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    UCLA gymnastics into NCAA regional finals after record performance
    • March 31, 2023

    UCLA’s Selena Harris in the floor exercise during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Emily Lee performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Jordan Chiles performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Emily Lee performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Ana Padurariu performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Emily Lee performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Emily Lee performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Emma Malabuyo performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Emily Lee performs on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Chae Campbell reacts after finishing her performance on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Chae Campbell performs on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Kalyany Steele performs on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Kalyany Steele reacts after finishing her performance on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Jordan Chiles performs on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. Chiles had the top score on the bars on her way to winning all-around title as the Bruins advanced to Saturday’s four-team regional final. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Jordan Chiles performs on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Jordan Chiles reacts after sticking her landing on the balance beam during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA team members react to Jordan Chiles’ performance on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Selena Harris performs on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Margzetta Frazier performs on the uneven bars during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Selena Harris competes in the floor exercise during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Selena Harris is greeted by teammates after her performance in the floor exercise during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Chae Campbell performs on the floor exercise during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Jordan Chiles performs on the floor exercise during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Margzetta Frazier performs on the floor exercise during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    UCLA’s Emily Lee competes on the vault during the NCAA Los Angeles Regional gymnastics meet on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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    LOS ANGELES — Senior Margzetta Frazier reached up to place the “UCLA” sticker on the massive print-out of the NCAA gymnastics bracket, then got a minute-long hug from teammate Jordan Chiles afterward. The moment officially signified the Bruins’ record-setting score of 198.275, which won the second semifinal of the Los Angeles Regional on Thursday night and sent them to the finals.

    The Bruins posted season-best scores in vault and balance beam and finished with the program’s best NCAA postseason score ever, matching their season-high and surpassing 198 points for the third time this season. To the No. 4 national seed and top-seeded team in the regional, it feels normal.

    “We were sitting there on the floor getting our awards and I said, ‘I forgot we were at regionals,’” Frazier said. “It just felt like another competition and we just did exactly what we trained for. Like, this is postseason and we’re getting 198s. That’s a big deal.”

    UCLA returns to Pauley Pavilion on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the regional finals. Utah (198.125) and Washington (196.775), the top two finishers from Thursday’s first session, will also compete, along with Missouri, which finished second in the late session with a 197.400.

    The top two teams from Saturday’s meet advance to the NCAA Championships on April 13-15 in Fort Worth, Texas. The top individual event finishers and the best all-around competitor who is not on a qualifying team will also advance.

    The Bruins are vying for their first appearance as a team in the NCAA championships since 2019 (there were no 2020 championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

    Brooklyn Moors added to Thursday’s excitement by making competitive debuts in floor exercise and on vault. She scored a 9.925 and 9.85, respectively, and had performed exhibition routines in both events as an alternate earlier this season after working back from a preseason injury.

    “It felt fantastic,” Moors said. “I’ve been working so hard to recover and get my skills back and I’ve been supporting the team as much as I can on the sidelines but it felt good today to do it on the floor.”

    UCLA’s Jordan Chiles won the all-around with a 39.750 on Thursday, followed by Selena Harris at 39.650. Chiles also took first in the uneven bars (9.975) and the floor exercise (9.95), while Harris tied for the top score on the balance beam (9.975) with teammate Emma Malabuyo.

    The Bruins started the evening with a season-best 49.675 on the balance beam, the fourth-best score in the event in program history. Freshmen Selena Harris (9.975) and Ciena Alipio (9.925) both turned in season-bests in the event.

    Brooklyn Moors subbed in for Malabuyo on floor exercise and the Bruins hit 49.500 to lead all teams after two rotations. UCLA then posted another season-high event score on the vault (49.575), the sixth-highest event score in program history.

    Frazier reached her first 9.900 mark of the season in vault, up from her previous best of 9.825 that she recorded in mid-February. The 9.900 is also a career-high, and she did it in a pair of wrist guards borrowed from teammate Kalyany Steele.

    “I’m so tickled that it was vault,” Frazier said. “First of all, I left my wrist guards at the gym and I said, Kaly, do you have your wrist guards? So I got my season high because I used Kaly’s wrist guards.”

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    Frazier has been dealing with minor nagging injuries throughout the season that have limited her in practice. She said that lately she’s been participating in full workouts and feeling good physically, which paid off in Thursday’s meet.

    “Margz really set the tone on vault,” Coach Janelle McDonald said. “Being so dynamic and having such a clean landing, I think it really fired the team up to go after it and attack it.”

    The Bruins ended the night on the bars with a score of 49.525. Chae Campbell and Emily Lee started with matching scores of 9.850, and Ana Padurariu added a 9.900, her fifth consecutive score of 9.900 or higher on the event. Harris added a 9.875, Frazier a 9.925, and Chiles closed it out with her 14th 9.975 of the season. The Bruins finished nearly nine-tenths ahead of Missouri, which edged Stanford for second place after scoring 49.475 on the balance beam.

    The Bruins will look to remain poised on Saturday as they look to punch their ticket for a spot in Fort Worth.

    “I don’t think anyone thought about Day 2 once while we were here today,” Frazier said. “We’re just taking it one day at a time and treating it like practice. We’re just gonna do that one more time, two more times or three more times.”

    ​ Orange County Register 

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