Thursday, April 13
Fort Worth, TX
6:00 PM
UCLA
vs
NCAA Semifinal II (Oklahoma, UCLA, Utah, Kentucky)
The 2023 Bruins
Photo by: Ric Tapia
UCLA Begins NCAA Competition April 13
April 07, 2023 | Gymnastics
No. 4 UCLA at NCAA Championships
Location: Fort Worth, Texas (Dickies Arena)
Date/Time: Semifinal 1: April 13, 2 pm CT / 12 pm PT; Semifinal 2: April 13, 8 pm CT / 6 pm PT; Final: April 15, 3 pm CT / 1 pm PT
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Bart Conner (play-by-play), Kathy Johnson-Clarke (analyst), Samantha Peszek (sideline)
Event Streams: ESPN3
Live Stats: statbroadcast.com
BRUINS RETURN TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The UCLA Gymnastics team will make its first NCAA Championship appearance since 2019 when it competes in the NCAA semifinal on Thursday, April 13 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The Bruins will be in semifinal 2 at 8pm CT/6pm PT, along with Oklahoma, Utah and Kentucky. Competing in semifinal 1 at 2pm CT/12pm PT will be Florida, LSU, California and Denver. The top two teams from each session will advance to Saturday's final at 3pm CT/1pm PT. The all-around and individual event champions will be determined during Thursday's semifinals.
FOLLOW LIVE
All three sessions of the NCAA Championships will be televised live on the ESPN family of networks. The semifinals will be on ESPN2, while the final will air live on ABC. Event feeds for all sessions will be available on ESPN3. Live stats will be available at ncaa.com, and live updates for the Bruins can be found on Twitter by following @UCLAGymnastics.
ROTATION ORDER
The rotation order for the national semifinals was determined by blind draw prior to the selections. The Bruins will begin the semifinals on balance beam in rotation one and will end on uneven bars. This is the same rotation UCLA had in Round 2 of the Regionals, where they scored a Regional-high and season-high 198.275. Starting on vault will be Kentucky. Oklahoma begins on uneven bars, and Utah starts on floor exercise.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Bruins have won seven NCAA championships, most recently in 2018, winning after a perfect 10 on beam by Peng-Peng Lee on the final routine of the meet. Her score gave the Bruins a 0.0375 win over second-place Oklahoma. UCLA's NCAA titles came in 1997 at Florida, 2000 at Boise State, 2001 at Georgia, 2003 at Nebraska, 2004 at UCLA, 2010 at Florida and 2018 in St. Louis. This is UCLA's 36th overall appearance in the 41 NCAA Championships and second in the new eight-team format that debuted in 2019.
UCLA's INDIVIDUAL NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
A total of 20 Bruins have won 40 NCAA titles to rank second behind only Georgia (42) in individual NCAA titles. UCLA's last individual champion was Kyla Ross, who won a share of the vault and floor titles in 2019. Ross also won bars and beam in 2017. Since 2000, the Bruins have captured 29 individual titles, the most of any school during that time period.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
*Only seven teams have ever won the NCAA title in the 41 years of the Championships - Georgia (10), Utah (9), UCLA (7), Alabama (6), Oklahoma (5), Florida (3) and Michigan (1). 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. Michigan won its first in 2021.
*Just three of the eight schools who qualified for the 2022 Championships return in 2023 - Oklahoma (1st place), Florida (2nd) and Utah (3rd). The remaining five teams - Auburn (4th), Missouri (5th), Minnesota (6th), Alabama (7th) and Michigan (8th) - did not advance. Back in the championship field after a one-year absence are California and LSU. UCLA and Denver return for the first time since advancing to the finals in 2019. Kentucky is making its first appearance since 2018.
*There are eight reigning or former individual champions in the field. The reigning champions are 2022 all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise champion Trinity Thomas (Florida) and vault champion Jaedyn Rucker (Utah). NCAA champions from 2021 returning are vault co-champion Haleigh Bryant (LSU), uneven bars and floor exercise co-champion Maile O'Keefe (Utah), and balance beam champion Luisa Blanco (Alabama). Additionally, three 2019 champions are back in vault co-champion Derrian Gobourne (Auburn), beam champion Natalie Wojcik (Michigan), and floor exercise co-champion Lynzee Brown (Denver). Blanco and Wojcik are competing as individuals on uneven bars, and Gobourne is competing as an individual on floor.
*Six of the Top 8 teams in the final regular season rankings qualified for the NCAA Championships - No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Florida, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 LSU and No. 7 California. Advancing out of the Top 8 was No. 9 Kentucky and No. 13 Denver.
*UCLA ranks second among all schools with 40 individual titles. Georgia leads all teams with 42. Utah has 30, and Alabama has 28.
*UCLA has won either a team or an individual NCAA title in each of the last five Championships it has attended as a team: 2019 - Kyla Ross (V, FX); 2018 - Team, Peng-Peng Lee (BB), Katelyn Ohashi (FX); 2017 - Kyla Ross (UB, BB); 2016 - Danusia Francis (BB); 2015 - Samantha Peszek (AA, BB).
UCLA vs. NCAA FIELD
The Bruins have matched up against three of the seven other teams in the NCAA field this season. The Bruins are 1-0-1 vs. California, 0-1 vs. Oklahoma and 0-3 vs. Utah.
REGIONAL FINAL RECAP
UCLA rallied in the final two rotations to qualify to the NCAA Championships with a second-place finish at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. The Bruins scored 197.925, just behind Utah's 198.050 and ahead of third-place Missouri's 197.600. Trailing both Utah and Missouri heading into the third rotation, UCLA blasted a season-high 49.700 on floor exercise, led by Jordan Chiles' perfect 10, to move into second, and the Bruins held their position by scoring 49.500 on vault in the final rotation, led by freshman Selena Harris' first career perfect 10. Harris finished with a meet-high 39.750 in the all-around, tying her career-high. Chiles finished right behind her with a 39.725.
SECOND ROUND RECAP
UCLA posted the highest team score in all of the Regional competitions, recording a season-high-tying 198.275 to run away with first place in the second session of the second round. The Bruins started the meet with a season-high 49.675 on beam, closing with a pair of 9.975s from Selena Harris and Emma Malabuyo, and cruised from there, scoring 49.500 on floor, a season-high 49.575 on vault and a 49.525 on bars. UCLA's beam score was the fourth-highest in school history, and its vault total was the sixth-best in school history. The team total of 198.275 was a NCAA postseason record for the Bruins.
CHILES WINS THREE REGIONAL TITLES
Sophomore Jordan Chiles took home three NCAA Regional titles, winning the all-around (39.750), bars (9.975) and floor (9.950) titles. She also placed sixth overall on vault (9.925) and ninth on beam (9.900). Selena Harris and Emma Malabuyo placed second overall on beam with scores of 9.975, and Brooklyn Moors placed second on floor with a 9.925. Chae Campbell was third on vault with a perfect 9.950.
GIMME MOORS
Sophomore Brooklyn Moors made a stunning season debut at Regionals, tying her career-high with a 9.925 on floor exercise and setting a new career-best with a 9.900 on vault. Moors, a member of the 2020 Canadian Olympic team, was not originally in the floor lineup but stepped in for Emma Malabuyo and posted the second-highest floor score of the night. Her vault score was one of five Bruin vaults to score 9.9 or higher. She posted another 9.900 on vault in the Regional Final to help the Bruins secure the second-place qualifying finish.
CHILES NAMED WEST REGION GYMNAST OF YEAR
Jordan Chiles was selected the West Region Gymnast of the Year, as voted by members of the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). Chiles, has competed in the all-around in every meet this season, scoring 39+ in all 13 contests and averaging 39.679. Her all-around score of 39.900 vs. Iowa State on March 11 is the highest score in the nation this season and the No. 5 mark of all-time. She finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around with a NQS of 39.810, the highest ever by a UCLA gymnast, and No. 1 on uneven bars with a 9.980 NQS, the highest year-end NQS on the event in four years. She was also No. 3 on vault with a 9.950 NQS, No. 4 on floor exercise with a 9.965 NQS and No. 18 on beam with a 9.935 NQS. The 2023 Pac-12 bars and floor champion leads UCLA with 38 individual event victories, 51 Top 3 finishes, 30 scores of 9.95 or higher and 45 scores of 9.9 or higher. She won Pac-12 titles on uneven bars and floor exercise and five Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week awards and has scored four perfect 10s this season – two on bars and two on floor – along with 15 9.975s.
UCLA COACHING STAFF RECEIVES WEST REGION HONORS
The UCLA Gymnastics coaching staff was awarded Coach of the Year honors by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). The R.C. Rothman UCLA Head Gymnastics Coach Janelle McDonald earned Head Coach of the Year acclaim, and Bruin assistant coaches BJ Das, Kyle Grable and Autumn Grable were named the Assistant Coaches of the Year. The voting was conducted by their peers in the WCGA. All four coaches are in their first year in their roles, with McDonald In her first year as a head coach after being an assistant coach at California the previous four years. The staff has led UCLA to its first NCAA Championships appearance since 2019, to a Pac-12 regular season co-championship, and to a No. 4 national ranking in 2023, 10 spots higher than they ranked a year ago. The Bruins improved their NQS by nearly nine-tenths of a point, going from 197.090 in 2022 to 197.950 in 2023.
BRUINS EARN 10 ALL-AMERICA, 12 ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Chae Campbell, Jordan Chiles and Selena Harris combined to earn 10 regular season All-America and 12 All-Pac-12 honors. On the All-America front, Campbell was a second-team honoree on vault and floor. Chiles earned first-team honors in the all-around, vault, bars and floor. Harris was a first-team selection in the all-around and a second-team honoree on vault, bars and beam. Chiles and Harris earned All-Pac-12 honors on all four events and the all-around, becoming the first pair of teammates ever to earn the maximum five All-Pac-12 awards in the same season. Campbell was a first-team All-Pac-12 honoree on vault and floor.
HARRIS NAMED PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF YEAR
Selena Harris was voted the 2023 Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year, becoming the 10th Bruin to earn the honor. Harris has been not only the top freshman in the conference but one of the top gymnasts in the nation, ranking in the Top 7 in the all-around every week of the season, including two weeks at No. 3. She finished the regular season ranked No. 6 nationally and No. 3 in the Pac-12 behind only a pair of Olympians. She earned Top 3 finishes in the all-around and on uneven bars and balance beam at the Pac-12 Championships and was the runner-up in the all-around and on balance beam at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. She recorded her first career perfect 10 on vault in the Regional Final to help UCLA secure a NCAA Championship berth. The Las Vegas native has competed 51 out of 52 possible routines this season and hit every single routine, averaging over 9.9 on bars, beam and floor and just a hair under 9.9 at 9.885 on vault.
Her season average in the all-around is 39.656, and she has scored 39.500 or higher in all 12 all-around attempts. She has totaled 40 scores of 9.9 or higher and 14 scores of 9.95 or higher, including a 10 on vault and a 9.975 each on bars and beam. Harris has 13 individual victories this season - five on beam, three in the all-around and vault, and two on bars. She was named Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Week a Pac-12 record-tying six times this season and tied the conference record by winning the award in five consecutive weeks.
PAC-12 REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS
UCLA won its first regular season Pac-12 title since the conference began awarding them in 2020, finishing in a four-way tie for first place with Utah, California and Oregon State. The Bruins, Bears and Beavers finished with conference records of 4-1-2, while Utah was 5-2-0. This was the second consecutive year the regular season finished in a four-way tie; Utah, California, Oregon State and Arizona State were the first-place finishers in 2022.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the national rankings. The Bruins finished Top 5 on three events - No. 1 on floor exercise and No. 5 on uneven bars and balance beam - and No. 11 on vault. Jordan Chiles ranked No. 2 in the all-around with a school record 39.810 NQS, No. 1 on uneven bars, No. 3 on vault, No. 4 on floor and No. 18 on beam. Selena Harris finished No. 6 in the all-around, No. 9 on beam, No. 12 on bars, No. 14 on vault and No. 25 on floor. Chae Campbell ranked No. 12 on floor and No. 14 on vault.
SUPER STABLE
Through 13 meets this season, UCLA has hit 309 of 312 routines without a fall. Two of those falls came in one meet, on beam Jan. 29, which means that the Bruins have had 50 of 52 clean rotations this season, scoring 49.0 or higher 50 times. UCLA has scored 49+ in every meet on vault, bars and floor and has not gone under 49 on beam since scoring 48.8 on Jan. 29. The Bruins have scored 49+ in 23 consecutive meets on vault, 22 on floor and 19 on bars.
CHILES CONTINUES SUCCESS
After spending the summer and fall winning multiple medals in national and international competition, 2020 Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles has seen continued success in NCAA competition, earning four first-team regular season All-America honors. Chiles has competed in the all-around in every meet for UCLA this season, scoring 39+ in all 13 contests and averaging 39.679. Her all-around score of 39.900 vs. Iowa State on March 11 is the highest score in the nation this season and the No. 5 mark of all-time. She finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around with a NQS of 39.810, the highest ever by a UCLA gymnast. Chiles scored her first perfect 10 of the year on Feb. 11 on floor exercise and scored back-to-back 10s on uneven bars March 5 and 11 and her first postseason 10 on floor on April 1 to bring her career 10.0 total to seven. She has also posted 15 scores of 9.975 this season and a team-high 30 scores of 9.950 or greater. She leads the team with 38 individual event victories.
Chiles competed at her first-ever World Championships in the fall and helped lead the U.S. to the team gold medal with a strong all-around performance before adding two silver medals in the individual event finals, on vault and floor exercise. The Bruin sophomore also won the floor exercise title and finished second on vault at the Paris World Challenge Cup in the summer and was a three-time bronze medalist (all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise) at the 2022 U.S. Gymnastics Championships.
CAMPBELL CONSISTENCY
Junior Chae Campbell has scored 9.900 or higher on floor exercise in all 11 meets she has competed this year, averaging 9.932, and in 16 of her last 17 floor routines, including two perfect 10s. She finished the regular season ranked No. 12 nationally on floor and earned first-team All-Pac-12 and second-team All-America honors. Campbell also ranks 14th nationally on vault and averages 9.902. She has scored 9.9 or higher on vault 23 times in her career, including five perfect 9.95s, most recently in the Regional Second Round on March 30. On floor, her career average is 9.916, and she has posted 26 total scores of 9.900 or higher. Campbell has hit 124 of 126 routines in her career and held a streak of 100 in a row from Jan. 23, 2021-Jan. 29, 2023.
Campbell made history this season by becoming the first gymnast in Pac-12 history to win at least one of the conference's four weekly awards. After being named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week for the first time, she completed her set. She also won one Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week award in 2022, three Freshman of the Week honors in 2021 and one Coaches Choice award in 2023.
LEE-DOFF STRENGTH
Sophomore Emily Lee has come up big in the leadoff position this season, recording leadoff 9.9+ scores nine times. On beam, she has seven scores of 9.900 or higher, including a career-high 9.950 that gave her her first career event victory and led UCLA to a then-season-high-tying 49.625. In the NCAA Regional Second Round, she started the meet with a 9.925 on beam, leading the way to a season-high beam total of 49.675, the No. 4 beam score in school history. Lee has also been successful in the leadoff position on floor, scoring 9.850 on her first-ever floor routine against Oregon State and earning leadoff 9.900s in three meets. Leading off on vault at Arizona on Feb. 26, she scored a career-high 9.875, helping the Bruins tie their then-season-high score of 49.400. Lee made her all-around debut on March 11 and scored 39.500 to place third in the Iowa State meet. This season marks the first time Lee has competed since 2021, as she missed all of 2022 recovering from a ruptured Achilles at the Olympic Trials.
PADURARIU CONTINUES TO PAD STATS
Sophomore Ana Padurariu is having a stellar season and has scored at least one 9.9 in eight of her last nine meets, including two meets with career-high scores of 9.95, on beam at Arizona on Feb. 26 and on bars against Stanford on March 5. Padurariu tied for second place on bars in her last dual meet on March 11 with a 9.9. The 2018 World silver medalist on beam and 2019 Canadian champion on bars has recorded nine 9.9+ scores on 20 routines and averages 9.883 on bars and 9.831 on beam. Seven of her last nine uneven bars scores have been 9.9 or higher.
MALABUYO GIVES BRUINS BOOST
Sophomore Emma Malabuyo has been on fire on floor exercise this season, averaging 9.896 while mostly competing in the two-spot, and scoring 9.9 or higher in her last seven meets. She posted a career-high-tying 9.950 on March 5 to place second in the meet against Stanford. She has totaled three Top 3 finishes on floor and four on beam this year. UCLA's beam anchor, Malabuyo has seven scores of 9.9 or higher on the event, with a season-best of 9.975 at the NCAA Regional Second Round. She provided a pair of 9.9+ routines at the Pac-12 Championships, scoring 9.925 on beam and 9.900 on floor. Malabuyo also stepped in on vault three times this season, with a high of 9.825.
MARGZETTA HITS CENTURY MARK
Redshirt senior Margzetta Frazier hit the century mark for consecutive routines without a fall after landing her vault at Washington on Jan. 21 and has since extended her streak to 128 consecutive routines and counting. The three-time All-American has not had a single score dip below 9.500 in her 49 meets, and she has scored 9.9 or better on floor exercise in eight of her last nine meets. In the NCAA Regional Final, she tied her career-high on floor with a 9.950 and received a perfect 10 from one of the four judges, and in the Regional Second Round, she scored a career-high 9.900 on vault to help the Bruins record a season-high 49.575 on the event. Frazier has career averages of 9.882 on bars, 9.874 on floor, 9.800 on beam and 9.800 on vault.
SUPER START
First-year head coach Janelle McDonald is off to a super start in her coaching career, with the Bruins qualifying for the NCAA Championships and spending the entirety of the season ranked in the Top 6 nationally. The Bruins have scored 197+ in all but one meet this season, just missing the 197 mark by one-tenth on Jan. 21. They have also scored 197.8 or higher in eight consecutive meets, including three meets at 198+. UCLA's season-high of 198.275 set March 11 and 30 ranks as the sixth-best score in program history, and its 197.975 at California on Feb. 18 ranks as the highest away score since the 2019 season. Additionally, UCLA's season-opening total of 197.725 at the Super 16 was the highest by a UCLA team in a season opener since the 2005 team scored 197.300 in a dual meet at Utah. It was also just the fourth time in school history that a UCLA team has scored 197 in the first meet of the year.
FLOORED BY TOP-RANKED FLOOR SQUAD
The Bruins spent the last five weeks of the the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation on floor exercise, ending the season in the top spot for the first time since the Bruins' three-year run at No. 1 from 2018-20. The floor squad has two All-Americans in Jordan Chiles and Chae Campbell and three first-team All-Pac-12 honorees in Chiles, Campbell and Selena Harris and produced a season-high score of 49.700 and a national-best season average of 49.569. UCLA's NQS of 49.630 was its highest since the 2019 Bruins recorded a NCAA record floor NQS of 49.720. The Bruins' NCAA Regional Final lineup of Emily Lee, Emma Malabuyo, Harris, Margzetta Frazier, Campbell and Chiles recorded a meet and season-high 49.700, with Chiles punctuating the set with a perfect 10. All six Bruins, along with Brooklyn Moors, have scored 9.9 or higher this season, and all average 9.835 or better, with Chiles leading the way at 9.956. Campbell, Moors and Harris also average over 9.9, at 9.932, 9.925 and 9.910, respectively. Malabuyo is approaching a 9.9 average at 9.896. Frazier holds a 9.865 average, and Lee is at 9.835 in the leadoff spot.
Location: Fort Worth, Texas (Dickies Arena)
Date/Time: Semifinal 1: April 13, 2 pm CT / 12 pm PT; Semifinal 2: April 13, 8 pm CT / 6 pm PT; Final: April 15, 3 pm CT / 1 pm PT
Television: ESPN2
TV Talent: Bart Conner (play-by-play), Kathy Johnson-Clarke (analyst), Samantha Peszek (sideline)
Event Streams: ESPN3
Live Stats: statbroadcast.com
BRUINS RETURN TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The UCLA Gymnastics team will make its first NCAA Championship appearance since 2019 when it competes in the NCAA semifinal on Thursday, April 13 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The Bruins will be in semifinal 2 at 8pm CT/6pm PT, along with Oklahoma, Utah and Kentucky. Competing in semifinal 1 at 2pm CT/12pm PT will be Florida, LSU, California and Denver. The top two teams from each session will advance to Saturday's final at 3pm CT/1pm PT. The all-around and individual event champions will be determined during Thursday's semifinals.
FOLLOW LIVE
All three sessions of the NCAA Championships will be televised live on the ESPN family of networks. The semifinals will be on ESPN2, while the final will air live on ABC. Event feeds for all sessions will be available on ESPN3. Live stats will be available at ncaa.com, and live updates for the Bruins can be found on Twitter by following @UCLAGymnastics.
ROTATION ORDER
The rotation order for the national semifinals was determined by blind draw prior to the selections. The Bruins will begin the semifinals on balance beam in rotation one and will end on uneven bars. This is the same rotation UCLA had in Round 2 of the Regionals, where they scored a Regional-high and season-high 198.275. Starting on vault will be Kentucky. Oklahoma begins on uneven bars, and Utah starts on floor exercise.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Bruins have won seven NCAA championships, most recently in 2018, winning after a perfect 10 on beam by Peng-Peng Lee on the final routine of the meet. Her score gave the Bruins a 0.0375 win over second-place Oklahoma. UCLA's NCAA titles came in 1997 at Florida, 2000 at Boise State, 2001 at Georgia, 2003 at Nebraska, 2004 at UCLA, 2010 at Florida and 2018 in St. Louis. This is UCLA's 36th overall appearance in the 41 NCAA Championships and second in the new eight-team format that debuted in 2019.
UCLA's INDIVIDUAL NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
A total of 20 Bruins have won 40 NCAA titles to rank second behind only Georgia (42) in individual NCAA titles. UCLA's last individual champion was Kyla Ross, who won a share of the vault and floor titles in 2019. Ross also won bars and beam in 2017. Since 2000, the Bruins have captured 29 individual titles, the most of any school during that time period.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
*Only seven teams have ever won the NCAA title in the 41 years of the Championships - Georgia (10), Utah (9), UCLA (7), Alabama (6), Oklahoma (5), Florida (3) and Michigan (1). 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. Michigan won its first in 2021.
*Just three of the eight schools who qualified for the 2022 Championships return in 2023 - Oklahoma (1st place), Florida (2nd) and Utah (3rd). The remaining five teams - Auburn (4th), Missouri (5th), Minnesota (6th), Alabama (7th) and Michigan (8th) - did not advance. Back in the championship field after a one-year absence are California and LSU. UCLA and Denver return for the first time since advancing to the finals in 2019. Kentucky is making its first appearance since 2018.
*There are eight reigning or former individual champions in the field. The reigning champions are 2022 all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise champion Trinity Thomas (Florida) and vault champion Jaedyn Rucker (Utah). NCAA champions from 2021 returning are vault co-champion Haleigh Bryant (LSU), uneven bars and floor exercise co-champion Maile O'Keefe (Utah), and balance beam champion Luisa Blanco (Alabama). Additionally, three 2019 champions are back in vault co-champion Derrian Gobourne (Auburn), beam champion Natalie Wojcik (Michigan), and floor exercise co-champion Lynzee Brown (Denver). Blanco and Wojcik are competing as individuals on uneven bars, and Gobourne is competing as an individual on floor.
*Six of the Top 8 teams in the final regular season rankings qualified for the NCAA Championships - No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Florida, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 LSU and No. 7 California. Advancing out of the Top 8 was No. 9 Kentucky and No. 13 Denver.
*UCLA ranks second among all schools with 40 individual titles. Georgia leads all teams with 42. Utah has 30, and Alabama has 28.
*UCLA has won either a team or an individual NCAA title in each of the last five Championships it has attended as a team: 2019 - Kyla Ross (V, FX); 2018 - Team, Peng-Peng Lee (BB), Katelyn Ohashi (FX); 2017 - Kyla Ross (UB, BB); 2016 - Danusia Francis (BB); 2015 - Samantha Peszek (AA, BB).
UCLA vs. NCAA FIELD
The Bruins have matched up against three of the seven other teams in the NCAA field this season. The Bruins are 1-0-1 vs. California, 0-1 vs. Oklahoma and 0-3 vs. Utah.
REGIONAL FINAL RECAP
UCLA rallied in the final two rotations to qualify to the NCAA Championships with a second-place finish at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. The Bruins scored 197.925, just behind Utah's 198.050 and ahead of third-place Missouri's 197.600. Trailing both Utah and Missouri heading into the third rotation, UCLA blasted a season-high 49.700 on floor exercise, led by Jordan Chiles' perfect 10, to move into second, and the Bruins held their position by scoring 49.500 on vault in the final rotation, led by freshman Selena Harris' first career perfect 10. Harris finished with a meet-high 39.750 in the all-around, tying her career-high. Chiles finished right behind her with a 39.725.
SECOND ROUND RECAP
UCLA posted the highest team score in all of the Regional competitions, recording a season-high-tying 198.275 to run away with first place in the second session of the second round. The Bruins started the meet with a season-high 49.675 on beam, closing with a pair of 9.975s from Selena Harris and Emma Malabuyo, and cruised from there, scoring 49.500 on floor, a season-high 49.575 on vault and a 49.525 on bars. UCLA's beam score was the fourth-highest in school history, and its vault total was the sixth-best in school history. The team total of 198.275 was a NCAA postseason record for the Bruins.
CHILES WINS THREE REGIONAL TITLES
Sophomore Jordan Chiles took home three NCAA Regional titles, winning the all-around (39.750), bars (9.975) and floor (9.950) titles. She also placed sixth overall on vault (9.925) and ninth on beam (9.900). Selena Harris and Emma Malabuyo placed second overall on beam with scores of 9.975, and Brooklyn Moors placed second on floor with a 9.925. Chae Campbell was third on vault with a perfect 9.950.
GIMME MOORS
Sophomore Brooklyn Moors made a stunning season debut at Regionals, tying her career-high with a 9.925 on floor exercise and setting a new career-best with a 9.900 on vault. Moors, a member of the 2020 Canadian Olympic team, was not originally in the floor lineup but stepped in for Emma Malabuyo and posted the second-highest floor score of the night. Her vault score was one of five Bruin vaults to score 9.9 or higher. She posted another 9.900 on vault in the Regional Final to help the Bruins secure the second-place qualifying finish.
CHILES NAMED WEST REGION GYMNAST OF YEAR
Jordan Chiles was selected the West Region Gymnast of the Year, as voted by members of the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). Chiles, has competed in the all-around in every meet this season, scoring 39+ in all 13 contests and averaging 39.679. Her all-around score of 39.900 vs. Iowa State on March 11 is the highest score in the nation this season and the No. 5 mark of all-time. She finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around with a NQS of 39.810, the highest ever by a UCLA gymnast, and No. 1 on uneven bars with a 9.980 NQS, the highest year-end NQS on the event in four years. She was also No. 3 on vault with a 9.950 NQS, No. 4 on floor exercise with a 9.965 NQS and No. 18 on beam with a 9.935 NQS. The 2023 Pac-12 bars and floor champion leads UCLA with 38 individual event victories, 51 Top 3 finishes, 30 scores of 9.95 or higher and 45 scores of 9.9 or higher. She won Pac-12 titles on uneven bars and floor exercise and five Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week awards and has scored four perfect 10s this season – two on bars and two on floor – along with 15 9.975s.
UCLA COACHING STAFF RECEIVES WEST REGION HONORS
The UCLA Gymnastics coaching staff was awarded Coach of the Year honors by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). The R.C. Rothman UCLA Head Gymnastics Coach Janelle McDonald earned Head Coach of the Year acclaim, and Bruin assistant coaches BJ Das, Kyle Grable and Autumn Grable were named the Assistant Coaches of the Year. The voting was conducted by their peers in the WCGA. All four coaches are in their first year in their roles, with McDonald In her first year as a head coach after being an assistant coach at California the previous four years. The staff has led UCLA to its first NCAA Championships appearance since 2019, to a Pac-12 regular season co-championship, and to a No. 4 national ranking in 2023, 10 spots higher than they ranked a year ago. The Bruins improved their NQS by nearly nine-tenths of a point, going from 197.090 in 2022 to 197.950 in 2023.
BRUINS EARN 10 ALL-AMERICA, 12 ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Chae Campbell, Jordan Chiles and Selena Harris combined to earn 10 regular season All-America and 12 All-Pac-12 honors. On the All-America front, Campbell was a second-team honoree on vault and floor. Chiles earned first-team honors in the all-around, vault, bars and floor. Harris was a first-team selection in the all-around and a second-team honoree on vault, bars and beam. Chiles and Harris earned All-Pac-12 honors on all four events and the all-around, becoming the first pair of teammates ever to earn the maximum five All-Pac-12 awards in the same season. Campbell was a first-team All-Pac-12 honoree on vault and floor.
HARRIS NAMED PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF YEAR
Selena Harris was voted the 2023 Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year, becoming the 10th Bruin to earn the honor. Harris has been not only the top freshman in the conference but one of the top gymnasts in the nation, ranking in the Top 7 in the all-around every week of the season, including two weeks at No. 3. She finished the regular season ranked No. 6 nationally and No. 3 in the Pac-12 behind only a pair of Olympians. She earned Top 3 finishes in the all-around and on uneven bars and balance beam at the Pac-12 Championships and was the runner-up in the all-around and on balance beam at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. She recorded her first career perfect 10 on vault in the Regional Final to help UCLA secure a NCAA Championship berth. The Las Vegas native has competed 51 out of 52 possible routines this season and hit every single routine, averaging over 9.9 on bars, beam and floor and just a hair under 9.9 at 9.885 on vault.
Her season average in the all-around is 39.656, and she has scored 39.500 or higher in all 12 all-around attempts. She has totaled 40 scores of 9.9 or higher and 14 scores of 9.95 or higher, including a 10 on vault and a 9.975 each on bars and beam. Harris has 13 individual victories this season - five on beam, three in the all-around and vault, and two on bars. She was named Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Week a Pac-12 record-tying six times this season and tied the conference record by winning the award in five consecutive weeks.
PAC-12 REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS
UCLA won its first regular season Pac-12 title since the conference began awarding them in 2020, finishing in a four-way tie for first place with Utah, California and Oregon State. The Bruins, Bears and Beavers finished with conference records of 4-1-2, while Utah was 5-2-0. This was the second consecutive year the regular season finished in a four-way tie; Utah, California, Oregon State and Arizona State were the first-place finishers in 2022.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the national rankings. The Bruins finished Top 5 on three events - No. 1 on floor exercise and No. 5 on uneven bars and balance beam - and No. 11 on vault. Jordan Chiles ranked No. 2 in the all-around with a school record 39.810 NQS, No. 1 on uneven bars, No. 3 on vault, No. 4 on floor and No. 18 on beam. Selena Harris finished No. 6 in the all-around, No. 9 on beam, No. 12 on bars, No. 14 on vault and No. 25 on floor. Chae Campbell ranked No. 12 on floor and No. 14 on vault.
SUPER STABLE
Through 13 meets this season, UCLA has hit 309 of 312 routines without a fall. Two of those falls came in one meet, on beam Jan. 29, which means that the Bruins have had 50 of 52 clean rotations this season, scoring 49.0 or higher 50 times. UCLA has scored 49+ in every meet on vault, bars and floor and has not gone under 49 on beam since scoring 48.8 on Jan. 29. The Bruins have scored 49+ in 23 consecutive meets on vault, 22 on floor and 19 on bars.
CHILES CONTINUES SUCCESS
After spending the summer and fall winning multiple medals in national and international competition, 2020 Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles has seen continued success in NCAA competition, earning four first-team regular season All-America honors. Chiles has competed in the all-around in every meet for UCLA this season, scoring 39+ in all 13 contests and averaging 39.679. Her all-around score of 39.900 vs. Iowa State on March 11 is the highest score in the nation this season and the No. 5 mark of all-time. She finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around with a NQS of 39.810, the highest ever by a UCLA gymnast. Chiles scored her first perfect 10 of the year on Feb. 11 on floor exercise and scored back-to-back 10s on uneven bars March 5 and 11 and her first postseason 10 on floor on April 1 to bring her career 10.0 total to seven. She has also posted 15 scores of 9.975 this season and a team-high 30 scores of 9.950 or greater. She leads the team with 38 individual event victories.
Chiles competed at her first-ever World Championships in the fall and helped lead the U.S. to the team gold medal with a strong all-around performance before adding two silver medals in the individual event finals, on vault and floor exercise. The Bruin sophomore also won the floor exercise title and finished second on vault at the Paris World Challenge Cup in the summer and was a three-time bronze medalist (all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise) at the 2022 U.S. Gymnastics Championships.
CAMPBELL CONSISTENCY
Junior Chae Campbell has scored 9.900 or higher on floor exercise in all 11 meets she has competed this year, averaging 9.932, and in 16 of her last 17 floor routines, including two perfect 10s. She finished the regular season ranked No. 12 nationally on floor and earned first-team All-Pac-12 and second-team All-America honors. Campbell also ranks 14th nationally on vault and averages 9.902. She has scored 9.9 or higher on vault 23 times in her career, including five perfect 9.95s, most recently in the Regional Second Round on March 30. On floor, her career average is 9.916, and she has posted 26 total scores of 9.900 or higher. Campbell has hit 124 of 126 routines in her career and held a streak of 100 in a row from Jan. 23, 2021-Jan. 29, 2023.
Campbell made history this season by becoming the first gymnast in Pac-12 history to win at least one of the conference's four weekly awards. After being named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week for the first time, she completed her set. She also won one Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week award in 2022, three Freshman of the Week honors in 2021 and one Coaches Choice award in 2023.
LEE-DOFF STRENGTH
Sophomore Emily Lee has come up big in the leadoff position this season, recording leadoff 9.9+ scores nine times. On beam, she has seven scores of 9.900 or higher, including a career-high 9.950 that gave her her first career event victory and led UCLA to a then-season-high-tying 49.625. In the NCAA Regional Second Round, she started the meet with a 9.925 on beam, leading the way to a season-high beam total of 49.675, the No. 4 beam score in school history. Lee has also been successful in the leadoff position on floor, scoring 9.850 on her first-ever floor routine against Oregon State and earning leadoff 9.900s in three meets. Leading off on vault at Arizona on Feb. 26, she scored a career-high 9.875, helping the Bruins tie their then-season-high score of 49.400. Lee made her all-around debut on March 11 and scored 39.500 to place third in the Iowa State meet. This season marks the first time Lee has competed since 2021, as she missed all of 2022 recovering from a ruptured Achilles at the Olympic Trials.
PADURARIU CONTINUES TO PAD STATS
Sophomore Ana Padurariu is having a stellar season and has scored at least one 9.9 in eight of her last nine meets, including two meets with career-high scores of 9.95, on beam at Arizona on Feb. 26 and on bars against Stanford on March 5. Padurariu tied for second place on bars in her last dual meet on March 11 with a 9.9. The 2018 World silver medalist on beam and 2019 Canadian champion on bars has recorded nine 9.9+ scores on 20 routines and averages 9.883 on bars and 9.831 on beam. Seven of her last nine uneven bars scores have been 9.9 or higher.
MALABUYO GIVES BRUINS BOOST
Sophomore Emma Malabuyo has been on fire on floor exercise this season, averaging 9.896 while mostly competing in the two-spot, and scoring 9.9 or higher in her last seven meets. She posted a career-high-tying 9.950 on March 5 to place second in the meet against Stanford. She has totaled three Top 3 finishes on floor and four on beam this year. UCLA's beam anchor, Malabuyo has seven scores of 9.9 or higher on the event, with a season-best of 9.975 at the NCAA Regional Second Round. She provided a pair of 9.9+ routines at the Pac-12 Championships, scoring 9.925 on beam and 9.900 on floor. Malabuyo also stepped in on vault three times this season, with a high of 9.825.
MARGZETTA HITS CENTURY MARK
Redshirt senior Margzetta Frazier hit the century mark for consecutive routines without a fall after landing her vault at Washington on Jan. 21 and has since extended her streak to 128 consecutive routines and counting. The three-time All-American has not had a single score dip below 9.500 in her 49 meets, and she has scored 9.9 or better on floor exercise in eight of her last nine meets. In the NCAA Regional Final, she tied her career-high on floor with a 9.950 and received a perfect 10 from one of the four judges, and in the Regional Second Round, she scored a career-high 9.900 on vault to help the Bruins record a season-high 49.575 on the event. Frazier has career averages of 9.882 on bars, 9.874 on floor, 9.800 on beam and 9.800 on vault.
SUPER START
First-year head coach Janelle McDonald is off to a super start in her coaching career, with the Bruins qualifying for the NCAA Championships and spending the entirety of the season ranked in the Top 6 nationally. The Bruins have scored 197+ in all but one meet this season, just missing the 197 mark by one-tenth on Jan. 21. They have also scored 197.8 or higher in eight consecutive meets, including three meets at 198+. UCLA's season-high of 198.275 set March 11 and 30 ranks as the sixth-best score in program history, and its 197.975 at California on Feb. 18 ranks as the highest away score since the 2019 season. Additionally, UCLA's season-opening total of 197.725 at the Super 16 was the highest by a UCLA team in a season opener since the 2005 team scored 197.300 in a dual meet at Utah. It was also just the fourth time in school history that a UCLA team has scored 197 in the first meet of the year.
FLOORED BY TOP-RANKED FLOOR SQUAD
The Bruins spent the last five weeks of the the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation on floor exercise, ending the season in the top spot for the first time since the Bruins' three-year run at No. 1 from 2018-20. The floor squad has two All-Americans in Jordan Chiles and Chae Campbell and three first-team All-Pac-12 honorees in Chiles, Campbell and Selena Harris and produced a season-high score of 49.700 and a national-best season average of 49.569. UCLA's NQS of 49.630 was its highest since the 2019 Bruins recorded a NCAA record floor NQS of 49.720. The Bruins' NCAA Regional Final lineup of Emily Lee, Emma Malabuyo, Harris, Margzetta Frazier, Campbell and Chiles recorded a meet and season-high 49.700, with Chiles punctuating the set with a perfect 10. All six Bruins, along with Brooklyn Moors, have scored 9.9 or higher this season, and all average 9.835 or better, with Chiles leading the way at 9.956. Campbell, Moors and Harris also average over 9.9, at 9.932, 9.925 and 9.910, respectively. Malabuyo is approaching a 9.9 average at 9.896. Frazier holds a 9.865 average, and Lee is at 9.835 in the leadoff spot.
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