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The UCLA gymnastics squad will finally see its season opener this Saturday at Pauley Pavilion at 6:00 pm PST. The Bruins will return experience as well as debut some talented freshmen.
Last year, UCLA fans were treated to several “Perfect 10’s” throughout the season courtesy of Senior Christine Peng Peng Lee, who is set to return for season six, junior Katelyn Ohashi, and current sophomores and former Olympians Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian. Kocian had off-season shoulder surgery and is not yet back in the Bruin line up.
UCLA is sure to have a strong showing after an impressive Meet the Bruins intrasquad event on December 9, which was televised for the first time this year. This gave the athletes a chance to shake off the cobwebs from the off season, and also gave the freshmen a chance to perform at Pauley once before an official meet.
Here are highlights from the event, courtesy of UCLA Athletics:
The Ohio State Buckeyes will begin a new era with Head Coach Meredith Paulicivic, who is no stranger to the Pac-12 as she spent the last two seasons as an assistant at Utah and before that was also an assistant at Arizona and UC Berkeley.
The Buckeyes return two All Big Ten honorees in Alexis Mattern and Kaitlyn Hofland. Ohio State enters the season at #22 nationally and is predicted to finish fourth in the Big Ten. These teams have only met twice in program history and the Bruins hold the advantage 2-0.
After their own intrasquad event on December 16, the annual Scarlet & Gray Meet, Paulicivic stated, “I was really pleased with the team’s performance. We had eight athletes who have never competed in a big arena or college setting, so it was a good test for them. We had lots of positives to build on and much room for improvement.”