No. 5 Gymnastics Squad Travels to Illinois Sunday

Sunday, February 22

Champaign, IL

2:00 PM PT

UCLA

Illinois

Ashlee Sullivan

Photo by: Ross Turteltaub

No. 5 Gymnastics Squad Travels to Illinois Sunday

February 18, 2026 | Gymnastics

Meet Notes (PDF)

No. 5 UCLA at Illinois
Date/Time: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026 – 2pm PT
Location: Champaign, Ill. (State Farm Center)
Broadcast: Big Ten Network
Talent: Dean Linke, Olivia Karas
Live Stats: virti.us

NO. 5 UCLA TRAVELS TO ILLINOIS SUNDAY
No. 5 UCLA (9-2, 5-0 in the Big Ten) will travel to Illinois (3-5, 1-4) for a Sunday, Feb. 22 dual meet, UCLA's final conference dual of the season. The meet will take place at State Farm Arena at 4pm CT/2pm PT and will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

ABOUT THE ILLINI
Illinois is led by sophomore Chloe Cho, who has won six consecutive all-around competitions and ranks No. 6 in the nation in the all-around and No. 8 on uneven bars. Cho swept the all-around and all four events in last week's meet at Nebraska, tying her career-high with a 39.550. The The Illini enter the week outside of the Top 36. Their highest event ranking is No. 33 on uneven bars. Illinois travels to Missouri for a Friday night meet before hosting the Bruins.

LAST TIME OUT
UCLA remained unbeaten in the Big Ten after capturing a 197.725-196.975 victory over No. 9 Michigan in front of a season-high crowd of 10,032. Jordan Chiles shook off illness to score her fourth consecutive perfect 10 on floor exercise, the fifth-straight week she has scored a 10. She also won the all-around for the fifth-straight meet, scoring 39.625. The freshman class also shined for the Bruins, totaling five scores of 9.900 or higher. Tiana Sumanasekera scored three 9.900s and earned a career-high all-around score of 39.475. Nola Matthews tied for second place on uneven bars with a career-high 9.925, and Ashlee Sullivan contributed three scores of 9.850 or higher, including a 9.900 on uneven bars. UCLA trailed by a tenth after the first rotation but pulled ahead by scoring 49.500 on uneven bars and closed with a 49.600 on floor exercise.

CHILES PERFECT FOR FIFTH-STRAIGHT MEET
For the fifth consecutive week, Jordan Chiles scored a perfect 10, earning her fourth consecutive 10 on floor exercise. Her first career 10 on vault on Jan. 17 started the streak. She now has 16 career 10s - one on vault, five on uneven bars and 10 on floor exercise. She is now in sole possession of third place on UCLA's career perfect 10 list. Only Jamie Dantzscher (28) and Kyla Ross (22) have more. Chiles' 10 floor 10s rank second behind only Dantzscher, who had 14. Chiles is looking to become just the 15th gymnast in NCAA history to achieve a Gym Slam, which is a perfect 10 on all four events. Only two Bruins have done this - Kristen Maloney in 2005 and Ross in 2019. Chiles just needs a 10.0 on balance beam to join the exclusive group. She has earned a 10 from one beam judge three times this season.

IN THE RANKINGS
With national rankings now based on national qualifying score (NQS), UCLA ranks No. 5 overall. The Bruins are ranked in the Top 10 on all four events - No. 3 on beam, No. 4 on bars, No. 5 on vault and No. 8 on floor. Jordan Chiles remains No. 1 in the all-around and is Top 5 on every event - No. 1 on floor, No. 2 on bars, No. 3 on vault and No. 5 on beam. UCLA has four athletes ranked in the Top 25 on vault - Chiles at No. 3, Ashlee Sullivan and Tiana Sumanasekera at No. 20 and Katelyn Rosen at No. 23. Ciena Alipio remains ranked No. 3 on beam. Sullivan is No. 16 on bars, and Sumanasekera ranks No. 8 in the all-around and is the highest ranked freshman in the nation.

CHILES, SUMANASEKERA WIN BIG TEN WEEKLY HONORS
UCLA's Jordan Chiles and Tiana Sumanasekera were named the Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman of the Week, respectively. Chiles earns her conference-record seventh consecutive award and remains the only gymnast in the Big Ten to win Gymnast of the Week honors this season. Sumanasekera receives her third Freshman of the Week award.
Chiles ties both the UCLA and Big Ten single-season records with her seventh conference gymnast of the week award. She has won the award a UCLA record 18 times in her career. Chiles won the all-around for the fifth consecutive week and sixth time overall this season, scoring 39.625. She recorded a perfect 10 for the fifth-straight week and fourth-straight time on floor exercise. The perfect 10 was her 16th career 10 and her 10th on floor exercise. Chiles also placed second on uneven bars with a 9.925. She has accumulated 24 victories in seven meets this year. Sumanasekera recorded a new career-high in the all-around, placing second with a 39.475 in the win over Michigan. She scored three 9.900s in the meet (vault, bars and floor), tying her season-high on vault and bars. Sumanasekera won vault for the first time, with her leadoff 9.900 on her 9.95-start value vault topping all athletes.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY
UCLA has been a consistent force all season, averaging 197.450 as a team, with just one score dipping under 197 - a 196.975 in the season opener. The Bruins have scored over 197.500 in three consecutive meets and have scored over 49.000 on every event in every meet, hitting 167 of 168 routines on the year.

BEST SHOW IN LA AND NATION-WIDE
UCLA Gymnastics is proving to be not only the Best Show in LA, but also nation-wide. The Bruins have been a part of three road meets with record-setting attendance - at Washington Jan. 2 (8,403), at Michigan State Jan. 25 (9,887), and at Minnesota Feb. 7 (5,081). UCLA's home opener on Jan. 13 was contested in front of 7,814 fans, a new record for a UCLA home opener, and a season-high 10,032 were in attendance for Saturday's home meet against Michigan. The Bruins' Feb. 22 meet at Illinois was moved to the State Farm Center in anticipation of a large crowd. Last season, the Bruins competed in front of school record crowds at Maryland (7,287) and Ohio State (3,695) and in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,558 at Utah, as well as a crowd of 11,314 at Michigan.

DANCING AND GYMNASTICS QUEEN
Fresh off a third-place showing on Season 34 of "Dancing with the Stars" this fall, Jordan Chiles has dominated the NCAA Gymnastics season, ranking No. 1 in the nation in the all-around and earning Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honors for each of the first seven weeks of the season. She kicked off her senior season on Jan. 3 with a show-stopping performance at the Best of the West Quad. Chiles placed first on all four events and won the all-around with a score of 39.725, UCLA's highest all-around score in a season opener since Kyla Ross also recorded that score in 2020. In week 2 at the Sprouts Collegiate Quad, she placed second in the all-around with a 39.575 and won floor exercise for the second-straight week with a 9.925. In week 3, she scored her first perfect 10 of the season and first career 10 on vault en route to winning the all-around with a 39.675 in the Bruins' home opener. And in week 4, she one-upped all of that by recording the highest all-around score in the nation - 39.875 - with a perfect 10 on floor, 9.975 on vault and 9.950s on bars and beam to lead UCLA to a season-high team total of 197.425. She matched her all-around score and scored another perfect 10 five days later, leading UCLA to its first 198 of the season (198.150). Chiles made it four meets in a row with a 10 on Feb. 7, bringing back her 2025 Prince floor routine at Minnesota for her 15th career perfect 10, and then hit her 10th career 10 on floor on Feb. 14.

Dancing with pro Ezra Sosa this fall, Chiles became the first female gymnast to make the "Dancing with the Stars" finale since Laurie Hernandez in season 23 in 2016. Chiles competed on the show while simultaneously training for the 2026 gymnastics season and taking a full set of classes at UCLA. The two-time Olympian and 2024 gold medalist enters her senior year as a three-time NCAA Champion, 16-time All-American and reigning Big Ten floor exercise champion. Chiles has scored 16 perfect 10s in her career - 10 on floor exercise, five on uneven bars and one on vault - and 26 9.975s. She holds career-highs of 10.0 on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise, 9.975 on balance beam and 39.900 in the all-around.

FROM BEAMER TO THREE-EVENT STAR
After competing exclusively on balance beam her first three seasons due to injuries, senior Ciena Alipio has taken the leap to multi-event star during her senior season, competing on floor exercise and uneven bars this season for the first time in her collegiate career. She made her floor debut at the Sprouts Collegiate Quad on Jan. 10 and scored 9.800. She won two events a week later against Nebraska, scoring 9.975 on beam and 9.875 on floor. At Michigan State on Jan. 25, Alipio competed on three events for the first time, making her collegiate debut on uneven bars. She tied for third place on bars with a score of 9.875, scored 9.850 on floor exercise, then completed her day with a meet-winning beam score of 9.950. She improved on those marks five days later against Washington, scoring a leadoff 9.950 on bars, a meet-winning 9.950 on beam and a career-high 9.900 on floor to earn Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week honors for the third time. Her latest accomplishment was scoring a career-high 9.950 on floor on Feb. 14, receiving a 10.0 from one judge. In the national rankings, she is currently ranked No. 3 on beam, where she has not scored lower than 9.900 all season, and was ranked as high as No. 7 on bars in early February.

Alipio is a two-time first-team All-American on beam and won the Big Ten balance beam title in 2025 with her first career perfect 10. Prior to her senior season, the only other non-beam routine that she had performed in college came in an exhibition on floor exercise in the 2025 season opener. As an elite gymnast, Alipio placed third in the all-around at her last international event, the 2022 Arthur Gander Memorial in Switzerland. She was also ninth in the all-around and sixth on floor exercise at the 2022 U.S. Classic.

LEADOFF QUEEN
Junior Katelyn Rosen sets the tone for the Bruins as the leadoff performer on vault and floor and has excelled in that role. On Jan. 30 against Washington, she led off on floor exercise with a season-high 9.925, paving the way for a team season-high total of 49.700, at the time the highest floor score in the NCAA this season. Rosen also has lead-off high marks of 9.900 on balance beam twice and 9.875 on uneven bars. Her 9.900 on beam on Jan. 17 led to a team season-high of 49.625, and her 9.875 on bars on Jan. 10 led to a 49.425. Rosen has competed on at least three events in every meet this season and competed in the all-around in the Bruins' first four meets, with a season-high of 39.325 and season average of 39.150. She holds a career all-around average of 39.332 and has hit 39+ in all 11 all-around attempts. In her last three meets, she has scored no lower than 9.850 on nine routines, with four scores of 9.9 or higher.

BARROS RAISES THE BAR
Junior Sydney Barros, who missed all of 2024 while rehabbing a knee injury and competed just once in 2025, has made a huge splash the last four meets, with seven of her 11 routines scoring 9.900 or better. In her first extensive action of her career, she scored a pair of 9.900s on uneven bars and floor exercise and added a 9.850 in a beam exhibition at Michigan State on Jan. 25. Barros was making just her third appearance in the competitive lineup on bars, and she finished in second place behind only Jordan Chiles' 9.950. Her floor routine marked her competitive debut on that event, and she finished in fourth place. In the Bruins' home meet against Washington Jan. 30, she competed on three events and scored a career-highs on bars (9.925) and floor (9.900) and earned a 9.850 in her beam debut. On Feb. 7 at Minnesota, she contributed a third-place career-high mark of 9.900 and also scored 9.850 on uneven bars. She scored a pair of 9.90s against Michigan on Feb. 14, tying for second on beam and floor. Barros does not yet have enough routines to qualify for a NQS, but she was previously ranked on each of her three events at one point this season. Barros was the all-around champion at the 2023 Puerto Rican National Championships and placed eighth in the all-around at the 2023 Pan American Championships, qualifying to the World Championships. She was unable to compete at Worlds, however, after suffering a knee injury at the Central American Games.

TIANA TOPS FRESHMEN ALL-AROUNDERS
Freshman Tiana Sumanasekera holds the distinction of being the highest-ranked freshman in the nation, ranking No. 8 with a NQS of 39.375. Sumanasekera has been superb for the Bruins this year, competing 27 of a possible 28 routines and going all-around in six of the team's seven meets. She has won Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors three times and is coming off a career-high all-around score of 39.475 against Michigan on Feb. 14. Sumanasekera scored three 9.900s in the meet and won vault for the first time in her career. The five-time U.S. National Team member and 2024 Olympic alternate has season-bests of 9.9 or higher on every event - 9.950 on beam, 9.925 on floor and 9.900 on vault and bars. In the season opener, Sumanasekera scored 9.950 on beam, the highest by a UCLA freshman in her collegiate debut in over 20 years, matching Tasha Schiwkert in 2005. Sumanasekera also became the first Bruin ever to win Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors with her season-opening performance.

SULLIVAN STRENGTH
Freshman Ashlee Sullivan joins senior Jordan Chiles as the only Bruins ranked in the Top 25 on multiple events. Sullivan is No. 16 on uneven bars and No. 20 on vault. In her last two meets, she is averaging 9.896 on her six routines, with three 9.9+ scores and nothing under 9.850. She has scored 9.950 on two of her last three floor routines. Sullivan has won Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors twice this season, first after winning bars and floor and recording career-highs on all three events in which she competed against Nebraska Jan. 17. She won the award again after winning bars with a career-high 9.925 and placing second on floor with a career-high-tying 9.950 at Minnesota on Feb. 7. She is averaging over 9.825 on vault (9.839), bars (9.868) and floor (9.861).

SENIOR STRIDES FROM ANYIMI
Madisyn Anyimi is having a senior glow-up, recording career-best marks on three events, either in competition or in exhibition. Anyimi has seen the most competition time on vault, competing in six of seven meets, and posted a career-high 9.900 on Jan. 30 against Washington to place second, her first career Top 3 finish on an event. Also in that meet, she scored a career-high 9.875 in a floor exercise exhibition. At Minnesota on Feb. 7, she scored another career-high in an exhibition, earning 9.875 on uneven bars. Anyimi enrolled at UCLA before walking onto the team in the 2023 season and has competed in 22 meets in her career, mostly on vault. She has hit all 26 routines she has competed, with highs of 9.900 on vault, 9.850 on bars in 2024 and 9.625 in her one floor appearance in 2023. Anyimi is a three-time WCGA Scholastic All-American, 2025 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award-winner and 2025 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar.

FABULOUS FRESHMEN
UCLA's acclaimed freshman class has accounted for 38% (64 of 168) of the Bruins' routines so far in 2026, with Tiana Sumanasekera competing 27 routines, Ashlee Sullivan 22, Nola Matthews 10 and Jordis Eichman five. Sumanasekera, a 2024 U.S. Olympic alternate, has contributed 24 9.8+ scores, including highs of 9.950 on beam, 9.925 on floor and 9.900 on vault and bars. She was the first Bruin underclassman to compete in the all-around this year and is averaging 39.392 in her six all-around appearances. Sullivan, fresh off a win at the Arthur Gander Memorial in November, has competed at least three events in every meet and made her all-around debut on Jan. 25, scoring 39.200. She has three event victories - two on bars and one on floor - and holds season-bests of 9.950 on floor, 9.925 on bars, 9.900 on vault and 9.775 on beam. Four-time U.S. National Team member Matthews has highs of 9.925 on bars and 9.850 on beam and is averaging 9.842 on bars after a second-place career-high mark of 9.925 against Michigan on Feb. 14. Jordis Eichman, who competed at the 2025 U.S. Championships, made her collegiate debut on Jan. 25 at Michigan State and scored 9.825 on beam and 9.750 on vault and added a 9.775 exhibition on bars. She earned her first Top 3 finish on Jan. 30 against Washington with a third-place mark of 9.875 on beam.

SCHOLAR ATHLETES
UCLA Gymnastics earned a team GPA of 3.532 in the fall quarter, with 14 team members making the Director's Honor Roll (3.0 or higher term GPA in at least 12 units). Additionally, six Bruins earned 4.0s in the quarter.

ABOUT THE BRUINS
UCLA returns three-time NCAA Champion Jordan Chiles, All-American and Big Ten beam champion Ciena Alipio, all-conference performers Katelyn Rosen and Macy McGowan, and Big Ten All-Championships team member Mika Webster-Longin while welcoming U.S. National Team members in freshmen Nola Matthews, Ashlee Sullivan and Tiana Sumanasekera. The Bruins, under the direction of 2025 Big Ten Coach of the Year Janelle McDonald, are coming off a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships and an unbeaten Big Ten Conference season, complete with sweeps of the regular season and Conference Championship titles.

LOOKING AHEAD
UCLA will host Ohio State, Iowa and Maryland at the Big Four meet on Friday, Feb. 27 at 7pm. The Bruins, who are 5-0 in conference play, will have a chance to clinch the Big Ten regular season title with a first-place finish in the quad meet. Five teams are in second place in the conference standings with 3-2 records.