UCLA
NCAA Semifinal I
Bruins Head to St. Louis for NCAA Championships
April 16, 2018 | Gymnastics
MEET INFORMATION
Venue: Chaifetz Arena
Time: 12 p.m. CT /10 a.m. PT
TV: ESPN2
TV Talent: Bart Conner, Kathy Johnson-Clarke, Laura Rutledge
Live Stats: ncaa.com
UCLA VIES FOR SEVENTH NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
Third-ranked and six-time NCAA champion UCLA (22-2) will compete at the NCAA Championships April 20-21 at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Mo. Competition begins on Friday, April 20 with two semifinal sessions at 12pm and 6pm CT. The Bruins will compete in the 12pm afternoon session, along with LSU, Alabama, Nebraska, Arkansas and Georgia. Evening session competitors are Oklahoma, Florida, Utah, Washington, California and Kentucky. The top three teams from each semifinal will advance to the Super Six Team Finals on Saturday, Apr. 21 at 6pm CT. The all-around and individual event champions will be determined during Friday's semifinals.
FOLLOW LIVE
Each session of the Championships will be televised live. The first semifinal will air on ESPN2, while the second semifinal and Super Six will air on ESPNU. ESPN3 will also provide an all-around feed and individual feeds of each apparatus (Semifinal I Vault | Semifinal I Bars | Semifinal I Beam | Semifinal I Floor). Live stats will be available at ncaa.com, and 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 Bruins will begin the meet on vault in rotation one and will conclude competition on floor exercise. Nebraska begins on a bye before bars, Alabama begins on bars, LSU is on beam, Arkansas begins on a bye before floor, and Georgia starts on floor.
UCLA's NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Bruins have won six NCAA gymnastics titles - in 1997 at Florida, 2000 at Boise State, 2001 at Georgia, 2003 at Nebraska, 2004 at UCLA and 2010 at Florida. This is UCLA's 34th overall appearance in the 37 NCAA Championships. The Bruins have qualified to the Super Six Team Finals 20 times in the 25 years of this format, including the last two years in a row, when UCLA finished fifth (2016) and fourth (2017).
UCLA's INDIVIDUAL NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
A total of 18 Bruins have won 36 NCAA titles to rank second behind only Georgia (42) in individual NCAA titles. UCLA has won five individual titles in the last three seasons, with Kyla Ross winning bars and beam in 2017, Danusia Francis winning the beam title in 2016, and Samantha Peszek winning the all-around and beam in 2015. Since 2000, the Bruins have captured 25 individual titles, the most of any school during that time period. UCLA has won the beam title in each of the last three years.
LAST YEAR AT NCAAs
UCLA placed fourth overall at last year's NCAA Championships, scoring 197.2625. Christine Peng-Peng Lee scored just the second perfect 10 on beam ever at the Super Six, her first career 10 on beam. Freshman Kyla Ross won a share of the NCAA uneven bars title and won the balance beam title outright.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
*Only six teams have ever won the NCAA title in the 36 years of the Championships - Georgia (10), Utah (9), UCLA (6), Alabama (6), Florida (3) and Oklahoma (3). For the first 15 years of the Championship, only Utah, Georgia and Alabama had ever won the team title. UCLA broke the stranglehold in 1997. It took 16 years for another new team - Florida in 2013 - to win a title, and Oklahoma joined the party in 2014, tying with Florida for the championship before winning outright in 2016.
*Nine schools return from the 2017 NCAA Championships, including all six Super Six teams. Returning teams are Oklahoma (1st place), LSU (2nd), Florida (3rd), UCLA (4th), Utah (5th), Alabama (6th), Nebraska (7th), Washington (8th) and Georgia (12th). California is back after a one-year absence, Arkansas returns for the first time since 2013, and Kentucky makes its first-ever appearance as a team. Absent from last year's field are Denver (9th), Michigan (10th), and Oregon State (11th).
*There are eight returning individual champions in the field, including at least one on each event. The defending champions returning are Alex McMurtry (Florida) in the all-around; Kennedi Edney (LSU) on vault; Kyla Ross (UCLA), McMurtry, Sarah Finnegan (LSU), Nicole Lehrmann (Oklahoma) and Maggie Nichols (Oklahoma) on bars; Ross on beam; and MyKayla Skinner (Utah) on floor. Additionally, Elizabeth Price of Stanford, who qualified for the Championships as an all-arounder, won the vault in 2015.
*Eleven of the Top 12 teams in the final regular season rankings qualified for the NCAA Championships. Seventh-ranked Michigan was the only one not to advance. Advancing out of the Top 12 was No. 18 Georgia.
*UCLA ranks second among all schools with 36 individual titles. Georgia leads all teams with 42. Utah and Alabama each have 26.
*UCLA has won either a team or an individual NCAA title 13 times since the 2000 season.
*Chaifetz Arena was the site of the USA Championships in both 2012 and 2016. Katelyn Ohashi (5th AA, 1st UB in the junior competition), Nia Dennis (7th AA in the junior competition) Kyla Ross (4th AA, 2nd UB) competed in the 2012 Championships, and Madison Kocian (5th AA) and Dennis (8th UB) competed at the 2016 Championships.
UCLA vs. NCAA FIELD
The Bruins have matched up against seven of the 11 other teams in the NCAA field this season. The Bruins are 3-0 vs. Washington, 2-0 vs. California, 2-1 vs. Utah, 1-0 vs. LSU, Arkansas, and Nebraska, and 0-1 vs. Oklahoma.
WINNING STREAK
Since dropping a close 197.550-197.425 decision to Utah on Feb. 18, UCLA is undefeated, dispatching 18 opponents in its last six meets. The Bruins have just two losses this season, both to teams ranked in the Top 3 and each by a margin less than 0.150. UCLA's only other loss came to No. 1 Oklahoma by a tenth of a point (198.050-197.950).
BRUINS WIN NCAA COLUMBUS REGIONAL
UCLA won its 23rd NCAA Regional Championship, taking first place at the NCAA Columbus Regional with a score of 197.650 to qualify to the NCAA Championships along with second-place Arkansas (196.675). The Bruins led wire-to-wire and got better and better with each rotation, scoring 49.375 on floor, 49.4 on vault, 49.5 on bars and 49.475 on beam. UCLA posted the top team score on every event and had an event winner on each, with Anna Glenn and Pauline Tratz tying for the vault victory, Kyla Ross winning bars and beam, and Katelyn Ohashi winning floor.
COACHING STAFF HONORED
UCLA's Valorie Kondos Field was voted the West Region Coach of the Year, and Chris Waller, Randy Lane and Jordyn Wieber were honored as the West Region Assistant Coaches of the Year for 2018. Additionally, UCLA Senior Associate Athletic Director Dr. Christina Rivera was named the West Region Administrator of the Year. The voting was conducted by their peers in the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W).
The Bruin coaches have led UCLA to a No. 3 national ranking in 2018, their highest at this point in the season since 2010. UCLA began the year pre-season ranked No. 6 but have consistently maintained a Top 4 ranking since week one, jumping as high as No. 2 in week six and staying in the Top 3 every week since. The Pac-12 champion Bruins have scored 197 in each of the last 12 meets and have gone 198 twice this year, with a high of 198.275 set Mar. 13, UCLA's highest team score in 14 years. UCLA ranks in the Top 4 on every event, ranking No. 1 on floor, No. 2 on beam and No. 4 on vault and bars and qualified to the NCAA Championships for the 34th time after winning their 22nd NCAA Regional title.
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.
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, went viral, with 60 million views on Facebook and front page status on Reddit. Ohashi won a share of the Pac-12 title on floor exercise and won the NCAA Columbus Regional floor title 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. 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 9.964 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.
PERFECT 10 NOTES
Christine Peng-Peng Lee's five career 10s on beam establishes a new school record on the event … 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.
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 (49.463). 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 9.85 or better on floor this year - Ohashi (9.925), Hano (9.923), Napualani Hall (9.9), Ross (9.886), Kramer (9.868), Kocian and Sonya Meraz (9.863), and Pauline Tratz (9.858). 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 49.454. 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.
RAISING THE BAR
UCLA's uneven bars lineup flourished at the NCAA Regionals with the return of 2015 World uneven bars champion Madison Kocian to the lineup. Kocian scored 9.875 on her first routine of the year, helping the Bruins score 49.5 on bars, their highest team event score of the Regional. Kyla Ross' 9.975, her second consecutive, paced the competition, and Nia Dennis led off with a second-place mark of 9.9. The Bruins also counted a career-high 9.875 from Anna Glenn and a 9.875 from Christine Peng-Peng Lee. UCLA has a season-high of 49.625 on bars, set Mar. 13 against San Jose State. Ross, who finished the year ranked No. 1 in the nation, has dominated on this event, winning 10 times in 13 meets, including the last six in a row. She is averaging 9.944 on bars and has just one score under 9.9 - a 9.875 on Feb. 18. Her last six routines have included a perfect 10, three 9.975s and two 9.95s.
VAULTING UP
UCLA's vault squad finished the year ranked No. 4 nationally with a RQS of 49.435 improving by over two-tenths from last year. The Bruins have scored 49.4 or better six times, with a high of 49.625 set Mar. 13. Three Bruin vaulters are ranked in the Top 20, led by senior Napualani Hall (No. 9) and sophomores Felicia Hano (No. 15) and Kyla Ross (No. 19). Although UCLA has only two 10.0 start value vaults (Yurchenko 1.5s from Hall and Hano), the Bruins competing 9.95 start value Yurchenko fulls have scored well on them, with Nia Dennis earning a perfect score against Utah, and Ross and Pauline Tratz each scoring as high as 9.925. Anna Glenn has scored 9.9 twice. Hall has earned a perfect score from one judge in two meets, scoring 9.95 vs. Utah and 9.975 vs. San Jose State.
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 is averaging 9.923 on floor and has not scored lower than 9.875 on the event this year.
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, ranks No. 6 in the nation on the event. Anna has competed on vault in the last eight meets and has scored a high of 9.9 twice, most recently to win a share of the NCAA Columbus Regional vault title. Anna has also competed three times on bars, with a high of 9.875 set most recently at the NCAA Regional. 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 THREE EVENTS
Shoulder surgery in August to repair a torn labrum she suffered at the 2016 Olympic Trials may have slowed Madison Kocian down, but it could not keep her out. The two-time Olympic medalist and three-time World champion missed just two meets and is now back on three events, coming back on uneven bars at the NCAA Regional and scoring 9.875. Kocian has been competing on beam since Jan. 20 and entered the lineup on floor exercise on Feb. 25, and she has season-highs of 9.925 on each event. Kocian had an impressive freshman campaign, competing in the all-around in all but two meets in 2017, earning four All-America honors and amassing a total of 16 individual victories, including the NCAA Regional bars and floor titles.
FOLLOW THE LEADOFF
Nia Dennis has been putting the lead in leadoff, consistently putting up high marks in the No. 1 spot on vault and uneven bars. Against Utah Feb. 18, she started 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. Her 9.9 on bars at the NCAA Regional led UCLA to a 49.5 team score, the highest among all four events that night.
BY THE NUMBERS
Since scoring 48.5 on vault in the first rotation of the season Jan. 6, UCLA has scored 49+ in 51 straight rotations, 17 of which have gone 49.5 or higher … UCLA has scored 49+ on beam in its last 26 meets and 49+ on floor in its last 20 meets … The Bruins have scored 49.4 or better on beam in 11 straight meets … JaNay Honest has competed in 41 straight meets … Christine Peng-Peng Lee has won beam in 11 of her last 13 meets dating back to last season … Kyla Ross is 44-for-44 this season, with no score lower than 9.825 … Ross has scored 9.9 or higher on bars in 21 of her last 23 meets, with six straight wins … Since changing her last pass on floor exercise at the Metroplex Challenge, Katelyn Ohashi has averaged 9.964 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.
Players Mentioned
