Less than an hour before Saturday’s meet, the Bruins were dealt a blow.

Senior Sara Ulias, who returned last weekend after recovering from a torn ACL, reinjured her knee during bars warmups.

Watching a teammate have to be carried off to the locker room ignited a sense of unity moments before the first rotation.

“Our plan was that we’re a family and we do it full family,” sophomore Selena Harris said. “We just said that we need to stay in our Bruin bubble and stay connected and just to keep pushing on the gas pedal and not to take off just because one of us is down.”

Competing for their teammate, No. 12 UCLA gymnastics came in third place at the Sprouts Farmers Market Quad in West Valley City, Utah, with a score of 197.100. The team defeated No. 2 Utah but finished behind No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 5 LSU. Harris won the all-around with a 39.650, scoring 9.900 or higher on every event except floor.

Coach Janelle McDonald said the meet was an honor to compete in and that her team showed resilience.

“It was a really special opportunity for us to be in such a high-caliber competition this early in the season,” McDonald said. “And to be able to be on ABC is such an honor and something that we were really excited about, to be able to show more people the sport that we love to do. And so it was a really special day.”

To begin the meet, UCLA scored uncharacteristically low on floor. But graduate student Nya Reed and junior Brooklyn Moors came through for the Bruins as they each scored a 9.900 to lift the overall team score.

The rest of the rotation each scored below a 9.85, which led to a 49.200 – the lowest floor score since McDonald took over at UCLA – bringing the team in second place, .250 behind Oklahoma.

Bouncing back from floor, Harris recorded a season-high score of 9.950 when she stuck her Yurchenko 1.5 on vault. With only one substitution to the vault lineup, the Bruins received a score of 49.400 – only .50 off the Sooners, the best vault score in the nation.

Freshman Katelyn Rosen scored a 9.850 in her competitive vault debut, while senior Chae Campbell and junior Emily Lee each clinched a 9.900.

“We’ve worked so hard on vault landings, and to see Kate come into the vault lineup and do as well as she did and see our hard work paying off on those landings was really inspiring,” Campbell said.

And to kick off the next rotation, Campbell reached a high.

The Lone Star State local led off the Bruins on bars with a career-high-tying 9.900 on the event.

“To tie a career-high this early in the season meant a lot,” Campbell said. “I’ve been working very hard, and Janelle has been really helping me a lot with my bar routine. So I’m really excited and proud that I was able to pull it out this early in season and hoping to just build on that for the rest of the season.”

Rosen scored a season-high score of 9.900, and Harris notched a 9.925, the highest score on bars in UCLA’s rotation. The Bruins finished bars with a 49.275, tying their score from last week, but remained in second place ahead of the Tigers and Utes.

Altering the beam lineup may have been the factor that led to an improved 49.250 after the Bruins’ fall-ridden rotation at the Mean Girls Super 16 last week.

Graduate student Emma Andres made her competitive debut on beam and scored a 9.900, higher than her previous exhibition high of 9.850.

“It was one of the absolute highlights of the meet to see her go out there and just nail that beam routine,” McDonald said. “She had a lot of us coaches and some of the team in tears because it was just such a special moment and just really one of those moments where hard work pays off.”

Moors, who was added to the lineup, scored a 9.350 because of a fall. But the Bruins did not have to count her fall, as Harris, Rosen and junior Emma Malabuyo each eclipsed their first meet scores with a 9.950, 9.850 and 9.875, respectively.

“It was a great rotation. It was a big, big step in the right direction – definitely from last week – so we’re very proud of that,” Harris said.

A 49.650 bars rotation from the Tigers – highlighted by a perfect 10 from Konnor McClain – allowed LSU to jump ahead of UCLA by .50, leading the Bruins to their eventual third-place finish Saturday.

McDonald said once UCLA returns to Los Angeles, Ulias will get imaging on her knee before any potential diagnosis is made.

But for the Bruins on Saturday, their injured teammate inspired them through each routine, Harris said.

“For me, it was great to see my teammates bounce back like nothing happened,” Harris said. “And before we went (for our routines), we’d point to Uli and be like, ‘We got this, you got this.’”