No. 5 UCLA gymnastics (10-2, 6-0 Big Ten) will host No. 18 Iowa (7-4, 4-2), No. 19 Ohio State (3-4, 3-3) and No. 25 Maryland (7-3, 3-3) at the Big Fours Quad on Friday. The Bruins secured their highest away meet score of the season last Sunday and continued their six-week streak as a top-five squad. Daily Bruin contributor Hannah Westerhold breaks down the three squads the Bruins will face as they draw the curtain on Big Ten regular season play at Pauley Pavilion.

Iowa

Ranking: No. 18

Strength: Bars

Weakness: Floor

X-Factor: Aurélie Tran

Iowa’s 2026 roster boasts more Olympians than UCLA’s.

Hawkeye sophomores Aurélie Tran and Cassie Lee helped lead Canada to 5th place at the 2024 Olympics, and sophomore Sydney Turner also represented Canada as an alternate.

Tran leads the Hawkeyes in the all-around national rankings at No. 9 with a 39.400 NQS. The sophomore has competed all-around in all of her 21 collegiate competitions and is on the heels of a career-high 39.550 notched on Feb. 21 – the squad’s highest all-around mark this season.

Fellow underclassman Sophie Schriever also led Iowa’s national rankings in the beginning of the season. The freshman’s all-around NQS of 39.335 currently sits at No. 12 – the squad’s second-highest ranking. Schriever notched a career-high 39.475 on Feb. 7 against Nebraska and holds the Hawkeyes’ highest all-around average of 39.358.

The No. 11 Hawkeye bar squad enters its second consecutive week as the team’s highest-ranked event. Iowa nabbed a program-record 49.450 on the apparatus at its Feb. 21 affair, posting three 9.900-plus scores.

Freshman Daisy Bowles’ career-high 9.950 won the event title, closely followed by Tran’s season-high-tying 9.925 on Feb. 21. Tran leads the squad in the national bars rankings at No. 13 with a 9.900 NQS.

But bars success is new to Iowa.

The Hawkeyes have not finished a season with bars as their sole-highest ranked event since 2015, and the 2025 bars squad finished the season 20 places below its current ranking.

Floor is the squad’s lowest ranked event at No. 23.

However, Iowa’s floor totals paint a positive trendline. The squad has raised its season-high all but one meet this season, most recently notching a season-high 49.475 on Feb. 21 – its highest floor total since 2022. Junior Alyse Karenbauer and senior JerQuavia Henderson contributed respective career- and season-high 9.925s, and Tran matched her career-high 9.900.

Ohio State

Ranking: No. 19

Strength: Floor

Weakness: Bars

X-Factor: Tory Vetter

Ohio State enters week 8 with the No. 10 national floor ranking.

Floor marked the Buckeyes’ highest event totals at six meets this season, including the season-high 49.525 they notched on Feb. 14 against Washington. The mark exceeded the Buckeyes’ 2025 season high and included a quartet of 9.900-plus scores.

JJ Coleman holds the No. 9 national ranking on floor and has yet to dip below 9.875 this season. The sophomore is the only Buckeye within the top ten individual rankings on any event. Coleman, freshman Baylie Belman and sophomore Cameron Smith all recorded career-high 9.950, 9.925, and 9.900 marks, respectively, in their Feb. 14 meet against Washington.

Senior Tory Vetter is riding three back-to-back 9.900s on floor – all of which tied her season high – although floor is her lowest-ranked event individually at No. 135.

Vetter owns the Buckeyes’ highest all-around ranking at No. 17 with a 39.300 NQS. The senior tallied a season-high 39.525 on Feb. 7 against Michigan, and she has been Ohio State’s sole gymnast to compete all-around at every meet this season.

The Buckeyes’ lowest event ranking is bars at No. 29 – but it is also their most consistent event, with only a 0.350 margin between their season-high and season-low marks.

Vault is Ohio State’s second-highest event ranking at No. 15 with a 49.100 NQS. Coleman is the only Buckeye to reach 9.900 on the apparatus, tying her career-high 9.900 on Feb. 7.

Maryland

Ranking: No. 25

Strength: Vault

Weakness: Beam

X-Factor: Aine Reade

Travel can bring fatigue, but it may also be the Terrapins’ good-luck charm.

Maryland’s three highest team totals have all come on the road. The squad posted a season-high 196.675 on Jan. 24 against Penn State in University Park.

A program-record 49.575 floor total contributed to the season-high mark. Sophomore Aine Reade and senior Madeline Komoroski both posted career-high 9.975s – the program’s highest scores on any event since 2001. Reade holds Maryland’s highest individual ranking on the apparatus at No. 61, and the squad is ranked No. 21 overall.

Reade is also the Terrapins’ sole all-arounder and holds the No. 33 national ranking with a 39.105 NQS. The sophomore, who transferred from New Hampshire, posted a career-high 39.350 on Feb. 1 against Illinois, leading Maryland to victory and its second-highest team total of 196.275.

Mirroring the Buckeye’s vault trends, the Terrapins have showcased vault consistency, with only 0.250 between their season-high and season-low marks. But unlike Ohio State, vault is Maryland’s highest ranked event at No. 17.

Logan Buckmon has driven Maryland’s vault success, with only a 0.125 margin between her season high and season low. The junior notched a career-high 9.875 with her Yurchenko full on Feb. 1 – the Terrapins’ highest vault mark of the competition.

Sophomore Rayna Engelmayer notched a career-high 9.900 – Maryland’s highest vault score of the season – on Feb. 20 against Nebraska. Graduate student Katrina Mendez-Abolnik leads the Terrapins’ highest individual vault ranking at No. 53 with an NQS of 9.835.

The Terrapins have finished every season since 2022 with beam at the bottom of their event rankings.

And 2026 could follow a similar pattern.

Beam is Maryland’s lowest ranked event at No. 31, and it has landed in the bottom two of its event scores in three meets this season.

But the Terrapins increased their beam scores in their past two meets – and may need further improvement when facing three top-20 competitors.