After sustaining a foot injury on her balance beam routine during a quad meet on Feb. 27 against Maryland, Ohio State and Iowa, Katelyn Rosen was sidelined for the rest of the competition. With the Big Ten title on the line, Bruins coach Janelle McDonald trusted one of the youngest athletes on her roster.
Freshman Nola Matthews was slotted into the floor rotation to replace the injured gymnast.
Matthews took over the leadoff position, but it did not faze her. She was ready to help UCLA secure its second consecutive regular-season Big Ten title.
“Nola had an opportunity to go out [and compete the weekend before] on floor, so I think that really prepared her to feel ready for that,” McDonald said after the win.
Throughout their undefeated Big Ten season, the Bruins’ freshmen have established themselves as a cornerstone of the team. Ashlee Sullivan and Tiana Sumanasekera have each earned three Big Ten freshman of the week awards.
Matthews is averaging a 9.860 on bars and a 9.750 on floor. Jordis Eichman has made the most of her limited opportunities, averaging 9.805 on the balance beam and 9.750 on vault.
“The freshmen are contributing a lot for us,” McDonald said.
Before competing in NCAA competition, they had already competed on the elite stage, the highest level of competitive gymnastics that includes the Olympics.
When associate head coach BJ Das approached Matthews to tell her to be ready, the freshman stepped up without hesitation, a skill she worked on during elite competition.
“She’s the type of athlete that has to work to get some skills and to keep them,” said Cleo Washington, who coached Matthews’ elite team, Airborne. “That’s what I like about her, she understands hard work, she understands the grind, and she’s not afraid of that.”
When Washington first met Matthews, she was self-deprecating. Rather than defining herself by her accomplishments, she focused on her mistakes.
As her gymnastics improved, so did her self value, which has helped develop her into an athlete UCLA can trust in big moments.
“[She’s] extremely hardworking, has gotten a lot of resilience out of this sport, a lot of grit,” Washington said. “She’s one of the toughest athletes I’ve ever coached.”
Following Matthews on floor during the Bruins’ big quad meet was Sumanasekera, who posted 9.875, adding to her fifth place all-around performance.
Since Week 2 of the season, Sumanasekera has competed in every event. She has finished second in the all-around behind teammate Jordan Chiles three times. Sumanasekera is the highest nationally ranked freshmen at No. 22, with a National Qualifying Score of 39.375.
In elite competition, Sumanasekera and Eichman were teammates. Their coach at World Champions, Cécile Canqueteau-Landi, knew they would both have immediate success at the college level from the moment she started coaching them.
“You’re only able to be successful and healthy if you’re doing everything you can in the gym and outside the gym,” she said. “[They] learned how to manage their time and their recovery and their training.”
Canqueteau-Landi misses coaching them, but she is excited to see them succeed.
“They’re always willing to do more and they also have a really good sense of humor, it’s always easier to work with athletes that want to laugh and don’t take themselves too seriously,” she said.
Canqueteau-Landi is the head coach at the University of Georgia and there is a chance she could reunite with her former athletes during the national championships if both teams advance.
“You want the student athletes to succeed because we all know how hard it is to be one,” she said. “But when it’s your former athlete, you want more for them.”
Following Sumanasekera in the floor exercise was Sullivan, whose performance earned her a 9.900, her second-highest mark in that event.
Throughout the season, she’s consistently participated on the vault, uneven bars and the floor exercise, averaging above 9.850 in all three of the events. She’s competed in the all-around twice, earning a season high of 39.325 against Stanford in March.
During their final meet of the regular season, Sullivan earned event specialist of the week honors after winning vault with a 9.975 and earning two 9.900s during the Bruins’ victory over Utah.
While training with coach Marnie Futch at Metroplex Gymnastics, Sullivan tested herself to see what she was capable of.
“I think she even surprised herself with how much she was able to accomplish last season in the elite world,” Futch added.
After clinching the Big Ten regular-season title, UCLA will compete in the Big Ten championship meet Saturday, where the freshmen class will show its skills for the first time at the college postseason level.
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