UCLA VS UIUC Gymnastics Meet

 The last time I saw UCLA was vs. Clemson in Paley Stadium at UCLA, where I got to get autographs from a few of the UCLA gymnasts. I was fortunate enough to meet Janelle, the head coach, and be the last person in line to get a photo/autograph from Jordon Chiles before they cut off the line, so that was pretty amazing. You can read the article about that meet on the website. 

This past Sunday, on February 22nd, 2026, my dad and I drove up to UIUC to see the gymnastics meet between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Los Angeles. 

The doors to the State Farm Center opened to the public at 3 pm, so we got in line to go through security and then headed to our seats. While we were waiting for the meet to start, we got the chance to watch a few minutes of warm-up before watching in. 

A few minutes before 4 pm, the UCLA team marched into the arena, and the whole team was introduced, with each gymnast's name announced, followed by the coaching staff. Then, after UCLA went, the U of I team got introduced, each gymnast was called, and then each of them ran out of the tunnel. Finally, after both teams were introduced, the national anthem was played. 

UCLA started on bars since they were the away team, and U of I started on vault since they were the home team. 

The first rotation started off strong with UCLA on Bars and six gymnasts were in the last up and five of those scores count. On bars, there were multiple awesome highlights to name a few Nola Matthews scored a 9.850 along with her teammate Ashlee Sulivan who scored a 9.875 with a event score of 49.250. UIUC also started off the meet strong on with Chloe Cho getting a 9.950 along with her teammate Leyden Saltness with an 9.925 and an event score of 49.250.

The second rotation was vault which also was a strong start from the gymnasts in the vault lineup. On vault, there were multiple highlights which included Ashlee Sullivan 9.925 along with teammate Tiana Sumanasekera with an event score of a 49.450. For UIUC, the highlight was Chloe Cho 9.8 which lead the Illinois team to a 48.525 event score.

The third rotation was floor which was another strong start in the lineup. On floor, Jordon Chiles 9.950, Ashlee Sullivan with a score of a 9.950 along with her teammate Nola Matthew’s with a 9.875 that lead the team to an event score of 49.500 For UIUC, the team got an event score of 48.900.

The final rotation was beam ended the evening with many other highlights Ciena Alipio with a 9.950, Tiana Sumanasekara with a 9.925, along with her teammate Jordis Elchman, and a event score of 49.475. For UIUC, the team earned an event score of 48.800.

At the meet there were many Individual places Vault Jordan Chiles with a 9.950, on bars Chloe Cho with a 9.950, on beam Ciena Alipio with a 9.975, and finally on floor was Jordan Chiles with a 9.975.

The all around winners of the meet included Jordon Chiles with a 39.650 and Chloe Cho with a 39.550. Finally, UCLA won with a 197.675 and UIUC with a 195.475

Flashback to the last UCLA meet

UCLA has been my favorite college team for as long as I can remember, all the way back when Kyla Ross, Jordyn Wieber, and Valerie Kondos Fields were coaches for UCLA. Before, Kyla and Jordyn went to Arkansas and Valerie retired from coaches.

It was always my dream to see UCLA compete, whether at home or away, and I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to do both. I feel like when you grow up in the sport of gymnastics. The first college team you watch on TV is the team you are going to start to follow, so that was the case for me. 

Such a fun Sunday at the UIUC vs UCLA gymnastics meet! I miss competing in this sport so so so much. The dream of coaching college gymnastics crosses my mind every day, so being able to be in the same arena as many talented gymnasts. It reminds me of how much I love this sport, why that love will never go away, and why I am so involved in it today through coaching, judging, and my gymnast salute website. 

The floor and beam routines’ choreography was so good, and the vault and bars routines were amazing. Shoutout to BJ for these amazing floor routines I wish I was able to get my floor routine done by BJ. My dream have always been to be involved with UCLA gymnastics team in some way. Another shout out to the UCLA coaching staff Mark, Janelle, Emma, Lacy, and BJ amazing vault, bars, beam, and floor performances. Every time this team blows me away with the high level of talent.

Another highlight from the meet was that I got an autograph from Sydney Barros at the end of the meet as the team needed to head to the bus to get on the plane to fly back to UCLA. I was the reason why the gymnasts behind me got an autograph and a photo because I was brave enough to ask Sydney Barros. We also got to watch Jordon Chiles wave and walk out of the arena. This team inspires me so much!  One day, I hope to be coaching a college team! 

If you are considering going to watch a UCLA or UIUC gymnastics meet I would totally recommend it because they are fun to go watch from the introductions, to the energy introductions in the arena, to the gymnastics in gerernal, and to photos and autographs from the gymnasts competing.