UCLA gymnastics posts lowest score since 2015 in tri-meet against Minnesota, Iowa

This post was updated Jan. 17 at 8:01 p.m.

The Bruins had eclipsed the 195 mark in 82 consecutive meets.

Despite adding two Olympians and an Olympic alternate to the roster for the 2022 season, that streak came to an end.

In its season opener, UCLA gymnastics came in third place in a tri-meet with Minnesota and No. 16 Iowa in Minneapolis on Monday. The Bruins scored under a 49 on 3-of-4 events en route a 194.850, their lowest score since January 2015.

“This meet does sting,” sophomore Chae Campbell said. “But I believe in every single one of my team members that we’re going to rally together and get it back on track.”

Fresh off a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, freshman Jordan Chiles kicked off UCLA’s 2022 campaign and her Bruin career with a 9.825 on bars. Sophomore Frida Esparza followed with a 9.850 with fellow sophomore Sara Ulias due up.

But Ulias, who averaged a 9.871 on bars in her previous seven routines, fell off the bars on a handstand. Freshman Ana Padurariu proceeded to fall on the ensuing routine, ensuring the Bruins would count a fall on their season-opening rotation.

“There’s no doubt that the rough start on bars dampened the spirit of the team,” coach Chris Waller said. “A great team can have mistakes and then come back and surge and just forget that last event and show up on the next one like it was their first event.”

Senior Margzetta Frazier, a three-time All-American on the event, closed out the rotation with a 9.525 after clipping her feet on the low bar. Scheduled to compete on three events on the afternoon, Frazier was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the meet.

The 48.300 total score on bars was 0.625 points lower than UCLA’s season-low score on the event in 2021.

“We had some mishaps, but I think going into beam, we wanted to kind of rally together and show what we’ve been working so hard on in the gym,” Campbell said. “It was a little disappointing because bars was not how we’ve been practicing,”

The Bruins failed to make up ground on beam, needing to count a 9.675 from freshman Emma Malabuyo because of a fall from senior Kendal Poston, who hit 22 of her 24 total routines a season ago.

Through two rotations, UCLA found itself with a 97.225 – on pace to score under a 195 in a meet for the first time since 2015.

“This is not the performance we trained for or intended to have,” Waller said. “Everybody is disappointed. We got to basically get back to work and reset and refocus and ensure some things with our team to get us into a mindset where we bring our best in competition.”

But the Bruins were able to close the gap on the leaderboard on their top event a season ago. UCLA’s 49.125 on floor was headlined by a 9.875 from freshman Brooklyn Moors in her collegiate debut.

One of four freshmen to make their NCAA debuts in the meet, Moors competed on two events, adding a 9.850 on vault.

“You could see in Brooklyn’s face she was confident as she went through her two events,” Waller said. “She is planning to improve on those events, but you could see in her eyes that she believed that she was going to hit.”

Moors’ vault was the second-highest of the rotation for the Bruins, sitting only behind Campbell’s 9.900 on her stuck Yurchenko full. But before Campbell’s vault in the anchor spot, UCLA saw a fall from Poston – her second of the day – and a 9.275 from Chiles after stumbling on her double-twisting Yurchenko.

Like their 48.300 on bars, the Bruins’ 48.500 on vault would have represented a season low in 2021.

“What I see in the gym and what we all do in the gym is not how we performed today,” Campbell said. “But next time, it’s going to be a lot different.”

UCLA will be on the road for the second straight week as it takes on No. 19 Oregon State in Corvallis on Sunday.