NCAA Gymnastics Championships: UCLA Bruins Seeking Eighth National Title Today
The Bruins are also competing for the 125th NCAA title in school history.
The UCLA Bruins have an opportunity this afternoon to become just the second school in NCAA history to win 125 NCAA titles when the Bruin gymnastics team, quite literally, takes the floor of Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Bruins will begin the competition on the floor, just like they did in the second semifinal on Thursday night. From there, they will follow with the vault, bars and beam.
Personally, I wasn’t expecting to see this team competing today. I thought that it was going to be tough to advance as the third-highest seed in the second semifinal, but the Bruins were at their best when their best was needed and they outscored the #1 seed LSU Tigers by 0.2125 to claim the second place spot with their 197.7375 finish.
While it was their second-best score of the season, they will need to perform even better today if they hope to defeat Utah and Oklahoma today. The Red Rocks topped the Bruins by 0.00275 on Thursday while the Sooners scored 197.550 in the first semifinal.
Last Time Out
UCLA began the meet strong with a team score of 49.525 on the Floor. The Bruins were led by Brooklyn Moors who scored a 9.9625, picking up perfect 10s from two judges and 9.95s from the other four. Since the top and bottom scores are dropped, it average out to the 9.9625. Moors’ score earned her the NCAA floor individual title. Chae Campbell was the second-highest scoring Bruin for this rotation, having earned a 9.9125. She barely edged teammate Jordan Chiles, whose 9.90 gave UCLA three competitors with a 9.9 or better. Emma Malabuyo and Katelyn Rosen completed the Bruins’ scorers with a 9.8875 and a 9.8625, respectively. Macy McGowan’s 9.85 was dropped. After the first rotation, UCLA led all three teams and they led second place Michigan State by 0.1375.
The second rotation saw UCLA head to the vault. Here, the Bruins scored their lowest score of the evening with a 49.2375, despite Campbell earning a 9.90. Chiles was second on the team with a 9.8875 for her vault. Emily Lee added a 9.85. UCLA could have used a boost from both Moors and Riley Jenkins, who each scored a disappointing 9.80. Mika Webster-Longin ended up having her score dropped due to earning just a 9.4375. The poor performance on the vault saw the Bruins drop from first to third place behind both Michigan State and Utah.
The third rotation saw the Bruins come through with a strong enough team score on the bars to move back into first place. Here, Chiles led the team with a 9.9725 after earning perfect 10s from three of the six judges and 9.95s from the other three. That score earned Chiles her second uneven bars individual championship. Grad student Frida Esparza boosted UCLA with a 9.925 while Rosen added a 9.875. Campbell and McGowan were the two lowest scorers for the apparatus, with each scoring a 9.825. Meanwhile, LSU scored a strong 49.50 on the floor, which gave them an overall score of 148.15 and lifted them into second place overall. After three rotations, UCLA had 148.1875.
The Bruins moved to the beam for their final rotation and their 49.55 score saw them finish with their highest team score of the night. UCLA had three gymnasts score a 9.9 or higher on the beam. Here, Malabuyo earned a 9.975 after picking up perfect 10s from three judges and 9.95s from the other three. Junior Ciena Alipio also delivered from UCLA, earning a 9.95. Chae Campbell was the third-best Bruin with a 9.9125. Rosen added a 9.8875 and Chiles scored a disappointing 9.825. Emily Lee’s opening routine was dropped after she scored just a 9.6875.
While UCLA’s beam performance ensured they would be one of the top two finishers in the second semifinal, Utah’s team score on the bars proved to be too much for the Bruins to beat.
Outlook
This afternoon, the Bruins will follow the same rotation order they had on Thursday, meaning they can start strong with the floor and finish stronger with the beam.
The better news for UCLA might be Utah’s rotation order. The Red Rocks begin on their best event, the bars. They will finish on the vault, where they had their second-lowest score on Thursday.
That could set up a situation where the Bruins could benefit from a late rally with great scores on the beam and help them snatch a national championship, reminiscient of the 2018 team who won the NCAA title on the final rotation when Peng-Peng Lee scored back-to-back Perfect Tens to complete the Bruins’ comeback.
2025 NCAA Gymnastics Championship
When: Saturday, April 19, 2025
Where: Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, TX
Teams: #2 Oklahoma, #4 Utah, #5 UCLA and #7 Missouri
Time: 1:00 pm PT
UCLA Rotation Order: Floor, Vault, Bars, Beam.
TV: ABC 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
Trophy Presentation Live Stream: ESPN+ (subscription req’d)
Live Stats: Virti.us
UCLA NCAA Championship Notes
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.
Proud of how this team finished. I do think OU gets favorable scores (just a bit biased). Still the team made big leaps this year and has come a far from 2 years ago.
Bruins getting robbed on the floor. Looks like the judges are saving 10s for the later rotations.