Redemption is on the table for the Bruins.

On Saturday, No. 12 UCLA gymnastics will compete in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad against formidable opponents Arkansas, Kentucky and Ohio State. In the squad’s journey to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the Bruins have the opportunity to clean up their mistakes and get in the groove of the regular season after a last-place performance in the American Gold Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Classic on Jan. 4.

Despite two critical falls on bars and costly errors on beam last week, Head Coach Janelle McDonald feels confident those types of mistakes will remain in the past.

“I’m putting zero weight on how last weekend went, and I am encouraging our team to do that as well,” McDonald said. “Take the lessons away from it, learn from it, grow from it, and let’s go out next weekend with a really intentional mindset.”

In this week’s practices, the team took that message to heart.

While UCLA is coming off its lowest score since McDonald took reign of the program, the roster is filled with a multitude of elite gymnasts and Level 10 national champions who can turn the page in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

“The response I’ve seen to those inconsistencies is definitely a lot of grit, graduate student Frida Esparza said. “People came back hungry, and they were like ‘I’m going to fix this.'”

The quad meet will be the Bruins’ first matchup with a Big Ten opponent since joining the conference, and their performance against the rising Buckeyes will set the tone for what could be a trailblazing season.

In UCLA’s first and only meet against the Big Ten foe in 2018, the Bruins knocked out the Buckeyes by over three points and went on to win the national championship later that season.

“We definitely want to make our mark on the Big Ten, and we want to start our legacy in this conference,” sophomore Katelyn Rosen said. “But again, the focus isn’t on the other teams. The focus is on what we are going to do.”

UCLA has bested Arkansas in all four previous matchups dating back to 2003, but today’s Razorbacks have some familiar faces on the coaching staff.

Arkansas head coach and Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Wieber previously served as a volunteer assistant coach in Westwood from 2016 to 2019, helping the Bruins prevail in the 2018 NCAA championships and leading them to a No. 1 national ranking on floor that season.

Assistant coach Kyla Ross also traded blue and gold for cardinal, joining the Razorbacks staff in 2021 after a one-year stint as an undergraduate assistant coach with the Bruins. Ross, who won Olympic gold alongside Wieber in 2012, stamped her name as one of the greatest collegiate gymnasts in history, racking up 22 perfect scores and NCAA titles in all four events while competing for UCLA from 2017 to 2020.

However, UCLA’s revamped coaching staff offers a new perspective that emphasizes culture building and cohesion. When times get tough, UCLA’s self-proclaimed connectedness could stabilize the team.

“With all the culture building we did in preseason, now that it’s coming down to just the gymnastics part, we can really lean on each other because we know each other’s needs so much,” Rosen said.

This camaraderie not only helps the team navigate the transition to the regular season but also Big Ten travel. The quad will be the Bruins’ first out-of-state match of the year, followed by a trek to Maryland next week.

“It’s traveling, the podium training, coming back, being here for two days and then leaving again. I’s pretty hectic, but we’re all just trying to adjust to that,” Esparza said.

While the Bruins will enter Saturday’s meet with an opportunity to recover from mistakes from last weekend, the Razorbacks, Wildcats and Buckeyes will enter the gym for the first time this season, all coming off of top-15 finishes in 2024.

The quad meet begins at 5 p.m. Saturday and will be broadcasted on ESPN 2.