UCLA Gymnastics Heads to NCAA Regionals

The UCLA gymnastics team will be the number one seed in the Champaign Regional taking place on the campus of the University of Illinois at the State Farm Center today at 2 pm PST. They will need to finish in the top two in order to advance to the NCAA Championship, which will take place on April 14 and 15 in St. Louis hosted by the University of Missouri, Columbia and the St. Louis Sports Commission. Also competing at the Champaign Regional are 8th-ranked Oregon State, 16th-ranked Iowa, 19th-ranked Illinois, 22nd-ranked Eastern Michigan and 26th-ranked Ohio State.

The top eighteen teams are seeded nationally based on RQS (Regional Qualifying Scores), and placed into the bracket. Teams 19-36 are placed geographically at one of the six regional sites, which will also include #4 Utah, #13 Washington, #16 Cal, and unranked Arizona and Stanford.

Here is a full bracket:

NCAA.com

The top two teams from each of the six regionals will then compete at the semifinals on April 14, and the top six move on to the championship on April 15.

According to the official site, the rotation order for the Regional was determined by blind draw prior to the selections. The No. 1 seed Bruins will begin the meet on uneven bars and move to balance beam in rotation two. Following a bye, their competition will resume in rotation four on floor exercise. UCLA wraps up its day on vault in rotation five and ends on a bye”.

UCLA owns a total of 21 regional titles, the most recent being in 2015. Utah took last year’s regional, winning in all events.

With a solid 2016 season and the post-season accolades that the Bruins have racked up this year, I’d say this squad has an excellent chance of advancing to the finals. Christine Peng-Peng Lee was UCLA’s first ever Pac 12 Specialist of the Year, and Kyla Ross was named the Pac 12 Freshman of the Year. Additionally, five Bruins were named to the All Pac 12 Team, including Madison Kocian, Kyla Ross, Christine Peng-Peng Lee, Katelyn Ohashi, and Hallie Mossett. I have no doubt that Utah and UCLA will be in the final six from the left side of the bracket competing on April 14.

NCAA Champaign Regional

Who: UCLA, Oregon State, Iowa, Illinois, Eastern Michigan, and Ohio State

When: Saturday, April 1, 2017, 2 pm PT

Where: State Farm Center, Champaign, IL

TV: None

Live Stream and Stats: NCAA.com

Meet Notes:

UCLA

This is your NCAA Regionals open thread.


Go Bruins!