UCLA
Metroplex Challenge (vs. LSU, North Carolina State and Washington)
UCLA Travels to Texas for Metroplex Challenge
January 25, 2018 | Gymnastics
NO. 4 UCLA AT METROPLEX CHALLENGE
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018 – 7 p.m. (CT) / 5 p.m. (PT) @ Fort Worth, Texas (Fort Worth Convention Center)
vs. LSU, North Carolina State, Washington
UCLA COMPETES AT METROPLEX CHALLENGE
No. 4 UCLA (5-0) will conclude a three-meet road swing on Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. The Metroplex Challenge's collegiate meet is a quad meet with UCLA, No. 2 LSU (3-0), No. 28 North Carolina State (5-0) and No. 14 Washington (3-2). The meet will take place at the Fort Worth Convention Center at 7 pm CT/5 pm PT and will be live streamed on FloGymnastics for PRO subscribers.
BRUINS BACK ON PODIUM
For the second time in the last three weeks, UCLA will compete on podium. The Bruins won their earlier podium meet at Elevate the Stage in Reno on Jan. 14, scoring 197.200 to down Utah, Washington and Stanford, and will compete on podium at the NCAA Championships in April.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
LSU enters the week ranked No. 2 in the nation with a season average of 197.283 and a season-high mark of 197.450 set last weekend against Alabama. The Tigers have finished second at the last two NCAA Championships and return two NCAA individual champions in 2017 vault champion Kennedi Edney and 2017 bars co-champion Sarah Finnegan. Washington is averaging 195.800 this season and is coming off a season-high performance in a 196.325-194.850 win over California. The Huskies are coached by 2017 Pac-12 Coach of the Year and 2000 Olympic medalist Elise Ray. North Carolina State is undefeated in 2018 with a 5-0 record and is coming off a season-high 196.350 last weekend, the Wolfpack's highest team score in six years.
KONDOS FIELD NEARS CAREER WIN 500
UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field is just one victory away from her 500th coaching victory. Now in her 28th year as head coach of the Bruins, she holds a career coaching record of 499-118-3 (.807). The Pac-12 Gymnastics Coach of the Century has won six NCAA Championships and four national coach of the year honors. In 2010, she became the second active coach ever to be inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.
GLENN EARNS PAC-12 WEEKLY HONORS
UCLA continues to own the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week award, with redshirt freshman Grace Glenn honored for the first time. Glenn scored a career-high 9.95 on beam at Arizona to help UCLA record a national-best 49.525 on the event and a team season-best 197.300 overall. Glenn kept the Specialist of the Week award in the Bruin family, as Christine Peng-Peng Lee had won the other two awards this season.
BEAMING BRUINS
UCLA posted a national-best 49.525 on balance beam at Arizona last weekend, improving the team's season average to 49.192. Three Bruins contributed scores of 9.95 - redshirt freshman Grace Glenn, junior Katelyn Ohashi and sixth-year senior Christine Peng-Peng Lee. Also contributing season-high marks to the beam total were leadoff competitor Brielle Nguyen (9.85) and sophomore Felicia Hano (9.825). UCLA achieved that high mark without the services of reigning NCAA beam champion Kyla Ross, who was rested on three events last week.
FLOORS UP
UCLA ranks No. 3 in the nation on floor exercise with an average of 49.350. The Bruins, who have a season-best of 49.425, have four gymnasts ranked in the Top 20 nationally - No. 8 Kyla Ross, No. 14 Pauline Tratz, and No. 16 Felicia Hano and Gracie Kramer. All four Bruins are averaging over 9.875 or higher this season. Kramer and Ross have been quite the 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup, scoring 9.9 to start the rotation in each of the first two meets. Hano and Tratz on the back end have scored no lower than 9.875. UCLA tumbling on floor has been impressive, with Kramer doing a front double full-punch front, Ross starting with a whip-double back, Hano and Katelyn Ohashi starting with double layouts, Nia Dennis with a double Arabian and Tratz with a full-in.
KOCIAN RETURNS ON BEAM
Two-time Olympic medalist and three-time World champion Madison Kocian made her return to competition on Saturday at Arizona, coming back from an August shoulder surgery to compete on balance beam. Kocian, a Dallas native, 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. Kocian earned All-America honors in the all-around and on floor and was the NCAA Regional bars and floor champion.
ROLLING IN THE DEEP
With 16 Bruins seeing the floor at Arizona, the Bruins showcased their depth in a big way. Thirteen gymnasts competed, and three others performed exhibition routines. Seven Bruins competed on just one apparatus, with Kyla Ross (bars) and Grace Glenn (beam) picking up event wins. Madison Kocian made her season debut on beam, as did Anna Glenn (vault, beam) and Stella Savvidou (floor) in exhibition performances that each scored 9.8 or higher.
BRUINS SUPPORT SURVIVORS
In a show of support for sexual assault survivors, UCLA wore teal ribbons at last weekend's meet and will continue to do so during the season. UCLA is planning to honor survivors at its next home meet on Feb. 4 against Oklahoma as part of the "Together We Rise Meet." UCLA will distribute 5,000 teal pom poms and 1,000 teal wristbands to fans who attend the meet.
FRESH FACES
UCLA's newcomers have been strong so far this season. Nia Dennis has averaged 39.138 in the all-around, with a high of 39.225 set in Reno. She recorded season-highs on vault (9.85) and bars (9.875) last weekend at Arizona. Competing on vault and floor, Pauline Tratz averages 9.833 on vault and 9.892 on floor, with a pair of 9.9s in her last two floor performances. Redshirt freshman Grace Glenn has competed on beam in each meet and won Pac-12 Specialist of the Week honors this week after scoring a career-high 9.95 at Arizona. Junior transfer Brielle Nguyen tied for second on beam with a 9.825 leadoff routine at Elevate the Stage in her UCLA competitive debut and improved upon that score at Arizona with a 9.85.
IN THE RANKINGS
For the third-straight week, UCLA remains at No. 4 in the national rankings with an average of 196.917. The Bruins are Top 8 on every event - third on bars and floor, fifth on beam and eighth on vault. Christine Peng-Peng Lee ranks third in the nation on beam and 12th on bars. Kyla Ross is fourth in the all-around and on bars and 14th on floor. Pauline Tratz ranks 14th on floor, Gracie Kramer and Felicia Hano are 16th on floor, with Hano also checking in at No. 12 on vault. Katelyn Ohashi is tied for 12th on vault with Hano and also ranks 14th on beam.
ABOUT THE BRUINS
UCLA returns 13 competitors from last year's fourth-place NCAA Championship squad, including 2017 NCAA bars and beam champion Kyla Ross and All-Americans Madison Kocian, Christine Peng-Peng Lee, Katelyn Ohashi and Felicia Hano. Lee was named the 2017 West Region Gymnast of the Year and Pac-12 Specialist of the Year, while Ross earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors. The Bruins lose high-scoring routines from Madison Preston (vault), Mikaela Gerber (beam), Angi Cipra (floor) and Hallie Mossett (beam and floor) but bring in national team freshmen Nia Dennis (U.S.) and Pauline Tratz (Germany) and return the services of Anna and Grace Glenn, who redshirted in 2017. UCLA also retains all four gymnasts who scored perfect 10s last season - Ross (four), Lee (three), Ohashi (two) and Kocian (one). UCLA is coached by Pac-12 Gymnastics Coach of the Century Valorie Kondos Field, Associate Head Coaches Chris Waller and Randy Lane, and volunteer coach and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Wieber.
BY THE NUMBERS
UCLA has scored 49+ on beam in its last 16 meets and 49+ on floor in its last 10 meets … Sonya Meraz has competed in 41 straight meets, and JaNay Honest has competed in 31 straight … Christine Peng-Peng Lee has scored 9.9 or higher on bars in 12 of her last 16 meets … Kyla Ross has scored 9.9 or higher on bars in 12 of her last 13 meets … Associate head coach Chris Waller improved to 3-1 in his career as acting head coach, as he led the Bruins to a season-opening win over Ohio State as head coach Valorie Kondos Field was out with the flu.
FOURTEEN ON DIRECTOR'S HONOR ROLL
A total of 14 Bruin gymnasts made the UCLA Director's Honor Roll for Fall 2017. Six had 3.5 or higher GPAs for the quarter - Madison Kocian, Gracie Kramer, Christine Peng-Peng Lee, Sonya Meraz, Kendal Poston and Pauline Tratz. The other eight had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.49 - Napualani Hall, Felicia Hano, JaNay Honest, Rebecca Karlous, Giulianna Pino, Mercedez Sanchez, Macy Toronjo and Lilia Waller.
BRUINS SIGN FRAZIER, WRIGHT FOR 2019 SEASON
U.S. National Team member Margzetta Frazier (Erial, N.J.) and Level 10 vault champion Sekai Wright (Paramount, Calif.) signed national letters of intent with UCLA in November and will join the Bruin squad in 2019. Frazier, who trains at Parkettes, is a rising star coming off a fifth-place national all-around finish at the P&G Championships in August. Her Top 6 all-around finish placed her on the U.S. National Team for the first time in her career. Wright, who trains at American Gymnastics Academy, is a two-time Level 10 National vault champion, winning the Junior E division in 2016 and the Junior B division in 2015. She also won the Region 1 vault title and the State all-around, vault, and floor titles in 2017 and the Region 1 vault and State beam titles in 2016.
NO. 1 IN SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS
UCLA Gymnastics has the largest social media followings in all of women's collegiate sports, ranking No. 1 across all women's sports in combined likes/followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, a total of over 340,000. The Bruins rank first among all NCAA gymnastics teams on both Instagram (174k) and Facebook (148k) and third on Twitter (22.2k). Among all UCLA teams, gymnastics ranks first on Instagram and Facebook, and UCLA Gymnastics is the most followed collegiate women's team Instagram account 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.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins will host two-time defending NCAA champion Oklahoma on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 1pm in the first-ever regular season gymnastics meet televised live on ESPN.
Players Mentioned
