This post was updated April 19 at 2:00 p.m.
FORT WORTH, Texas –– The Bruins will fight another day.
No. 2 UCLA gymnastics (9-1) took first place in the first session of the NCAA semifinals Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. The win secured the Bruins’ place in Saturday’s NCAA championship meet. Also advancing to the first-ever “Four on the Floor” from the first semifinal is No. 3 LSU.
UCLA took the lead after the second rotation, but lost it following their third event. With less than seven hundredths of a point separating first and third place, it came down to the final rotation and UCLA on floor exercise.
“As a team we always say we perform best under pressure,” said junior Kyla Ross. “We had a really solid meet overall. I know there were a few mistakes, but we’ve had this pressure all year and I feel like we have been able to handle that. We want to go up and have it feel like training, and we did today.”
The Bruins recorded five scores over 9.8000 on vault to start their outing. Ross posted a 9.9500 to tie LSU’s Kennedi Edney for the top spot on the event.
Freshman Margzetta Frazier, sophomore Nia Dennis and junior Madison Kocian all recorded 9.9000s to tie Michigan’s Olivia Karas for third place on uneven bars. The Bruins’ 49.4125 was enough to take the lead.
“To be on this team, you have to be ready to go no matter what the circumstances are,” Dennis said. “You have to be mentally strong and ready to go whenever the team needs you to be.”
Every Bruin scored 9.8000 or higher on balance beam en route to a 49.3625 team score – but it wasn’t enough to hold on to the lead.
UCLA logged a late lineup change on floor, replacing Frazier with junior Pauline Tratz in the leadoff spot and adding Dennis to the rotation. Behind a first-place score of 9.9500 from Ross and a second-place score of 9.9375 from junior Gracie Kramer, the Bruins clinched the win before their final competitor, senior Katelyn Ohashi, took the floor.
Ohashi scored a 9.9250.
The Bruins’ 49.6125 was the highest score on any event in the session and was the school’s highest-ever floor score at the NCAA championships.
“We always think of floor as a floor party, so it’s hard not to perform your best when you are on floor,” said coach Valorie Kondos Field. “I believe 100% that the music is what dictates the movement. If we had music on balance beam, we probably actually would have had better routines. They know that they are a great floor team and they know that they love to perform.”
No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Denver, No. 7 Georgia and No. 8 Oregon State will compete Friday afternoon in the second session of the semifinals. The top two teams in that session will meet UCLA and LSU in Saturday’s final.
The Bruins will be competing for a repeat national title.
“It’s (Kondos Fields’) last meet, but it’s also my last meet,” Ohashi said. “I’m really excited about the future. It’s my senior year and it’s all about going out with a bang, so that’s what I plan to do tomorrow.”