A surprisingly shaky semifinal evening for UCLA gymnastics has the Bruins leaving Fort Worth early after finishing in third place in the NCAA national semifinals.
An early fall from Jordan Chiles followed by some wobbly vaults in the final rotations were too much to overcome as No. 13 seed Minnesota stunned in their final rotation on bars and national favorite Oklahoma was steady throughout. The top two teams advanced to the championship on Saturday.
The No. 4 seed Bruins scored a 197.2750, 0.1875 behind Oklahoma and Minnesota and just ahead of No. 9 seed Arkansas, which was also eliminated. UCLA was the only top-four seed that didn’t advance.
Chiles took the individual floor title with a 9.9750 score, her second NCAA floor championship.
UCLA (18-3) trailed the second spot by 0.1250 after one rotation after Chiles’ miscue cost the Bruins on bars and they had to count Nola Matthews’ 9.7625, the lowest score to count for any team in the first rotation.
Chiles wrapped up the Bruins’ first rotation with a handstand fall off the tall uneven bar to begin and had to restart her routine, costing her a half-point reduction. She won the bars championships in 2023 and 2025.
It was her first fall in any event since she fell on bars in February, 2025.
The 9.3625 was dropped from UCLA’s bars score and took Chiles out of the all-around chase early in the night.
Oklahoma led the first rotation with a stellar run on vault, with no scores counted lower than 9.9375.
The Bruins didn’t bounce back quickly on beam in the second rotation. After a strong performance from freshman Tiana Sumanasekera, she didn’t stick the dismount and finished with 9.8250, the lowest score.
Chiles, though, did rebound with a clean beam and dismount for a 9.9500 score to get the Bruins back in it. Senior Ciena Alipio concluded the rotation at 9.9375 but UCLA remained 0.0750 away from advancing with a new-flawless Minnesota floor set.
Luckily for the Bruins, the next in the rotation was their best event: floor.
Sophomore Mika Webster-Longin landed a 9.8875 to put the Bruins just a hair out of second and Sumanasekera put them narrowly ahead of Minnesota near the end of the rotation.
Ashlee Sullivan’s 9.9375 routine put the Bruins in first place for the first time all day and Chiles closed it out with a 9.9750, the highest floor score of the day and had the Bruins hanging on by 0.2250.
“Everything we talk about right now is it’s not over till it’s over,” Alipio told ESPN after the floor rotation. “We’re embracing that today.”
Katelyn Rosen did not land her vault and got a 9.2125 that the Bruins had to overcome in the final rotation. Webster also wobbled on her dismount and her 9.5875 had to count.
Riley Jenkins and Ashlee Sullivan recovered, and Chiles landed a 9.8875, but it was far too late. That ended Chiles’ career at UCLA and the Bruins are still without a national title since 2018.
LSU and Florida advanced earlier in the day and will face off with Oklahoma and Minnesota in the Final Four.
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