Fidgeting with her chalky handgrips, Peng-Peng Lee walked up to the uneven bars, the redshirt junior’s first competition since mid-February. The pressure was on.
No. 8 UCLA gymnastics (13-5) needed to total just 48.275 – .80 less than its season average – on its last event, the bars, to move past No. 17 Washington at the Salt Lake Regional on Saturday and secure one of the competition’s two NCAA Championship berths.
But things started to look dicey when sophomore Sonya Meraz, second in the UCLA rotation, fell from the bars for a season-low score of 8.975.
Freshman Stella Savvidou followed and overshot multiple handstands, fighting to stay on the bars for a 9.375, ratcheting up the tension for the Bruins’ final three competitors.
Another subpar performance could cost UCLA a trip to the NCAA Championships.
In her first uneven bars routine of the season, Lee nailed her handstands and stuck her landing to post a 9.95 and earn the bars title.
With Lee’s routine helping set the Bruins back on the right track, sophomore JaNay Honest scored a 9.8 and senior Sophina DeJesus scored a 9.85 to clinch the team a spot in the NCAA Super Regionals.
Despite putting together its second-lowest score of the season, a 196.375, UCLA finished second at the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional behind Pac-12 rival No. 5 Utah.
“This is the absolute most nerve-wrecking meet of the season,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field. “But this team stuck together through the great routines, through the falls and just kept going.”
For the second year in a row, the Bruins had individual champions on all four events.
Senior Danusia Francis hit all three of her routines – including two 9.90s – and tied for first on balance beam with a stuck side-aerial.
Fellow All-American and senior Sadiqua Bynum capped off the Bruins’ floor rotation with her Brazilian-themed routine for a 9.95 and her eighth floor title of the season.
“Those scores and titles – they just show our abilities and what we’re capable of,” Bynum said.
After hitting multiple vaults in warm up, freshman Madison Preston stuck another Yurchenko full for a 9.90 to clinch the third title of the meet for UCLA.
Leading off the Bruins on uneven bars, Francis had a crucial 9.825 before two of her teammates struggled.
After Lee’s clutch performance, it was Honest’s turn to step up for her team. The sophomore nearly went over on a handstand but gripped the bar tightly to pull through and stick her dismount for a 9.8.
DeJesus’s 9.85 ended the night for the Bruins and officially sealed their berth in the Texas super regionals.
“We’re ready to make that final push,” Lee said. “We’re all committed to the team and contributing where we can.”
UCLA will now have two weeks to train before flying to Fort Worth, Texas for the NCAA Super Regionals on April 15. The Bruins will face five familiar teams – Alabama, California, Oklahoma, Utah and Nebraska – for one of three spots in the NCAA Team Finals.
Gymnastics does not have Super Regionals. They advance to the NCAA Team Semifinals.