Big Ten gymnastics has been elevated ever since former Pac-12 teams UCLA and Washington joined the conference.
A total of 172,998 fans have attended Big Ten Conference meets across the country this season and the Bruins have witnessed the enthusiasm firsthand.
Their meet against Michigan State was shown nationally on FOX and a record-setting 12,918 fans packed into Pauley Pavilion for the final home meet of the season.
“I’ve always been a firm believer that you’re only as good as the teams you compete against and the Big Ten Conference has really taken it up multiple notches,” Michigan head coach Bev Plocki said in a press conference, placing a hand on UCLA head coach Janelle McDonald’s shoulder.
No. 5 UCLA will make its debut in the Big Ten Championships on Saturday afternoon at Michigan’s Crisler Center. The top-seeded Bruins are scheduled to compete in the last of three sessions with second-seeded Michigan, third-seeded Minnesota and fourth-seeded Michigan.
Nebraska, Ohio State, Rutgers and Washington will compete in Session I on Friday. Iowa, Penn State, Illinois and Maryland will be in Session II on Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins will begin competition on vault and then proceed in Olympic order to uneven bars, balance beam and finally floor exercise.
“Our team is really proud of the regular season that we’ve had,” McDonald said in the press conference, “but now it’s time to lock in and step up to that next gear to get ready for postseason and this is going to be such a fun competition to do just that.”
UCLA was this year’s Big Ten regular-season champion and saw a nine-meet win streak end last weekend against former Pac-12 rival Utah. The Red Rocks edged the Bruins 198.100-197.425 in front of 15,558 people at Jon M. Huntsman Center in Utah.
Since then, a conference-best eight UCLA gymnasts were named to the All-Big Ten Teams. Jordan Chiles, Chae Campbell, Brooklyn Moors and Emma Malabuyo each earned a spot on the First Team list.
Each of them has also been a consistent, high-level contributor on floor this season. Chiles has spent five weeks as the No. 1 floor competitor in the nation and Moors is No. 4. All four gymnasts average 9.789 or better in the event.
@haleymsawyer Highlights from every UCLA gymnastics floor routine against Michigan State, including Jordan Chiles’ perfect 10 performance. #prince #olympian #bigten #ncaagymnastics #gymnastics #ucla #journalism #reporter #sports #sportsreporter
Chiles is also the No. 6 vaulter nationally and could debut a Yurchenko double full this weekend, something she hasn’t done outside the gym since the Summer Olympics in Paris, where she won bronze in floor as part of the gold medal-winning U.S squad.
“She trained both vaults this week, so we’re going to see what it looks like on the podium and make a decision from there,” McDonald said. “But I do feel like her double full doesn’t have any built-in deductions and that’s the reason we wanted to possibly go that way for postseason – if we can take it outside of the gym and have clean landings.”
McDonald also said Katelyn Rosen could possibly compete in the conference championship. The three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week last season hasn’t had a competitive appearance in an event this season since Jan. 25. She completed exhibition routines on bars, beam and floor last week against Utah.
“She’s been on a journey this season,” McDonald said. “I can’t speak highly enough about her character and who she is and the work ethic she has to go through this journey of the season and get back to the competitiveness that she’s at right now.”
UCLA will be up against Big Ten history Saturday. Michigan has won 27 conference titles – 26 under Plocki. Michigan State won the regular-season and conference championship last season.
The Bruins narrowly beat the Spartans 197.300-197.200 in the regular season thanks to a floor exercise comeback that included a perfect 10 from Chiles.
“I hope that this competition is a dogfight down to the last routine and decided by fractions of tenths,” Plocki said, “because we’re all sitting here not only thinking about a Big Ten championship – we want to get as many of these incredible teams through regionals and at the national championship as we can.”