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On a loud January night inside Pauley Pavilion, Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles turned UCLA’s first home meet of 2026 into a statement about where the University of California, Los Angeles gymnastics program is headed. With a long-awaited, first-career perfect 10 on vault, Chiles powered the Bruins to a 197.325–195.250 victory over Nebraska in their Big Ten and home opener, reinforcing UCLA’s status as a favorite to return to the NCAA championship stage this spring.
Ranked No. 9 at meet time and fourth in the 2026 preseason coaches’ poll, UCLA used deep lineups and a historically strong beam rotation to stay in control of the dual from start to finish. Chiles anchored that effort in every way, winning the all-around with a 39.675 and collecting at least a share of three event titles as the Bruins opened Big Ten play with a convincing win.
The signature moment of the night came in the very first rotation. Closing out UCLA’s vault lineup, Chiles finally reached a milestone that had narrowly eluded her throughout her collegiate career.
After three previous scores of 9.975 on vault, the senior star stepped onto the runway knowing another near-miss was possible. Instead, she delivered the kind of vault that had long been expected from an Olympic champion: a powerful, cleanly executed double-twisting Yurchenko that left no room for doubt.
Technically, the skill asks a lot. A gymnast must execute a round-off onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the table, then explode into a laid-out flip with two full twists before sticking the landing. Chiles generated the height, distance, and body control to nail every phase. When both judges flashed 10.0, Pauley Pavilion erupted, and her teammates mobbed her on the podium as the first perfect vault of her UCLA career became official.
The 10.0 not only capped a 49.250 vault total for UCLA, it also marked another step in Chiles’ pursuit of a coveted “Gym Slam” in college gymnastics: recording perfect 10s on all four events (vault, bars, beam, and floor) over the course of a career. She now sits one perfect beam score away from that informal but prestigious milestone.
While Chiles’ 10 grabbed headlines, the dual meet against Nebraska was defined by UCLA’s depth and balance across all four events. From opener to anchor, the Bruins stacked strong routines and limited major errors, exactly the formula top programs rely on to contend in March and April.
UCLA opened the night on vault and immediately showcased the depth that head coach Janelle McDonald has been cultivating in Westwood. Tiana Sumanasekera and Katelyn Rosen set the tone with matching 9.800s. Madisyn Anyimi followed with a 9.750, keeping the rotation solidly on track.
Freshman Ashlee Sullivan then broke through with a career-high 9.900, raising the ceiling for the event and putting pressure on the final gymnast. Chiles did the rest, drilling her double-twisting Yurchenko for the 10.0 that sent UCLA to 49.250 on vault and an early edge over Nebraska, which opened on the uneven bars.
In the second rotation, the Bruins moved to bars and did exactly what championship-caliber teams are supposed to do: avoid counting a single low score. Every routine went 9.825 or better.
Rosen led off with a dependable 9.850, followed by a 9.825 from Sumanasekera and another 9.850 from Mika Webster-Longin. Sullivan and Chiles then closed the lineup with matching 9.900s, giving them a share of the event title.
The result was a 49.325 total on bars, nudging UCLA’s overall lead to nearly half a point at the meet’s midpoint. For a program with national title ambitions, that kind of quiet efficiency is just as important as the highlight-reel 10s.
The true separation came on balance beam, an event that had been a sore spot just a week earlier. UCLA had finished third at a high-profile quad meet in Utah, with beam errors playing a key role. McDonald and her staff responded with a week devoted to refining landings and dialing in the small details that often decide close meets.
Against Nebraska, the payoff was immediate. The Bruins delivered one of the strongest beam lineups in program history, scoring 49.625, the sixth-highest beam total ever recorded by UCLA.
Rosen and Sumanasekera each posted 9.900, backed by a career-best 9.875 from Webster-Longin. Chiles and Ciena Alipio then closed the rotation with matching 9.975s, each receiving a perfect 10.0 from one of the two judges. The back-to-back near-perfect routines stretched UCLA’s lead to just over two points as Nebraska moved to vault.
That kind of beam performance sends a message nationally. Beam often decides team championships at the NCAA level, and being able to score near 49.7 on a night in January suggests that UCLA’s ceiling this season is extraordinarily high.
Closing on floor, UCLA did not fully match the fireworks from beam, but the Bruins were solid enough to safely bring home the win. Early routines from Rosen and Webster-Longin included minor landing issues, keeping scores closer to the mid-9.8 range than the low-9.9s.
Any temptation for a wobble-filled, sloppy finish ended quickly, though. Alipio, Sumanasekera, and Sullivan responded with matching 9.875s, good enough to share the floor title and keep the rotation on track. Chiles anchored with a 9.800, completing a 49.125 total on floor and locking in the final 197.325–195.250 margin.
On a night when UCLA’s beam rotation grabbed the spotlight, a reliable floor lineup was precisely what the Bruins needed to finish a dominant home opener without drama.
The team score told one story of UCLA’s control of the meet. The all-around podium told another.
UCLA swept the top three spots in the all-around, a mark of how thoroughly its stars outpaced the visitors from Nebraska:
Chiles also claimed at least a share of three event titles, winning vault outright and tying for top honors on both bars and beam. On a roster filled with high-upside underclassmen and dependable veterans, she remains the center of gravity.
The win over Nebraska was more than just an early-season box checked. It reinforced why expectations around UCLA gymnastics are so high heading into the heart of the 2026 season.
In 2025, the Bruins made an emphatic entrance into the Big Ten, capturing both the regular-season title and the conference championship meet. At the national level, they pushed Oklahoma deep into the final rotation at the NCAA championships before finishing as the national runner-up.
Those results, combined with a strong returning core, earned UCLA a No. 4 national ranking and the No. 1 spot in the Big Ten coaches’ poll entering 2026. When you layer in seven all-time NCAA women’s gymnastics titles and a fan base that routinely packs Pauley Pavilion, the program’s aspirations are clear: return to the top of the podium for the first time since 2018.
Performance benchmarks like a mid-January 197.325, a top-six beam score in school history, and a perfect 10 from a veteran leader all suggest that trajectory is intact. According to long-term NCAA scoring trends collected by outlets like Road to Nationals and season previews from NCAA.com, teams that consistently score in the high 197s and above by late season typically find themselves in serious championship contention. UCLA is already well on its way toward that scoring range.
For Chiles, the perfect 10 on vault was about more than just another statistical line. It represented a form of closure and a new peak in a career that has stretched from world stages to campus arenas.
After helping the United States to Olympic success, Chiles arrived at UCLA as one of the most high-profile recruits in program history. She has since become a foundational piece of the Bruins’ resurgence while navigating an intense elite schedule and the emotional weight of a turbulent Olympic cycle, including a disputed change to the floor exercise podium that reverberated across international gymnastics coverage.
Within college gymnastics, the 10.0 on vault adds another layer to her legacy. Perfect scores are inherently rare, individually and across a team’s history. In the context of NCAA rules and judging standards, athletes must combine near-flawless execution, amplitude, body position, and landings to earn them. Vault 10s, which demand both power and precision, are especially prized.
By finally breaking through on that event, Chiles closed one chapter of “almosts” and moved closer to the elite club of gymnasts who have accomplished a Gym Slam. It also signaled to the rest of the country that she is more than capable of leading UCLA not just emotionally, but with the kind of scoring potential that wins championships.
While the 10.0 will be replayed all season, coaches and close observers may point first to beam as the most meaningful development from the Nebraska meet. One week after the event helped cost UCLA a win at a major quad meet, the Bruins responded with one of the best beam performances in school history.
That turnaround reflects both McDonald’s emphasis on detail-oriented training and the cultural shift within the program since her arrival. Beam, often called the “make-or-break” event in NCAA meets, requires not just physical precision but psychological resilience. To go from a problematic rotation to a 49.625, with back-to-back 9.975s, shows a team that can learn fast, adapt under pressure, and elevate when it matters.
For recruiting-minded athletes and families watching from afar, nights like this underline why UCLA remains one of the sport’s premier destinations. The combination of elite-level coaching, high-scoring potential on every event, and a home environment like Pauley Pavilion offers a clear runway from club gymnastics to the NCAA’s biggest stages.
For current club and high school gymnasts, meets like UCLA vs. Nebraska are more than just scores on a results sheet. They are living case studies in how top programs deploy lineups, develop talent, and build toward postseason peaks.
Several key takeaways stand out:
If you are hoping to compete for programs of UCLA’s caliber, it helps to study how these teams handle rotations, which skills actually make lineups, and how athletes like Chiles transition from elite to NCAA routines.
Not every gymnast will land on a perennial national title contender like UCLA, but the Los Angeles area offers a range of strong academic and campus experiences that can complement different competitive levels and goals.
Here are a few other local institutions athletes and families might explore as part of a broader college search:
Exploring a mix of athletic levels, academic focuses, and campus environments can help you find the right fit rather than chasing name recognition alone.
For gymnasts inspired by seeing Chiles and UCLA excel, the recruiting process can feel both exciting and overwhelming. Sorting through hundreds of potential schools, understanding where you realistically fit, and keeping track of coaches, deadlines, and visits is a lot to juggle.
That is where tools like Pathley come in. The Pathley College Directory lets you explore colleges across the country in one place, compare basic details, and start building a shortlist of programs that match your academic, athletic, and location preferences.
If you are ready to get more personalized, you can use Pathley Chat as your AI recruiting assistant. It can help you think through realistic college matches, polish your recruiting resume, and organize ideas for outreach to coaches.
And when you are set to take the next step, you can create a free Pathley profile to unlock AI-powered college matching, save schools like UCLA and others to your list, and get tailored insights on where you might thrive both in the gym and in the classroom.
As the 2026 season unfolds, the Nebraska meet will likely be remembered as the night Chiles finally nailed her first perfect 10 vault in Westwood. But for UCLA’s coaching staff and athletes, it may also stand out as a benchmark of what this team can be at its best.
With a 197.325 score, a 49.625 beam rotation that ranks among the best in program history, and an all-around sweep led by one of the sport’s biggest stars, UCLA showed that its push for an eighth NCAA title is more than just preseason talk.
If the Bruins continue to stack meets like this one, maintain health, and fine-tune landings and small execution details, they will remain firmly in the conversation for the 2026 national championship. And for athletes watching from home, it is a reminder of the level of precision, depth, and poise required to compete at the highest level of collegiate gymnastics.
