The Bruins didn’t have a perfect finish, but Valorie Kondos Field said they had the ending that she wanted.
“In the end, I was able to look them all in the eyes and say, ‘I have no regrets, thank you,’” the coach said. “And, they said ‘You’re welcome.’ They all looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You’re welcome.’”
No. 3 UCLA gymnastics (9-1) ended its season with a repeat Pac-12 title and a third-place finish in the NCAA Final Four. The national championship meet was Kondos Field’s last competition before her retirement.
Kondos Field announced her plans to retire at the end of the season in September after 29 years as the head coach of the program.
The end of Kondos Field’s career wasn’t the only thing that put the Bruins in the national spotlight this season.
In the Bruins’ second meet of the year, senior Katelyn Ohashi scored a perfect 10 on a Michael Jackson-inspired floor exercise routine that became the most watched sports video in the nation for the duration of the season.
“The pressure has been on them every place we have gone and they have responded with calm, (confidence) and family,” Kondos Field said. “Through all the distractions, we got tighter as a family. It would have been easy to disperse because of the celebrity of our student-athletes, and instead, they just got tighter.”
UCLA was undefeated at home this season and suffered its only regular-season loss to No. 1 Oklahoma on the road. The Bruins lost by .200 − the closest margin of victory for the Sooners all season.
UCLA placed first in the Pac-12 championship, the NCAA regional semifinal and final in Ann Arbor, and in the NCAA semifinals and combined for 21 total perfect 10s − more than half of the 37 total perfect scores posted across the country this season.
Junior Kyla Ross − who was named a first-team All-American on every event except uneven bars − was responsible for 14 of UCLA’s perfect 10s. The former-Olympian completed two “gym slams” over the course of the season by posting perfect scores on each event at least twice.
Also contributing 10s were Ohashi, with six on floor, and junior Madison Kocian, with one on uneven bars.
“The team has made me grow so much and made me realize so much about myself,” Ohashi said. “I’ve learned how to be a team player and how to really love someone unconditionally and that’s my whole team. I’ve learned how to be next to someone and support them day in and day out.”
The Bruins now face the loss of three competing seniors − Ohashi, Brielle Nguyen, and Macy Toronjo. Aside from her floor routine fame, Ohashi averaged 9.927 on balance beam during the regular season. She was named a first-team All-American for both floor and beam.
Nguyen was named a second-team All-American for balance beam for the first time in her career after competing on the event in all but one of UCLA’s meets this season.
Despite battling injuries throughout her collegiate career, Toronjo posted 9.800s in both of her uneven bars appearances this season and a 9.850 on her floor routine debut at the NCAA regional semifinals.
“It’s going to be so weird next year without our senior class,” Ross said. “It’s going to be really hard to see them leave because I’ve grown up with them. We are going to miss them so much. But, I know we have a really strong senior class coming up next year, so we are hoping to come back even stronger next season.”
UCLA has not announced who will be taking over as head coach of the Bruins.