UCLA could earn another national title this weekend.
Led by Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles, the Bruins’ gymnastics squad is having its best season since 2018 and will compete in Fort Worth in an NCAA national semifinal on Thursday for a spot in Saturday’s championship meet.
The Bruins haven’t won an NCAA gymnastics championship in eight years, a long gap for the seven-time champions known for developing Olympic talent.
UCLA will compete in a semifinal against Oklahoma, Arkansas and Minnesota. The Bruins will start on the bars, then go to the beam, floor and vault.
The top two teams advance to the finals Saturday against the top two teams from the other semifinal featuring Louisiana State University, Stanford, Florida and Georgia.
“There’s no defense in gymnastics, and so you really need to just focus on what we need to do to go out and put out the best competition possible,” UCLA coach Janelle McDonald said. “We’ve prepared the team all season long to have that mentality when we go out into competition.”
UCLA placed second in the finals last season, with Chiles and Brooklyn Moors capturing the NCAA uneven bars and floor exercise titles.
The Bruins won their first NCAA Regional title since 2019, leaping from third place into first after finishing with a 49.625 team total on floor in the final rotation at 197.725, one-tenth ahead of second-place Minnesota and .225 ahead of third-place Utah.
UCLA senior gymnast Ciena Alipio leaps in the air after her dismount on the balance beam on Jan. 17.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I thought regionals were just such, such an amazing competition for our freshmen that were being thrown in some big pressure situations, and they just really stepped up to the plate and handled it with so much confidence and that was really great to see,” McDonald said. “And I think that really bodes well for us heading into the NCAA [championships.]”
Chiles is also one perfect 10 on beam away from a senior-season grand slam. The two-time Olympic medalist has already won three individual NCAA titles, but this is her last chance to get a shot at the all-around title in addition to the team championship.
Her perfect 10 on floor in the regional, which was her eighth perfect mark this season, helped the Bruins win their semifinal.
“Having Jordan has just been so amazing,” McDonald said. “Just her energy and the passion that she brings to our team each and every day. Obviously, her gymnastics skill level is incredible, but she just really has become such a leader for us. She leads by example. She leads with her energy, but she really leads with her passion and with her heart.”
But Chiles isn’t the only athlete powering the Bruins run to the NCAA championships. She is one of six UCLA athletes who competed on this stage last year.
“Having all of that depth really has been so helpful all year, especially in those meets where we had girls that were down because they were sick, or little things flared up here and there,” senior All-American Ciena Alipio said. “But we had people who could step up and really fill those positions. So it’s been really awesome to have a lot of people on every event.”
UCLA is one of the most consistent teams on beam in the nation, led by Alipio and Katelyn Rosen. Alipio had a fall during the Big Ten championship and she bobbled during the first round of regionals, but she posted an excellent 9.925 in the regional final to help the Bruins to a narrow lead going into their winning floor routine.
They’ve been up and down on vault, but Chiles took that regional title to help the Bruins, while sophomore Riley Jenkins has also had some success in the event.
Bars might be the x-factor for all the teams in the tournament. In the regional semifinal, UCLA’s 49.225 was its season low. LSU and Oklahoma have also struggled on the variable bars routine during the tournament.
Top-seeded Oklahoma is the defending champion, claiming its seventh U.S. national collegiate title last April.
The semifinals also serve as individual finals, with the national champions being determined in the all-around and on all four events after the two semifinal sessions on Thursday.
The Bruins have a good chance to win a few individual titles, and Chiles is a favorite for the all-around, but a team title would be huge for a program that came so close last season.
“We got to nationals, and that is the top eight out of the entire country, like we’re there,” Alipio said. “Getting to Day 2 is gonna be our goal for Day 1. But if we go out there and do what we’ve been doing all season, there should be no doubt in our heads that we’ll make it to Day 2.”
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