UCLA gymnastics hoping to inspire a new generation | College News

Janelle McDonald remembers settling into the sector as a younger gymnast in Washington, watching the Huskies and the now-defunct Seattle Pacific University girls’s gymnastics workforce compete in faculty meets.

Exposure to the game and finally Onnie Willis — a fellow Washington native and the primary UCLA gymnast to change into an NCAA all-around champion — offered McDonald with a thrill as she turned to teaching gymnastics as a high schooler in 1999.

“In my gymnastics career, and as a coach, I was definitely inspired by a lot of former Bruins,” McDonald mentioned. “I loved NCAA gymnastics because of the energy and the joy and the passion that’s out there on the competition floor.”

Now, a new generation of gymnasts will get a firsthand have a look at the game when No. 6 UCLA hosts No. 5 Michigan State at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday afternoon within the first gymnastics meet broadcast by Fox. The Bruins and Spartans are the highest two Big Ten applications and have the highest 4 all-around gymnasts within the convention: UCLA’s Jordan Chiles and Chae Campbell and Michigan State’s Nikki Smith and Olivia Zsarmani.

UCLA, which has recorded three scores of 197 factors or more in a row, is no stranger to national tv or going viral — having competed on ABC a number of instances since final season.

“To be able to be one of the teams that gets to be [competing for] the first time on Fox, I think that that’s a pretty exciting thing,” McDonald, the Bruins’ third-year coach, mentioned. “We get to be the team that gets to show, hopefully, a whole new audience what NCAA gymnastics is about.”

It wasn’t long in the past that Macy McGowan was one of these gymnasts tuning in for UCLA meets. The freshman, who has competed on flooring train, uneven bars and vault in all 4 meets this season, grew up in Seattle however mentioned competing in Westwood was at all times her dream.

McGowan mentioned she remembers tuning into Christine Peng-Peng Lee’s vlogs on YouTube, watching the NCAA steadiness beam champion on UCLA’s 2018 national championship workforce share what being a gymnast in Westwood was like.

“[The vlogs] just made me want to come here,” McGowan mentioned.

Now, McGowan will compete in entrance of gymnasts like Lee at Saturday’s alumni meet.

“I feel like I’m settling in well,” McGowan mentioned concerning the begin of her faculty profession. “It feels different from competing in club [gymnastics]. I have the same mindset when competing … but we’re on a team now.”

McDonald mentioned McGowan is a uncommon freshman who doesn’t need the teaching workers’s help to rise to “competitive moments.” Instead, she focuses on week-to-week restoration with meets occurring at larger regularity in contrast to the membership degree. Her mentality has paid off to date, as she has scored 9.8 or above in all however three routines.

“She innately has competitive greatness in her,” McDonald mentioned. “She gets to meets and she locks in. There’s a spark in her eye when she’s out there competing.”

Senior Emma Malabuyo is one of the veterans on the roster who has helped ease McGowan’s transition to faculty — not simply athletically but additionally academically. Malabuyo roomed with the freshman during the final three meets and considers McGowan one of her closest teammates.

Malabuyo represented the Philippines on the 2024 Paris Olympics and is ranked third within the nation on steadiness beam with a 9.925 average rating throughout the primary 4 meets. The two-time All-American mentioned she views the workforce’s latest scores as a benchmark and believes UCLA can rating even larger.

“Honestly, we are just grazing the surface of what we’re capable of,” Malabuyo mentioned. “I think we can even get better and better.”

McDonald, who traveled with Malabuyo to Paris as her coach on the Olympics, agreed along with her gymnast.

“We’re really excited about where we’re at but we still got a lot of work to do to really make sure that when the season is wrapping up, we’re where we want to be and we’re the team that we want to be,” McDonald mentioned.