UCLA
Stanford
UCLA Travels to Stanford for Monday Night Meet
January 24, 2020 | Gymnastics
No. 3 UCLA at No. 25 Stanford
Date/Time: Monday, Jan. 27, 2020 – 7 p.m. PT
Location: Stanford, Calif. (Maples Pavilion)
Video: pac-12.com/live/stanford-university
Live Stats: gostanford.com
Tickets: $8-10 (advance)
MONDAY NIGHT GYMNASTICS
No. 3-ranked UCLA (5-1) will travel to the Bay Area for a Monday night meet at No. 25 Stanford (3-5) on Jan. 27. The meet will take place at 7 p.m. PT at Maples Pavilion. A live stream will be provided by Stanford at pac-12.com/live/stanford-university.
SECOND TIME AROUND AGAINST STANFORD
Monday's meet will be the second meeting already this season between the Bruins and Cardinal. The two teams competed against each other at the Collegiate Challenge on Jan. 4, with UCLA placing second with a 196.575 and Stanford finishing fourth with a 195.475. UCLA has won five consecutive regular season competitions over Stanford, with the Cardinal's last victory coming in a tri-meet at UCLA in 2016. The Bruins have a 60-17-1 overall record against the Cardinal.
UCLA POST SEASON-HIGH 197.425 IN TRI-MEET WIN
UCLA recorded season-high team (197.425), balance beam (49.375) and uneven bars (49.525) totals in a tri-meet victory over BYU and Utah State in Provo, Utah. The Bruins led from start to finish, going 6-for-6 on balance beam, led by Kyla Ross's near-perfect 9.975, and using Ross's second consecutive 10 on bars to end the meet with a bang. Ross won the all-around with a season-high 39.750 and also captured vault, bars and beam victories, while Gracie Kramer took first place on floor with a 9.950.
ROSS WINS SECOND PAC-12 GYMNAST OF WEEK AWARD
For the second time in three weeks and 10th time in her career, senior Kyla Ross was named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week. Ross scored a conference-best 39.750 in the all-around at BYU to capture her third consecutive all-around win. She also recorded her second consecutive perfect 10 on uneven bars, the 21st perfect 10 of her career, and won two other events - balance beam with a 9.975 and vault with a 9.875.
ROSS RECORD WATCH
Kyla Ross recorded her 21st career perfect 10 on uneven bars Jan. 18 at BYU, moving into a tie for fourth on the NCAA's all-time perfect 10 list. She is now seven away from tying the all-time record of 28 held by UCLA's Jamie Dantzscher (2000-03) and Kentucky's Jenny Hansen (1993-96). Ross extended her NCAA record to 11 career perfect 10s on bars (10 of her 11 were scored on the road). Last season, Ross set NCAA records with 10 consecutive meets with a perfect 10 and 14 10s overall in the season. This year, she became the first gymnast in the nation to record multiple 10s, having scored two in a row on uneven bars.
KOCIAN RETURNS
Madison Kocian made a welcomed return to the lineup at BYU, making her season debut on both bars and floor after sitting out the first two meets with shoulder soreness. The 2016 Olympic gold and silver medalist, scored 9.950 on bars to place second and 9.850 on floor to finish third. Kocian has not competed on floor since 2018, and her last competitive appearance prior to Saturday was at the 2019 NCAA final. She is averaging 9.865 on bars and 9.892 on floor over her career, with highs of 10.0 and 9.950, respectively, and currently ranks No. 2 in the nation on bars and No. 14 on floor.
KRAMER TAKES FIRST WIN OF 2020
Senior Gracie Kramer took home top honors on floor exercise at BYU, scoring a career-high-tying 9.950. The event win was her first of the season and just the second of her career. Competing in the beginning or middle of a lineup that featured 2019 Pac-12 floor co-champions Katelyn Ohashi and Kyla Ross throughout her career have made victories hard to come by, but Kramer took her first-ever outright floor title with her nearly flawless routine Jan. 18. Kramer's only other event win came in the 2018 season opener when she tied for first on floor with Ross.
FLOORED ON FLOOR
UCLA remains ranked No. 1 in the nation on floor exercise, averaging 49.525. The Bruins have three athletes ranked in the Top 10 - No. 4 Kyla Ross (9.942 average), No. 6 Gracie Kramer (9.933) and No. 8 Margzetta Frazier (9.925).The Bruins posted a 49.725 on floor exercise against Boise State on Jan. 12, the sixth-highest floor score in school history and the highest event score on any event in the nation this season. Nia Dennis started the set with a bang, with her Beyonce Homecoming tribute igniting the Pauley Pavilion crowd of 7,147 and scoring 9.925. Pauline Tratz matched her score with a 9.925, and freshman Chloe Lashbrooke followed with a 9.875 in her collegiate debut. Kramer and Frazier went back-to-back with 9.95s, and Ross finished the set with a 9.975.
GLENN NEARLY GETS ELUSIVE LEADOFF 10
With a stunning routine on the balance beam against Boise State, senior Grace Glenn came ever so close to recording an elusive leadoff perfect 10, a feat that is believed to never have happened in NCAA Gymnastics. Glenn, the reigning Pac-12 beam co-champion, was picture-perfect on the event, showing off strong tumbling, impressive flexibility and jumps and an unmatched artistry that earned her a perfect 10 from one of the two judges and a final score of 9.975, a new career-high and the highest leadoff beam score ever recorded by a Bruin. Glenn has six scores of 9.95 or better on beam in her career.
POSTON WINS FIRST EVENT TITLE
Junior Kendal Poston recorded her first-ever event title, scoring a career-high 9.9 on vault to take first place in the dual meet against Boise State. Poston, who had totaled just four competitive routines in her career prior to this season, earned a 9.95 from one of the two judges on her handspring front pike half vault. She also hit her vault in the season opener, scoring 9.775, and averages 9.783 on the year. Additionally, Poston competed an exhibition routine on the balance beam and scored 9.875, tied for the second-highest mark on the squad, and scored a career-high-tying 9.85 a week later at BYU.
DYNAMIC DUO
Senior Kyla Ross and sophomore Margzetta Frazier are among the best all-around duos in the country. averaging 39.604 between them in the Bruins' first three meets. Ross, the two-time reigning Pac-12 all-around champion, ranks No. 1 in the nation, having scored 39.725 in the first two meets and 39.750 in the third. Frazier, in her first season competing all-around, ranks eighth with an average of 39.475. She scored 39.475 in her debut and improved to 39.550 Jan. 12 against Boise State. Ross and Frazier have finished 1-2 in each of the last two all-around competitions and are both ranked in the Top 10 on both bars (Ross first, Frazier seventh) and floor (Ross fourth, Frazier eighth).
SAKTI STUNS IN DEBUT
Sophomore Samantha Sakti was stunning in her UCLA debut Jan. 4, tying Kyla Ross for first place on balance beam with a career-high score of 9.95. She tied for second on Jan. 18 at BYU, scoring 9.9 in the anchor position to help the Bruins go 6-for-6 for the first time on beam this season. The Arcadia, Calif. native transferred to UCLA from William & Mary, where she was an all-conference honoree on floor exercise and a three-time conference gymnast of the week. After her performance at the Collegiate Challenge, Sakti was named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week. She is far from just a beam specialist, however, as she owns William & Mary's school record on floor exercise with a 9.925.
UCLA SHOWCASES DEPTH
The Bruins have been showcasing their depth in the first two meets, competing 12 gymnasts in the first and third meets and 14 in the second meet against Boise State. Five underclassmen (freshmen Chloe Lashbrooke and Kalyany Steele and sophomores Norah Flatley, Margzetta Frazier and Samantha Sakti) competed a total of nine routines against the Broncos. Adding on to the 14 who competed in that meet, two others - redshirt seniors Nicki Shapiro (uneven bars) and Macy Toronjo (floor exercise) - performed exhibition routines, seeing their first action of the season. UCLA's depth has been especially strong on floor exercise, where 10 athletes (Emma Andres, Nia Dennis, Flatley, Frazier, Madison Kocian, Gracie Kramer, Lashbrooke, Kyla Ross, Macy Toronjo and Pauline Tratz) have shown floor routines either in competition or in exhibition.
FRESHMEN LOOK STRONG IN COLLEGIATE DEBUTS
Three freshmen made strong collegiate debuts on January 4 at the Collegiate Challenge. Kalyany Steele was the only freshman to break the competitive lineup, and she scored 9.8 on uneven bars to help the Bruins take the first rotation lead with a 49.425. Emma Andres and Chloe Lashbrooke performed exhibition routines on balance beam and floor exercise, respectively. Andres scored 9.7 on beam, while Lashbrooke posted a 9.8 on floor. Lashbrooke improved her mark on Jan. 12 in the scoring lineup, recording a mark of 9.875. Andres made her floor debut at BYU on Jan. 18, scoring 9.825 in an exhibition performance.
BY THE NUMBERS
UCLA has scored 49+ on floor exercise in 41 consecutive meets, its last sub-49 score coming on Feb. 20, 2017 … On bars, UCLA's 49+ streak stands at 37, with its last sub-49 coming at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships … UCLA has scored 49+ on vault in 33-straight meets since the 2018 season opener … In her last 17 meets, Nia Dennis is averaging 9.869 on vault … Norah Flatley has hit 19 consecutive uneven bars routines … Margzetta Frazier has hit every routine she has competed in her career, with 42 of her 43 routines scoring 9.8 or higher … Grace Glenn has scored 9.9 or higher on beam on 15 of 29 routines … Felicia Hano has hit 38 consecutive vaults … Madison Kocian has hit 31 consecutive uneven bars routines, 17 of those going 9.9 or higher, and 21 consecutive floor exercise routines … Gracie Kramer has hit 32 floor routines in a row, with 20 of those routines earning 9.9 or higher … Kyla Ross has scored 39+ in the all-around 29 times in her career … On balance beam, Ross has hit 36 consecutive routines, 26 of them for 9.9 or higher … Pauline Tratz has hit 60 of 61 routines without a fall in her career, including 53 in a row.
SETTING NEW ACADEMIC STANDARDS
Fourteen members of the Bruin squad were part of the UCLA-record total of 415 student-athletes to make the Athletic Director's Honor Roll in Fall 2019. Sixty-two percent of all UCLA student-athletes earned honor roll recognition, with 28 earning perfect 4.0 GPAs, including Macy Toronjo and Pauline Tratz. The 12 other Bruins to make the Director's Honor Roll last quarter were Emma Andres, Norah Flatley, Anna Glenn, Felicia Hano, Madison Kocian, Gracie Kramer, Chloe Lashbrooke, Kendal Poston, Kyla Ross, Samantha Sakti, Mercedez Sanchez and Sara Taubman.
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
Stanford enters the week ranked No. 25 in the nation with a season average of 195.242. The Cardinal also rank 20th on floor (48.922) and 25th on bars (48.758). Last weekend at Cal, the Cardinal recorded a season-high 195.550, including season-highs on vault (49.000) and floor (49.250). Stanford is led by junior Kyla Bryant, who ranks 10th nationally on floor (9.912 average).
NEW ERA AT UCLA
UCLA Gymnastics has a new leader for the first time in 29 years. Following Hall of Fame head coach Valorie Kondos Field as head coach of the Bruins is Chris Waller, who was an assistant under Kondos Field for 17 years. Waller helped guide the Bruins to four NCAA titles during his time as an assistant. In his first season on staff in 2003, the Bruins swept through the postseason, winning Pac-10, NCAA Regional and NCAA Championships. Also that year, he was the acting head coach when UCLA snapped the longest home-court winning streak in NCAA history for any sport, handing Utah its first home loss in 23 years. Waller was voted by his peers the National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2004 and the West Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2018. A champion gymnast himself, Waller won three NCAA titles with the Bruin men's team, and he competed at the 1992 Olympics, where he placed fifth on pommel horse.
Joining Waller's staff are a few familiar faces. Associate Head Coach Kristina Comforte is a former UCLA All-American and Bruin record-holder on vault. Assistant Coach Dom Palange was a volunteer assistant coach for UCLA from 2014-16. Also on board is volunteer assistant coach and choreographer BJ Das, a former Washington Huskies gymnast who spent last season as a volunteer coach at Utah.
SOLID CORE RETURNS IN 2020
UCLA returns all but three routines from the NCAA Championships and has eight All-Americans on the roster - reigning NCAA vault and floor exercise co-champion Kyla Ross, Grace Glenn, Felicia Hano, Madison Kocian, Gracie Kramer, Nia Dennis, Margzetta Frazier and Norah Flatley.The Bruins lose 10.0-caliber routines on beam and floor from Katelyn Ohashi and consistent high marks on beam from All-American Brielle Nguyen but bring in seasoned routines from William & Mary transfer Samantha Sakti and redshirt senior Nicki Shapiro.
UCLA's strength lies in its depth. The Bruins have 22 gymnasts on the roster, including 11 who competed in at least 10 meets last season - Dennis, Flatley, Frazier, Grace Glenn, Hano, Kocian, Kramer, Ross, Sakti, Pauline Tratz and Sekai Wright. UCLA finished the 2019 regular season ranked in the Top 3 in the nation on all four events - No. 1 on bars and floor, No. 2 on beam and No. 3 on vault.
NEW FACES
The Bruins welcome in 2020 four freshmen (Emma Andres, Paige Hogan, Chloe Lashbrooke and Kalyany Steele), sophomore transfer Samantha Sakti, and redshirt senior Nicki Shapiro. Steele is a former elite who placed 13th at the 2017 USA Championships. Andres and Lashbrooke are both two-time Level 10 Nationals qualifiers. Hogan is a four-time Level 10 state champion. Sakti transferred from William & Mary, where she earned all-league honors on floor exercise and scored a school-record 9.925 on floor in her first meet. Shapiro returns to the Bruins after leaving the sport for three years. She competed for UCLA as a freshman in 2016 and scored a career-high 9.925 on beam.
SENIOR STRONG
The heart of UCLA's team lies in the nine-member senior class of Anna Glenn, Grace Glenn, Felicia Hano, Madison Kocian, Gracie Kramer, Kyla Ross, Mercedez Sanchez, Nicki Shapiro and Macy Toronjo. The senior class competed half of the team's routines at last year's NCAA Championships and have a combined 39 All-America honors between them. Ross has more than half of those 39 honors alone (a school-record-tying 19). She, Grace Glenn and Felicia Hano all won Pac-12 individual titles last season, with Ross winning the all-around, bars and floor, Glenn tying for the beam title, and Hano sharing the vault crown.
NO. 1 IN SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS
UCLA Gymnastics has the largest social media followings in all of women's collegiate sports, ranking No. 1 across all women's sports in combined followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, a total over 750,000. The Bruins rank first among all NCAA gymnastics teams on Instagram (344k), Facebook (352k) and Twitter (67k). Among all UCLA teams, gymnastics ranks first on Instagram and Facebook, and UCLA Gymnastics is the most followed collegiate women's team Instagram account in the nation. Follow the Bruins at @UCLAGymnastics on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat and on Facebook at facebook.com/uclagymnastics.
BRUIN BANTER
Senior Felicia Hano returns as the host of Bruin Banter, UCLA's weekly interview series. The guest for Episode 3 this week is senior Madison Kocian.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins return to action on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7pm against Washington in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
Players Mentioned
