UCLA
Utah
No. 2 UCLA Travels to No. 4 Utah Saturday
February 21, 2019 | Gymnastics
No. 2 UCLA at No. 4 Utah
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 – 12:30 p.m. (PT)
Venue: Jon M. Huntsman Center
Television: Pac-12 Networks
TV Talent: Jim Watson, Amanda Borden
Live Stats: utahutes.com
UCLA HEADS TO UTAH SATURDAY FOR TOP 5 SHOWDOWN
No. 2 UCLA (9-0) heads to Salt Lake City for a Top 5 showdown with No. 4 Utah (8-1) on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1:30pm MT / 12:30pm PT. The dual meet between the last five Pac-12 champions will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.
HOTTEST TICKET
UCLA Gymnastics continues to draw crowds everywhere they go. The Bruins have competed in front of at least 5,000 fans in every meet this season, including 10,323 at home on Feb. 17 and 10,270 at home on Jan. 21, a record 7,228 at Washington in a snowstorm on Feb. 10, and a sell-out crowd of 6,000 at Stanford, a total that nearly doubled Stanford's previous record attendance. UCLA's also helped draw 6,505 fans to Oregon State on Feb. 2. Utah, which leads the nation in attendance average, is expecting another sellout this week for the meet against the Bruins.
PRIDE OF THE PAC
UCLA and Utah have combined to win six of the seven Pac-12 titles since the Utes joined the conference in 2012. UCLA's victories have come in 2018, 2016 and 2012, while Utah has won in 2017, 2015 and 2014. UCLA has an additional 15 Pac-10 Championships. Four reigning Pac-12 champions are competing at this meet - UCLA's Kyla Ross (all-around, bars) and Katelyn Ohashi (floor) and Utah's MyKayla Skinner (all-around, floor) and MaKenna Merrell-Giles (vault). The two teams have also combined to win 16 NCAA team championships. UCLA won its titles in 2018, 2010, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000 and 1997. Utah won in 1995, 1994, 1992, 1990 and five consecutive from 1982-86.
PAC-12 SWEEP
UCLA gymnasts swept the Pac-12 weekly awards for the second time this season, with Kyla Ross winning Gymnast of the Week, Felicia Hano capturing Specialist of the Week, and Margzetta Frazier earning Freshman of the Week honors. Ross won her third consecutive award after posting a career-high all-around score of 39.850, a national-best this season and the fourth-highest all-around total in school history. She also scored her second consecutive perfect 10 on vault and won the uneven bars with a 9.975 and balance beam with a 9.925. Hano collects her second career Specialist of the Week award, having won once last season. The junior posted a season-high 9.95 on floor, a career-high 9.875 on bars and second-place mark of 9.9 on vault. Frazier is now a three-time Freshman of the Week honoree. She earned a career-best 9.95 on bars and led UCLA off with a 9.925 on floor, paving the way for a season-high team total of 49.750 on the event. This is just the third time ever that one school has swept the weekly awards. All three sweeps have come from UCLA gymnasts (twice in 2019 and once in 2016). UCLA has won 13 of the 21 Pac-12 weekly awards this season.
ROSS IS BOSS
Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross continues to show who's boss, posting the nation's top all-around score in the last two weeks. Ross set a new career-high of 39.775 on Feb. 10 at Washington and then bested it on Feb. 16 against Arizona with a monster score of 39.850, the fourth-highest all-around mark in school history and the highest by a Bruin since 2004 (Jeanette Antolin, 39.875). Ross has won the all-around in all six meets in which she has competed all four events. She is averaging 39.679 in the all-around and has five scores of 39.65 or higher.
Ross has won Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week honors four times this season, including the last three weeks in a row. She ranks No. 3 nationally in the all-around with an average of 39.679 and No. 2 on uneven bars (9.939), No. 4 on floor exercise (9.933) and No. 6 on balance beam (9.904). She leads UCLA with 17 event titles, 19 scores of 9.9 or higher and 11 scores of 9.95 or higher.
KATE THE GREAT
After going viral the second week of the season, Katelyn Ohashi has continued to prove she wasn't a one-hit wonder. She has since picked up two more perfect 10s, in back-to-back weeks, on Feb. 10 in front of a hometown crowd in Seattle, and on Feb. 16 in front of her home crowd in Pauley Pavilion. Ohashi, who is unbeaten on floor this year, ranks No. 1 in the nation on floor with an astonishing season average of 9.979. She also ranks second on beam with a 9.929 average.
Ohashi's Jan. 12 perfect 10 floor exercise routine is the most-watched sports video on social media so far this year, with over 110 million views across Twitter (42.8M), Facebook (38M) and YouTube (33M). The reach of Ohashi's routine extended world-wide, and her video was shared by celebrities such as Janet Jackson, Sara Bareilles, and Sophia Bush; politicians like Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jesse Jackson; and athletes like Troy Aikman and Laurie Hernandez. Her routine was also imitated by comedienne Ali Wong and talk show host Stephen Colbert. Ohashi was interviewed on Access Hollywood and on the Ryan Seacrest Show, where she discussed her dream of being on Dancing with the Stars and was surprised with a phone call on-air with the show's casting director. Ohashi and UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field also made an appearance on Good Morning America, where Ohashi recited some of her poetry and talked about rediscovering her joy in gymnastics. She also made appearances on Steve Harvey's talk show, Home and Family and E!'s Busy Tonight, and was a guest speaker at the Makers Conference.
PERFECT TRIO
UCLA leads the nation with eight perfect 10s this season. Kyla Ross leads the nation with four perfect 10s and is the only gymnast this season with a perfect 10 on multiple events. She scored the first 10.0 of the season on Jan. 12 on uneven bars, earned another on bars on Feb. 2 and then recorded back-to-back 10s on vault on Feb. 10 and Feb. 16. Ross has nine career 10s overall, five on bars, two on beam and two on vault. Katelyn Ohashi joins Ross as the only gymnasts in the nation to record multiple 10s. She has scored three on floor this season - scoring her first on Jan 12 and going back-to-back on Feb. 10 and 16. Ohashi has six in her career on floor and eight 10s overall. Madison Kocian notched her second career 10.0 on uneven bars on Jan. 21. UCLA gymnasts have totaled 134 perfect 10s all-time. Ross ranks tied for fourth all-time at UCLA with nine, and Ohashi is right behind with eight.
LAST TIME OUT
No. 3 UCLA broke 198 for the first time this season, defeating No. 25 Arizona, 198.025-194.975, in front of 10,323 fans on Feb. 16. Bruin stars Kyla Ross and Katelyn Ohashi scored perfect 10s for the second consecutive meet, earning a 10 on vault and floor exercise, respectively. Ross recorded another all-around career-high, posting the fourth-highest all-around total in school history, 39.850. UCLA earned season-highs on vault (49.425) and floor exercise (49.750, fourth-best in school history) and went six-for-six on stuck landings on uneven bars, scoring 49.625.
SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN
UCLA freshmen Norah Flatley, Margzetta Frazier and Sekai Wright have been on point for the Bruins. Flatley has scored 9.825 or higher on nine of her last 10 routines and has highs of 9.975 on bars and 9.900 on beam. She currently ranks No. 17 nationally on bars. Frazier has scored 9.825 or higher on every routine this season and averages 9.896 on bars and 9.900 on floor. Frazier ranks No. 12 on bars and No. 14 floor. Wright made her collegiate debut on Jan. 21 after sitting out the first two meets with an ankle injury and has scored 9.875 on her Yurchenko 1.5 vault in three meets, capturing her first event victory on Jan. 27 at Stanford. She debuted her floor routine on Feb. 2 in an exhibition performance, scoring 9.775.
RECORD-SETTING START FOR BRUINS
The Bruins have set a new standard by recording 197+ scores in the first seven meets of the year for the first time ever. UCLA began the year with a 197.250, scored 197.700 in week two, 197.775 in week three, 197.225 in week four, 197.900 in week five, 197.600 in week six and a season-high 198.025 in week seven. The previous best start came in 2003 when the team scored 197+ in its first two meets.
IN THE RANKINGS
After posting its season high of 198.025, UCLA moved past Florida into No. 2 in the national rankings with an average of 197.639. The Bruins are second on floor, third on bars and beam and fourth on vault. Katelyn Ohashi continues to rank first in the nation on floor and is also second on beam. Kyla Ross ranks No. 3 in the all-around, No. 2 on bars, No. 4 on floor and No. 6 on beam. The Bruins have four gymnasts ranked in the Top 25 on three events - bars (No. 2 Ross, No. 12 Madison Kocian and Margzetta Frazier and No. 17 Norah Flatley), beam (No. 2 Ohashi, No. 6 Ross, and No. 23 Kendal Poston and Anna Glenn), and floor (No. 1 Ohashi, No. 4 Ross, No. 14 Frazier and No. 20 Gracie Kramer). Felicia Hano is the lone Bruin in the Top 25 on vault, ranking at No. 21.
FLOORED BY FLOOR
UCLA's floor exercise squad has been exceptional so far this season, averaging 49.568, with a high of 49.750 set last weekend against Arizona. The 49.750 was the fourth-highest in school history and was highlighted by Katelyn Ohashi's third perfect 10 floor routine of the year, plus 9.95s from Kyla Ross and Felicia Hano and leadoff 9.925s from Margzetta Frazier and Gracie Kramer. The Bruins have scored 49.55 or better in five of seven meets and have scored 49+ in 29 consecutive meets.
RAISING THE BAR
The Bruin bar squad has posted big numbers as well, including a season-high score of 49.700 against Arizona State on Jan. 21, a 49.650 at Oregon State on Feb. 2 and a 49.625 against Arizona on Feb. 16. The 49.700 was the fourth-highest bars score in school history, and it was highlighted by a perfect 10 from Madison Kocian. The 49.650 ranks fifth, and the 49.625 ranks seventh all-time. Three of UCLA's eight perfect 10s this season have come on uneven bars - two from Kyla Ross and one from Kocian. The Bruins have nine 9.95+ uneven bars routines so far this season - four from Ross, two each from Kocian and Norah Flatley, and one from Margzetta Frazier. All four are ranked in the Top 15 nationally - Ross is No. 2, Kocian and Frazier are tied for No. 12, and Flatley is No. 17.
WIN STREAK IMPROVES TO 15 MEETS, 37 OPPONENTS
Following the victory over Arizona, UCLA has now outscored 37 straight opponents over its last 15 meets. The Bruins have not lost a meet in over a year, its only losses a year ago coming by a combined total of .225 points (.1 loss to Oklahoma Feb. 4, .125 loss to Utah Feb. 18).
MORE STREAKS
UCLA has scored 49+ in 87 straight rotations, the team's last sub-49 score coming in the first rotation of the 2018 season opener … The Bruins scored 49.5 or better on 30 of those 87 rotations … UCLA's streak of 21 straight meets scoring 49+ on all four apparatus is the longest active streak in the nation and the third-longest in NCAA history behind Oklahoma (34 from 2016-18) and LSU (30 from 2016-18) … UCLA has scored 49+ on beam in its last 35 meets (the longest active streak in the nation and the second-longest in NCAA history behind Oklahoma's 37 from 2016-18) and 49+ on floor in its last 29 meets.
SCOUTING THE UTES
Utah enters the week ranked No. 4 in the national rankings with a season average of 197.179. The Utes competed twice last week, placing second with a 197.075 at the Gymquarters Invitational in St. Charles, Mo. on Feb. 15 and then duplicating the score in a Feb. 18 win at Stanford. Utah has scored 197 in its first eight meets, a new school record. The Utes are led by 18-time All-American and defending NCAA vault champion MyKayla Skinner, who ranks No. 5 in the all-around, No. 2 on vault, No. 8 on bars, and No. 10 on floor.
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 followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, a total over 620,000. The Bruins rank first among all NCAA gymnastics teams on Instagram (289k), Facebook (280k) and Twitter (60.6k). 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.
LOOKING AHEAD
The matchup of the season looms with the Bruins taking on No. 1 Oklahoma on Sunday, Mar. 3. The meet will be televised live on ESPN at 12pm CT/10am PT.
Players Mentioned
