The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Bruins, Chiles excel in win over Iowa State
LOS ANGELES >> Safe to say, the UCLA gymnastics team is peaking at the right time.
Jordan Chiles recorded the top score in the country this season and the Bruins finished their dual meet schedule with a 198.275195.550 win over Iowa State on Saturday, marking the sixth-best score in school history.
Before fifth-year senior Margzetta Frazier’s final dual meet floor routine as a UCLA gymnast, Chiles connected fists with her and the pair locked eyes.
She told Frazier, in her final competition at Pauley Pavilion, to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth, something gymnasts forget sometimes. Chiles was giving advice to the longest-tenured Bruin on the team before she herself was on her way to tying the second-highest all-around score in program history.
Frazier returned the favor by sharing her lip gloss — Fenty Beauty, she noted — with Chiles prior to postmeet media availability. As the senior class symbolically departed at Saturday’s Senior Meet and underclassmen move forward, the Bruins are in a good spot heading into the Pac-12 championships and beyond.
“All of the girls on this team are leaders,” said Frazier, one of five seniors honored along with Emma Andres, Paige Hogan, Chloe Lashbrooke and Kalyany Steele. “There’s really not a torch to hand off. It’s more laying the foundation thicker and thicker every year so that we have zero cracks. The leadership on the team is collective.”
Chiles hit her second perfect 10 in two weeks to win the all-around with a 39.900, tying Jamie Dantzscher (2002) for the second-best ever by a Bruin. Mohini Bhardwaj still holds the top mark with her 39.975 in 2001.
The sophomore originally wasn’t planning on competing in the all around after having a conversation with coach Janelle Mcdonald about resting, but decided otherwise just days before the meet.
“I felt something in me knowing that this weekend was going to be really good,” Chiles said. “My 39.900, honestly I was trying to calculate it after my floor. But my main goal is to go out there and have fun.”
To top if all off, it was UCLA’S second consecutive meet with a team score higher than 198.
Freshman Selena Harris was second in the all-around (39.750) and tied with Chiles for first place in vault and balance beam. Emily Lee also tied for first on beam in her first appearance of the season in all four events for a 39.500 total score.
Lee was recovering from an Achilles tendon surgery during her freshman year and didn’t have the chance to compete until this season.
“Emily works really hard and just seeing her get confident on bars to work her way back in the lineup today was really special,” Mcdonald said. “She always jokes that bars is not her favorite place to be and it was cool this week for her to be like, ‘You know what, I’m actually enjoying this over here.’”
The Bruins recorded their highest score of the season in vault (49.475) in their first rotation of the afternoon. Four gymnasts scored 8.50 or above in Lee, Chae Campbell, Harris and Chiles.
Frazier was back in the vault lineup for the first time since Feb. 18 and continued her streak to hit all 119 routines of her career at UCLA, a fitting farewell at the Senior Meet.
“There’s something so special about Pauley. I’m never going to find anything like this again,” she said. “It’s emotional being in there to begin with, but this time I was crying tears of joy. I’ve never worked this hard in my life.”
UCLA was just below a season-high score on balance beam. Chiles, Harris and Lee tied for first in the event with a 9.950. Chiles also won first in floor exercise with her second straight 9.975 score.
UCLA now moves on to the Pac-12 Championships, and it has secured the No. 1 seed after tying with California, Oregon State and Utah for the Pac-12 regular-season title. The Bruins’ final rotation will be on vault in the championships Saturday at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.
The Bruins head to Utah as a collective, and Frazier will be there with Fenty in hand.
“Everyone’s a leader, from the managers to the coaches to the girls,” she said. “Any torch I’m handing down is wearing lip gloss.”