NCAA Gymnastics: #5 Seed UCLA Gymnastics Looks for Title #125
The Bruins are looking for their 8th NCAA Gymnastics title and the school's 125th NCAA title.
With the football season long over and the basketball seasons now fiinished, it’s time for the third season of UCLA sports to begin: Championship Season. Tonight, the UCLA Gymnastics team will kick of Championship Season when they compete in the Semifinals of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.
As a refresher, the top eight teams from the Regionals have advanced to the NCAA Gymnastics Championships. They will be broken into two sessions—an afternoon semifinal session and an evening semifinal session. The top two teams from each session will advance to Saturday’s finals. The Bruins will be competing in the second session.
Unfortunately, as the #5 seed, the Bruins will have a tough climb this evening, considering that they are in the same session with the #1 seed LSU Tigers and the #4 seed Utah Red Rocks. UCLA fell to Utah in the final meet of the regular season in Salt Lake City by 0.675. So, they will really need to perform at their best tonight if they hope to move on to the finals on Saturday.
This year’s Bruin team won the Big Ten title back on March 22nd with a score of 198.450. UCLA may need to eclipse the 198 mark for just the second time this season if they hope to advance to the Finals on Saturday.
Last Time Out
Two weekends ago, the Bruins finished second in the Salt Lake Regional with a 197.625, just two-tenths of a point behind the host Red Rocks, but they defeated both Denver and Minnesota, allowing the Bruins to advance.
UCLA’s best event at the Regionals was the vault where they were helped out by a 9.95 from freshman Mika Webster-Longin. They were hurt most by their score on the bars, due to a pair of 9.825s from Katelyn Rosen and Frida Esparza.
Chae Campbell finished second in the overall competition with a 39.550 and Jordan Chiles scored 39.525, just behind Campbell.
Outlook
This may not be the year that the Bruins add to their title haul as they may not be able to score high enough to advance to the Finals on Saturday.
However, the fact that they will face LSU and Utah in the semifinals tonight could be the catalyst this team needs to jump to the next level.
If they can manage to compete they way they did in the Big Ten Championships last month, they may just surprise everyone, but I’m not expecting that to happen.
2025 NCAA Gymnastics Semifinals
When: Thursday, April 17, 2025
Where: Fort Worth Convention Center Arena, Fort Worth, TX
Semifinal One
Teams: #2 Oklahoma, #3 Florida, #7 Missouri and unseeded Alabama
Time: 1:30 pm PT
TV: ESPN2 with John Roethlisberger, Samantha Peszek, Aly Raisman, Taylor Davis
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com
Team Live Streams: ESPN+ (subscription req’d) with Kennedy Baker, Bridget Sloan, Trinity Thomas, Anastasia Webb
Live Stats: Virti.us
Semifinal 2
Teams: #1 LSU, #4 Utah, #5 UCLA and No. 8 Michigan State
Time: 6:00 pm PT
UCLA Rotation Order: Floor, Vault, Bars, Beam
TV: ESPN2 with John Roethlisberger, Samantha Peszek, Aly Raisman, Taylor Davis
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com
Team Live Streams: ESPN+ (subscription req’d) with Kennedy Baker, Bridget Sloan, Trinity Thomas, Anastasia Webb
Live Stats: Virti.us
Official Preview
Go Bruins!!! Bring home NC #125!!!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.
Way to go, Bruins!!
#5 UCLA advances to the Four on the Floor finals on Saturday, along with #2 Oklahoma, #4Utah, and #7 Missouri.
#1 LSU and #3 Florida get bounced in the semis.
Also, Jordan Chiles wins the individual national championship on bars and Brooklyn Moors wins the individual national championship on the floor.
Let's do this on Saturday (1pm PT on ABC). GO BRUINS!!
Congratulations to our women's gymnastics team for reaching another "Final Four" for UCLA. Too bad our men's team isn't as good (I think they won a national championship way back when I graduated in '84). Best of luck this weekend!