Saturday, January 4
Oceanside, Calif.
12:30 PM (PT)
UCLA
vs
California
Carissa Clay
Photo by: Jesus Ramirez
UCLA Opens 2025 Season in Oceanside Jan. 4
January 01, 2025 | Gymnastics
No. 10 UCLA at American Gold Collegiate Gymnastics Classicย
vs. No. 4 California, No. 19 Oregon State
Date: Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 โ ย 12:30 pm PT
Location: Oceanside, Calif. (Frontwave Arena)
Tickets: axs.comย (Offer code: UCLA25)
Live scoring: Virti.us
SEASON OPENERย
UCLA officially kicks off the 2025 season on Saturday, Jan. 4 at the American Gold Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Championships in Oceanside, Calif. The Classic will reunite former Pac-12 conference members UCLA, California with Oregon State. All three teams are ranked in the preseason Top 20, with California ranked No. 4, UCLA No. 10 and Oregon State No. 19. The competition will be held at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 12:30pm. The evening session at 6:30pm will match up No.30 Arizona, No. 31 Southern Utah, Rutgers and first-year program Wilberforce. ย ย
OLYMPIC-SIZED MATCHUP
Saturday's meet will mark the first meet since the 2024 Olympics for Bruins Jordan Chiles and Emma Malabuyo and Oregon State's Jade Carey. Chiles and Carey were part of Team USA's gold-medal winning squad in Paris and were also awarded individual bronze medals on floor and vault, respectively. Chiles also won team silver with the U.S. at the 2020 Olympic Games, while Carey was the Olympic floor exercise champion. Malabuyo competed individually under the Philippines flag in 2024 after being a U.S. alternate in 2020. Another UCLA Olympian will compete in the meet as well - 2020 Olympic all-around finalist Brooklyn Moors from Canada. ย ย
HOMETOWN MEETย
Graduate transfer Carissa Clay's first meet as a Bruin will be near her hometown of San Diego. Clay was a four-year letterwinner at the University of Kentucky and transferred in the summer of 2024 to attend graduate school at UCLA's School of Education in the Transformative Coaching and Leadership program. Clay competed on beam in three meets at Kentucky and was a two-time Scholastic All-American. She graduated from Junipero Serra High School and trained at Mission Valley YMCA, earning a silver in the all-around at the 2019 Level 10 State Championships.
Also from the San Diego area is junior Clara Wren, who attended San Marcos HS and trained at Coastal Gymnastics, where she became the 2022 SCEGA California Classic vault champion and earned a Top 5 finish on uneven bars at the 2022 Region 1 Championships.ย
SUPER SENIORS
The Bruins return the services of two fifth-year seniors in Chae Campbell and Frida Esparza for their extra year of Covid-19 eligibility. Campbell is an eight-time All-American, three-time perfect 10 scorer on floor and the 2021 Pac-12 floor exercise co-champion and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. Esparza earned all-conference honors on uneven bars as a freshman and owns career-highs of 9.950 on bars and 9.900 on beam. ย ย
BARROS IS BACK ย
Sophomore Sydney Barros is back in action for her first year of competition in collegiate gymnastics. The 2023 Puerto Rican all-around national champion and World Championships qualifier missed the 2024 NCAA season after tearing her ACL at the 2023 Central American Games and made her Bruin debut at the Meet the Bruins exhibition on Dec. 14, showing routines on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Barros is a former three-time U.S. National Team member and bronze medalist at the 2019 Junior World Championships.
ย ย
BABY BRUINSย
UCLA welcomes a five-member freshman class in 2025, led by three-time Level 10 National champions Macy McGowan and Mika Webster-Longin. McGowan won the all-around, vault and floor at both the 2024 Nationals and Region 1 Championships. Webster-Longin was the 2023 all-around, bars and floor Level 10 national champion. She spent her 2024 competing elite with the Belgian National Team, seeing action at the DtB Pokal Competition in Germany and at the European Championships in Italy. Sasha Fujisaka brings in four years of experience at Level 10 Nationals, as well as a perfect 10 score on uneven bars and four Region 1 titles. Bronwyn Hoffman is a two-time Level 10 Nationals competitor and 2023 Region 1 all-around medalist. Riley Jenkins is coming off a strong 2024 season, placing second in the all-around at the 2024 Level 10 All-Stars, second on vault and floor at the Region 1 Championships and winning the state all-around, vault and floor titles. ย ย ย ย ย
NEW STAFF ย
Joining head coach Janelle McDonald and assistant coach BJ Das on the Bruin coaching staff in 2025 are assistant coaches Mark Freeman and Lacy Dagen. Freeman comes to UCLA from Stanford, where he served as an assistant coach of the four-time defending national championship men's team. He coached 2024 Olympic bronze medalists Brody Malone and Asher Hong, as well as 2020 Olympic alternates Akash Modi and Brandon Briones. Dagen was an assistant coach at Arizona State in 2024, helping guide the Sun Devils to the NCAA Regional final and No. 16 national finish. She also coached at her alma mater Oregon State in 2023, as well as at UC Davis in 2022.ย
Both coaches will face their alma maters in the season opener. Freeman was an MPSF champion while competing at Cal from 2004-08, and Dagen was an all-conference vaulter at Oregon State, where she competed from 2018-21. ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR ย ย
The Bruin roster is filled with gymnasts who have represented their countries in international competition. Emma Malabuyo represented the Philippines at the 2024 Olympics and was the 2024 Asian Championships floor exercise champion and all-around bronze medalist. Brooklyn Moors competed at the 2020 Olympics for Canada and was an all-around and floor finalist at three World Championships. Frida Esparza competed for Mexico at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships. Sydney Barros qualified for the 2023 World Championships for Puerto Rico and was previously a three-time U.S. National Team member. Freshman Mika Webster-Longin competed with Belgium at the 2024 European Championships. Other U.S. National Team competitors were Ciena Alipio, Emily Lee and Katelyn Rosen.ย
THE GRADUATESย
UCLA has four graduate students on the 2025 roster. Chae Campbell and Carissa Clay are enrolled in UCLA's Transformative Coaching and Leadership program in the School of Education. Frida Esparza is pursuing a postgraduate certificate in marketing, and Brooklyn Moors is pursuing a postgraduate certificate in project management. ย ย
ABOUT THE BRUINS ย
UCLA is led by three Olympians in Jordan Chiles, Emma Malabuyo and Brooklyn Moors, an eight-time All-American in Chae Campbell, and all-conference gymnasts Frida Esparza and Katelyn Rosen. The Bruins, who were affected by Olympic deferrals and absences, finished 17th last season but regain the services of Olympic champion Jordan Chiles, who missed all of 2024 while training for her second Olympic Games, and World Championships qualifier Sydney Barros, who redshirted in 2024 due to injury. UCLA also gains a strong freshman class, led by three-time Level 10 national champions Macy McGowan and Mika Webster-Longin.ย
CONSISTENCY QUEENS ย
Emily Lee and Madisyn Anyimi enter 2025 having hit every routine in their UCLA careers. Lee has hit all 79 of her routines without a fall, while Anyimi has hit 19-of-19. Katelyn Rosen began her career hitting her first 42 routines before a fluke fall on bars in the Bruins' last meet a year ago. ย ย ย ย
PRESEASON POLLS AND LISTS ย
UCLA enters the 2025 season ranked No. 10 in the preseason rankings, as voted upon by the coaches of the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). The Bruins have received a Top 10 preseason ranking in every preseason poll of record since 1997. The Big Ten Conference also announced its preseason poll and Watch List. UCLA was picked to finish second in the preseason Coaches' poll, and Jordan Chiles and Emma Malabuyo were named to the Watch List. ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
SCHOLAR-ATHLETES ย
Seven returners and 10 Bruins overall earned WCGA Scholastic All-America honors in 2024. Graduate Brooklyn Moors (sociology) and seniors Mia Erdoes (business economics), Emily Lee (physiological science) and Emma Malabuyo (communication) all earned their third-straight honor. Junior Maddie Anyimi (applied mathematics) and senior Chae Campbell (communication) received their second Scholastic All-America distinction, while sophomore Katelyn Rosen (undeclared) earned her first. The WCGA Scholastic All-America team recognizes gymnasts who carry a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average or a 3.5 grade point average for the academic year.
Additionally, Malabuyo and Moors earned Academic All-District honors, and graduate Frida Esparza (political science) joined the aforementioned seven in receiving Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll acclaim.ย
UCLA SIGNS STELLAR CLASS FOR 2026ย
The Bruins signed four standouts for the 2026 season โ Tiana Sumanasekera, Nola Matthews, Jordis Eichman and Ava-Marie Callahan. Sumanasekera has been one of the United States' top senior gymnasts the last two years, finishing eighth in the all-around at the U.S. Championships in both 2023 and 2024 and earning a spot as a non-traveling alternate at the 2024 Olympics. She won three gold medals (team, all-around and beam) and a silver on floor exercise at the 2023 Pan American Championships. Matthews made her senior elite debut at the 2022 Winter Cup, winning gold on uneven bars and placing fifth in the all-around. She also earned a silver medal on bars at the 2022 U.S. Classic and was fourth on bars at the U.S. Championships that year. A U.S. National Team member from 2021-23, Matthews was awarded USA Gymnastics' Sportsperson of the Year award in 2023 and 2024. Eichman made a strong impression in her first elite meet, placing seventh in the all-around and fifth on balance beam at the 2023 Winter Cup. Prior to qualifying as an elite, she was a standout Level 10 gymnast, winning beam and placing fourth in the all-around and bars at the Development Program Nationals in 2022. Callahan has qualified for the last three Development Program Nationals, winning bronze on uneven bars in 2023 and placing fifth on vault in 2022. ย ย ย ย ย
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins will have another opportunity to compete on podium on Saturday, Jan. 11 at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in Oklahoma City against No. 7 Kentucky, No. 8 Arkansas and No. 16 Ohio State. The meet will be televised live on ESPN2 at 5pm PT.ย
vs. No. 4 California, No. 19 Oregon State
Date: Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 โ ย 12:30 pm PT
Location: Oceanside, Calif. (Frontwave Arena)
Tickets: axs.comย (Offer code: UCLA25)
Live scoring: Virti.us
SEASON OPENERย
UCLA officially kicks off the 2025 season on Saturday, Jan. 4 at the American Gold Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Championships in Oceanside, Calif. The Classic will reunite former Pac-12 conference members UCLA, California with Oregon State. All three teams are ranked in the preseason Top 20, with California ranked No. 4, UCLA No. 10 and Oregon State No. 19. The competition will be held at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 12:30pm. The evening session at 6:30pm will match up No.30 Arizona, No. 31 Southern Utah, Rutgers and first-year program Wilberforce. ย ย
OLYMPIC-SIZED MATCHUP
Saturday's meet will mark the first meet since the 2024 Olympics for Bruins Jordan Chiles and Emma Malabuyo and Oregon State's Jade Carey. Chiles and Carey were part of Team USA's gold-medal winning squad in Paris and were also awarded individual bronze medals on floor and vault, respectively. Chiles also won team silver with the U.S. at the 2020 Olympic Games, while Carey was the Olympic floor exercise champion. Malabuyo competed individually under the Philippines flag in 2024 after being a U.S. alternate in 2020. Another UCLA Olympian will compete in the meet as well - 2020 Olympic all-around finalist Brooklyn Moors from Canada. ย ย
HOMETOWN MEETย
Graduate transfer Carissa Clay's first meet as a Bruin will be near her hometown of San Diego. Clay was a four-year letterwinner at the University of Kentucky and transferred in the summer of 2024 to attend graduate school at UCLA's School of Education in the Transformative Coaching and Leadership program. Clay competed on beam in three meets at Kentucky and was a two-time Scholastic All-American. She graduated from Junipero Serra High School and trained at Mission Valley YMCA, earning a silver in the all-around at the 2019 Level 10 State Championships.
Also from the San Diego area is junior Clara Wren, who attended San Marcos HS and trained at Coastal Gymnastics, where she became the 2022 SCEGA California Classic vault champion and earned a Top 5 finish on uneven bars at the 2022 Region 1 Championships.ย
SUPER SENIORS
The Bruins return the services of two fifth-year seniors in Chae Campbell and Frida Esparza for their extra year of Covid-19 eligibility. Campbell is an eight-time All-American, three-time perfect 10 scorer on floor and the 2021 Pac-12 floor exercise co-champion and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. Esparza earned all-conference honors on uneven bars as a freshman and owns career-highs of 9.950 on bars and 9.900 on beam. ย ย
BARROS IS BACK ย
Sophomore Sydney Barros is back in action for her first year of competition in collegiate gymnastics. The 2023 Puerto Rican all-around national champion and World Championships qualifier missed the 2024 NCAA season after tearing her ACL at the 2023 Central American Games and made her Bruin debut at the Meet the Bruins exhibition on Dec. 14, showing routines on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Barros is a former three-time U.S. National Team member and bronze medalist at the 2019 Junior World Championships.
ย ย
BABY BRUINSย
UCLA welcomes a five-member freshman class in 2025, led by three-time Level 10 National champions Macy McGowan and Mika Webster-Longin. McGowan won the all-around, vault and floor at both the 2024 Nationals and Region 1 Championships. Webster-Longin was the 2023 all-around, bars and floor Level 10 national champion. She spent her 2024 competing elite with the Belgian National Team, seeing action at the DtB Pokal Competition in Germany and at the European Championships in Italy. Sasha Fujisaka brings in four years of experience at Level 10 Nationals, as well as a perfect 10 score on uneven bars and four Region 1 titles. Bronwyn Hoffman is a two-time Level 10 Nationals competitor and 2023 Region 1 all-around medalist. Riley Jenkins is coming off a strong 2024 season, placing second in the all-around at the 2024 Level 10 All-Stars, second on vault and floor at the Region 1 Championships and winning the state all-around, vault and floor titles. ย ย ย ย ย
NEW STAFF ย
Joining head coach Janelle McDonald and assistant coach BJ Das on the Bruin coaching staff in 2025 are assistant coaches Mark Freeman and Lacy Dagen. Freeman comes to UCLA from Stanford, where he served as an assistant coach of the four-time defending national championship men's team. He coached 2024 Olympic bronze medalists Brody Malone and Asher Hong, as well as 2020 Olympic alternates Akash Modi and Brandon Briones. Dagen was an assistant coach at Arizona State in 2024, helping guide the Sun Devils to the NCAA Regional final and No. 16 national finish. She also coached at her alma mater Oregon State in 2023, as well as at UC Davis in 2022.ย
Both coaches will face their alma maters in the season opener. Freeman was an MPSF champion while competing at Cal from 2004-08, and Dagen was an all-conference vaulter at Oregon State, where she competed from 2018-21. ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR ย ย
The Bruin roster is filled with gymnasts who have represented their countries in international competition. Emma Malabuyo represented the Philippines at the 2024 Olympics and was the 2024 Asian Championships floor exercise champion and all-around bronze medalist. Brooklyn Moors competed at the 2020 Olympics for Canada and was an all-around and floor finalist at three World Championships. Frida Esparza competed for Mexico at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships. Sydney Barros qualified for the 2023 World Championships for Puerto Rico and was previously a three-time U.S. National Team member. Freshman Mika Webster-Longin competed with Belgium at the 2024 European Championships. Other U.S. National Team competitors were Ciena Alipio, Emily Lee and Katelyn Rosen.ย
THE GRADUATESย
UCLA has four graduate students on the 2025 roster. Chae Campbell and Carissa Clay are enrolled in UCLA's Transformative Coaching and Leadership program in the School of Education. Frida Esparza is pursuing a postgraduate certificate in marketing, and Brooklyn Moors is pursuing a postgraduate certificate in project management. ย ย
ABOUT THE BRUINS ย
UCLA is led by three Olympians in Jordan Chiles, Emma Malabuyo and Brooklyn Moors, an eight-time All-American in Chae Campbell, and all-conference gymnasts Frida Esparza and Katelyn Rosen. The Bruins, who were affected by Olympic deferrals and absences, finished 17th last season but regain the services of Olympic champion Jordan Chiles, who missed all of 2024 while training for her second Olympic Games, and World Championships qualifier Sydney Barros, who redshirted in 2024 due to injury. UCLA also gains a strong freshman class, led by three-time Level 10 national champions Macy McGowan and Mika Webster-Longin.ย
CONSISTENCY QUEENS ย
Emily Lee and Madisyn Anyimi enter 2025 having hit every routine in their UCLA careers. Lee has hit all 79 of her routines without a fall, while Anyimi has hit 19-of-19. Katelyn Rosen began her career hitting her first 42 routines before a fluke fall on bars in the Bruins' last meet a year ago. ย ย ย ย
PRESEASON POLLS AND LISTS ย
UCLA enters the 2025 season ranked No. 10 in the preseason rankings, as voted upon by the coaches of the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). The Bruins have received a Top 10 preseason ranking in every preseason poll of record since 1997. The Big Ten Conference also announced its preseason poll and Watch List. UCLA was picked to finish second in the preseason Coaches' poll, and Jordan Chiles and Emma Malabuyo were named to the Watch List. ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
SCHOLAR-ATHLETES ย
Seven returners and 10 Bruins overall earned WCGA Scholastic All-America honors in 2024. Graduate Brooklyn Moors (sociology) and seniors Mia Erdoes (business economics), Emily Lee (physiological science) and Emma Malabuyo (communication) all earned their third-straight honor. Junior Maddie Anyimi (applied mathematics) and senior Chae Campbell (communication) received their second Scholastic All-America distinction, while sophomore Katelyn Rosen (undeclared) earned her first. The WCGA Scholastic All-America team recognizes gymnasts who carry a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average or a 3.5 grade point average for the academic year.
Additionally, Malabuyo and Moors earned Academic All-District honors, and graduate Frida Esparza (political science) joined the aforementioned seven in receiving Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll acclaim.ย
UCLA SIGNS STELLAR CLASS FOR 2026ย
The Bruins signed four standouts for the 2026 season โ Tiana Sumanasekera, Nola Matthews, Jordis Eichman and Ava-Marie Callahan. Sumanasekera has been one of the United States' top senior gymnasts the last two years, finishing eighth in the all-around at the U.S. Championships in both 2023 and 2024 and earning a spot as a non-traveling alternate at the 2024 Olympics. She won three gold medals (team, all-around and beam) and a silver on floor exercise at the 2023 Pan American Championships. Matthews made her senior elite debut at the 2022 Winter Cup, winning gold on uneven bars and placing fifth in the all-around. She also earned a silver medal on bars at the 2022 U.S. Classic and was fourth on bars at the U.S. Championships that year. A U.S. National Team member from 2021-23, Matthews was awarded USA Gymnastics' Sportsperson of the Year award in 2023 and 2024. Eichman made a strong impression in her first elite meet, placing seventh in the all-around and fifth on balance beam at the 2023 Winter Cup. Prior to qualifying as an elite, she was a standout Level 10 gymnast, winning beam and placing fourth in the all-around and bars at the Development Program Nationals in 2022. Callahan has qualified for the last three Development Program Nationals, winning bronze on uneven bars in 2023 and placing fifth on vault in 2022. ย ย ย ย ย
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins will have another opportunity to compete on podium on Saturday, Jan. 11 at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in Oklahoma City against No. 7 Kentucky, No. 8 Arkansas and No. 16 Ohio State. The meet will be televised live on ESPN2 at 5pm PT.ย
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