Doing it once could just be a fluke.

But doing it twice starts to prove a trend.

On Saturday night, No. 8 UCLA gymnastics posted a 197.550 team score for the second week in a row – the nation’s fifth-highest score this year.

A 195.250 from the first week of competition has haunted the Bruins’ 2025 team average, which currently sits at 196.783. But after seeing what coach Janelle McDonald translated that disappointment into, it’s starting to become obvious what her team is capable of.

Senior Emma Malabuyo fell in UCLA’s season opener – twice.

She faltered on the first – and easiest – skill of her bar routine, and again on the final tumbling pass in her floor routine. It was her first time out on the competition floor since she represented the Philippines at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But Malabuyo bounced back a week later at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, adding a 9.925 to UCLA’s 49.600 floor total, helping the Bruins earn a No. 3 national ranking in the event.

UCLA doesn’t boast three rostered Olympians without reason. McDonald has built a winning culture since taking over the program three years ago, and that culture is paying dividends.

Junior Jordan Chiles is back. Graduate student Brooklyn Moors is healthy and competing in three events for the first time in her NCAA career. And freshman Macy McGowan is already hitting the 9.900 mark on floor.

This team isn’t the same it was last year. In fact, UCLA isn’t the same as it was three weeks ago.

The Bruins have steadily improved with each outing. Well, the jump from the first to the second week was quite large, but I digress.

Even though UCLA finished with identical scores the past two weeks, improvement was scattered everywhere Saturday. Junior Ciena Alipio eclipsed a 9.900 on beam, while Chiles posted the nation’s first perfect 10 on bars this season and won titles in the all-around and floor.

Malabuyo neared perfection herself, scoring a 9.975 on beam – her signature event – and punctuated the performance with a stuck landing.

The Filipina Olympian credited assistant coach Lacy Dagen for the beam squad’s early-season success. UCLA is ranked No. 3 in the country on the event and posted a 49.550 against Maryland – the nation’s highest beam total this season.

The Bruins barely surpassed a 49.000 on beam in their season opener. But – I’ll say it again – that was just a fluke.

The last time there was an Olympic gold medalist on their roster – with Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian in 2018 – the Bruins won a national championship.

Now, Chiles, Malabuyo and Moors are building UCLA’s chance at a 2025 national title. After each represented a different country at their respective Olympics, the trio has united to push the envelope in Westwood.

Mistakes happen to the best of us.

Chiles fell during the most important beam routine of her life at the Olympics. Malabuyo had some hiccups at UCLA’s season opener. Moors split the beam 20 feet in front of me at Meet the Bruins in December.

But something fans learned seven years ago is lingering in the air in 2025.

Never count out the Bruins.