home & Family talk show.
PERFECT PENG
Sixth-year senior Christine Peng-Peng Lee earned her fifth perfect 10 of the season at the Pac-12 Championships, scoring her fourth of the year on balance beam. Lee, who had a perfect meet on Mar. 11 at Stanford with a pair of perfect 10s on bars and beam, holds the school record with five career 10s on beam, and she has eight career 10s overall, tied for fifth-most in UCLA history.
ROSS REACHES PERFECTION
Sophomore Kyla Ross recorded her first perfect 10 of the season on Mar. 11, nabbing her third career 10 on bars and fifth 10 overall in her career. Christine Peng-Peng Lee and Ross went back-to-back on bars, becoming the first Bruins ever to score back-to-back 10s on the event. Ross and Lee rank second all-time at UCLA for perfect 10s on bars, tied with Mohini Bhardwaj. Only Jamie Dantzscher with seven, has scored more for the Bruins.
FLOORS UP
UCLA finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation on floor exercise, where the Bruins have their highest season average on any one event (49.470). UCLA has scored 49.4 or higher in nine meets and 49.6 or higher in three meets, with a national season-high of 49.775 set Feb. 25 vs. Oregon State. That mark was the third-highest floor score in school history and the highest since the Bruins scored a school record 49.875 on Feb. 22, 2004. Every Bruin in the lineup scored 9.9 or above to achieve the 49.775 team score - Madison Kocian with a 9.9 leadoff on her first floor routine of the season, Gracie Kramer with a career-high 9.95, Kyla Ross with a career-high-tying 9.9, Nia Dennis with a career-high 9.975, Felicia Hano with a 9.95 and Katelyn Ohashi with a perfect 10. Eight Bruins have season averages of 9.86 or better on floor this year - Hano (9.925), Ohashi (9.925), Napualani Hall (9.9), Ross (9.886), Kramer (9.871), Kocian (9.865), Pauline Tratz (9.864) and Sonya Meraz (9.863). UCLA tumbling on floor has been impressive, with Hano and Ohashi starting with double layouts, Kramer doing a front double full-punch front, Kocian with a front double full, Dennis with a piked full-in, Tratz with a tucked full-in, Ross starting with a whip-double back, and Hall tumbling a 1.5 through to a double back.
BEAM QUEENS
UCLA ranks No. 2 in the nation on balance beam with a RQS of 49.570 and season average of 49.452 . The Bruins have three gymnasts in the Top 6 - No. 1 Christine Peng-Peng Lee, No. 3 Katelyn Ohashi and No. 6 Grace Glenn. Defending NCAA beam champion Kyla Ross is also in the Top 20, at No. 18. All six gymnasts who have been regulars in the beam lineup have scored at least 9.9 this year. Brielle Nguyen tied her career-best of 9.9 at the Pac-12 Championships. Madison Kocian has a season-high of 9.925 and career-high of 9.95. Grace Glenn has scored 9.95 three times this year. Ohashi has scored two perfect 10s in her career and has scored a season-high of 9.975 twice. Ross also has two career perfect 10s and a season-best of 9.975, and Lee has scored five career 10s on beam, including four this year.
PERFECT 10 NOTES
Christine Peng-Peng Lee's five career 10s on beam establishes a new school record … Lee is the first Bruin ever to score three or more 10s on beam in one season … Lee and Kyla Ross each have three career 10s on bars, tied for second all-time at UCLA with Mohini Bhardwaj … Katelyn Ohashi is the first Bruin to score three 10s on floor in a season since Kate Richardson in 2004 … Ohashi is just the fourth Bruin ever to score a perfect 10 on both beam and floor, joining Kristen Maloney, Bhardwaj and Richardson … UCLA has scored three 10s in one meet twice this year - Feb. 4 (Lee on beam, Felicia Hano and Ohashi on floor) and Mar. 11 (Lee and Ross on bars, Lee on beam) … Lee and Ross were the first-ever Bruins to score back-to-back 10s on bars at Stanford on Mar. 11 … Hano and Ohashi became the first pair of Bruins to score back-to-back 10s on floor since Richardson and Antolin on Feb. 22, 2004 … The six 10s scored in the UCLA-Oklahoma meet were the most in Pauley Pavilion since there were eight scored by five gymnasts at the 2002 UCLA Invitational, including three by UCLA's Jamie Dantzscher … Lee scored two consecutive perfect 10s on beam Jan. 27 and Feb. 4, joining Ohashi as the only Bruins ever to record perfect 10s on beam in consecutive meets … Around the country, Hano had the first perfect 10 of the season on floor, and Ohashi was the first gymnast to record multiple 10s on floor this year … Lee was the first gymnast in the nation to record multiple 10s on beam this season.
HONORING A LEGACY
Felicia Hano's floor exercise routine this season is a legacy routine originally performed by All-American Sydney Sawa in 2014 and passed down to Hano. Sawa scored a perfect 10 on that routine on Feb. 22, 2014 and was the last UCLA gymnast to score a perfect 10 on floor until Hano did it with the same routine on Feb. 4, 2018. Hano, along with Katelyn Ohashi, leads UCLA this season with a 9.925 season average on floor.
TWINNING
For the first time this season, identical twins Anna and Grace Glenn competed on the same event in a meet, with Grace leading off and Anna competing third on beam against San Jose State on Mar. 13. Not surprisingly, they each scored identical marks of 9.9 to tie for second place. Grace, who has competed on beam in every meet this year, currently ranks No. 6 in the nation on the event. Anna has competed on vault in the last seven meets and has scored a high of 9.9. Anna has also competed twice on bars, with a high of 9.875 to place third on Feb. 25. Each won a Pac-12 award this season, with Grace earning a Specialist of the Week award and Anna a Freshman of the Week honor. The twins sat out all of last season with torn labrums, which were injured on the same skill in preseason.
KOCIAN BACK ON TWO EVENTS
Two-time Olympic medalist and three-time World champion Madison Kocian took another big step forward in her recovery process, competing on floor exercise for the first time on Feb. 25 and scoring 9.9. Kocian, who has been competing on beam since Jan. 20, is also now cleared on uneven bars. The four-time All-American has competed in the last 10 meets on balance beam and scored 9.875 or higher five times, with a season-high of 9.925 at Cal on Feb. 10. She posted a season-high 9.925 on floor at Stanford to place third. Kocian had an impressive freshman campaign despite competing with a torn labrum that she suffered at the 2016 Olympic Trials. She competed in the all-around in all but two meets in 2017 and amassed a total of 16 individual victories, including the NCAA Regional bars and floor titles.
FOLLOW THE LEADOFF
Nia Dennis put the lead in leadoff against Utah Feb. 18, starting the Bruins out on both vault and uneven bars with meet-winning scores of 9.95 and 9.925, respectively. Dennis kicked off the meet with a perfect score on her Yurchenko layout full vault, which has a start value of 9.95, helping the Bruins take the first rotation lead with a 49.45. On uneven bars in rotation two, she led off with a career-high 9.925 to take first place and lead UCLA to a team score of 49.3. The event wins were the first of her career. Dennis also led off on bars on Feb. 25 against Oregon State and scored 9.9 to place second and led off on vault Mar. 11 at Stanford, scoring 9.9 to tie for second.
BY THE NUMBERS
Since scoring 48.5 on vault in the first rotation of the season Jan. 6, UCLA has scored 49+ in 47 straight rotations, 16 of which have gone 49.5 or higher … UCLA has scored 49+ on beam in its last 25 meets and 49+ on floor in its last 19 meets … The Bruins have scored 49.4 or better on beam in 10 straight meets … JaNay Honest has competed in 40 straight meets … Christine Peng-Peng Lee has won beam in 11 of her last 12 meets dating back to last season … Kyla Ross is 41-for-41 this season, with no score lower than 9.825 … Ross has scored 9.9 or higher on bars in 20 of her last 22 meets with five straight wins … Since changing her last pass on floor exercise at the Metroplex Challenge, Katelyn Ohashi has averaged 9.969 with three 10s and a 9.975 … Associate head coach Chris Waller improved to 3-1 in his career as acting head coach when he led the Bruins to a season-opening win over Ohio State as head coach Valorie Kondos Field was out with the flu.