Oklahoma had gained two of the final three gymnastics nationwide championships. The Sooners appeared in 11 of the previous 13 finals.
For UCLA to win its first NCAA nationwide championship since 2018 — and eighth general — the Bruins had been going to have to point out their greatest on each rotation to take down the latest titans of the game.
And at first, the Bruins might consider.
Oklahoma scored a 49.615 on stability beam, an occasion during which it’s ranked No. 1 nationally. UCLA responded with an an identical rating on ground train, its signature occasion, with Jordan Chiles’ almost-flawless routine — receiving three good 10s from six judges en path to a meet-high 9.9750.
UCLA’s Jordan Chiles runs to have fun along with her workforce after competing on the beam throughout the NCAA girls’s gymnastics championships in Fort Price, Texas, Saturday.
(Tony Gutierrez / Related Press)
However to complete first in Fort Price, Texas, on Saturday afternoon, the Bruins wanted the Sooners to stumble like they did once they tied their worst rating of the season on the nationwide semifinal. Below stress, the Sooners did the alternative. Outpacing UCLA in each occasion from the second rotation onward, Oklahoma claimed the 2025 NCAA gymnastics nationwide championship with a 198.0125 ultimate rating, four-tenths greater than the second-place Bruins, who ended the meet with a 197.6125 general.
“I didn’t think second place was gonna sting as much as it does, but I think when you’re in a competitive sport getting so close, it does sting,” Coach Janelle McDonald informed reporters in Fort Price. “If you had told me last year, or even at the beginning of the season, that we would finish in second — I would be ecstatic.”
Missouri completed in third place and Utah was final.
Whether or not it was Oklahoma all-arounder Religion Torrez scoring a 9.9365 on ground and vault or Audrey Davis’ national-title clinching uneven bars routine, the Sooners hit on every occasion to return to the highest of the NCAA podium because the Bruins didn’t make up floor.
If it wasn’t for Oklahoma, every thing else was falling UCLA’s method.
Former Pac-12 rivals Utah battled rare-shaky performances on stability beam — together with a fall from All-American Grace McCallum — whereas Missouri by no means threatened second place, solely recording 5 9.9 or greater scores throughout the meet.
“I’ll never get tired of that feeling of finishing a floor routine and nailing it for the team,” Campbell informed reporters at Dickies Area. “I don’t know when, or if I’ll ever get the same gratification that I get when I compete for UCLA.”
UCLA celebrates incomes second place throughout the NCAA girls’s gymnastics championships in Fort Price, Texas, Saturday.
(Tony Gutierrez / Related Press)
Chiles, who grew to become NCAA uneven bars champion on Thursday night, stored UCLA inside four-tenths of Oklahoma heading into the ultimate rotation with a team-high 9.9625 rating.
For Chiles, her junior-year return to Westwood ended a lower above her first yr in blue and gold when the Bruins fell within the nationwide semifinals. Embroiled within the 2024 Paris Olympics ground train bronze medal controversy, Chiles cast forward and led UCLA to a Huge Ten Championship in its first yr within the convention. She ended the nationwide championship with a 39.7750 all-around rating, the most effective of the meet.
Closing the nationwide championship on stability beam, seniors Emily Lee and Emma Malabuyo book-ended the Bruins ultimate rotation with a 9.9250 and a 9.9375, respectively.
As Oklahoma celebrated at Dickies Area — near a practice for the reason that NCAA switched the ultimate spherical from the Tremendous Six to 4 on the Ground in 2018 — Lee and Malabuyo, who arrived at UCLA in the identical freshman class, consoled one another and their teammates in tears.
“Heading into this year, [the seniors] wanted to make sure they left this program better than they found it, and they showed up every single day to do just that,” McDonald stated. “They’ve rewritten this chapter and now we can look forward to the future knowing that they’ve laid a foundation for us to build upon.”
It wasn’t nearly falling quick within the nationwide championship, however for Bruins together with Campbell, it’s the finish of their collegiate careers.
“I’ve seen this program at its worst, I’ve seen it at its best now,” stated Campbell, who competed for former UCLA coach Chris Waller earlier than he resigned in 2022. “The goal was to have the legacy restored, and I think we did that.”
