UCLA to Compete in Columbus Regional

Madison Kocian and the Bruins will begin competition on floor at

Regionals (photo by Richard Quinton)

Competition begins Apr. 7 at 6pm ET at The Ohio State University. 

The third-ranked UCLA Gymnastics team will travel to Columbus, Ohio to compete at the NCAA Columbus Regional. The meet will take place at 6pm ET at the St. John Arena on the Ohio State campus on Saturday, Apr. 7. Joining the Bruins in the Regional will be No. 10 Arkansas, No. 15 Boise State, No. 25 Ohio State, No. 33 Pittsburgh and No. 34 Kent State.

Qualifying as individual all-arounders are Jovannah East from Bowling Green, Emili Dobronics from Eastern Michigan, Lea Mitchell from Michigan State, and Morgan Spence from Western Michigan. East will rotate with the Bruins. Individual event specialists are Western Michigan's Rachael Underwood (vault and floor); Michigan State's Hailee Westney (bars); Eastern Michigan's Kendall Valentin (bars); Bowling Green's Lauren Demeno (vault), Laura Mitchell (beam) and India McPeak (beam); and Ball State's Tia Kiaku (floor).

The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in St. Louis, Mo. April 20-21. In addition, the event winners at each regional will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier.

The Bruins will begin the regional meet on floor exercise and move to vault in rotation two.

Following a bye, their competition will resume in rotation four on uneven bars. UCLA wraps up its day on beam in rotation five and ends on a bye in rotation six. Kent State begins on vault, Ohio State starts on a bye before bars, Pittsburgh begins on bars, Arkansas is on beam, and Boise State begins on a bye before floor.

UCLA has won a total of 22 NCAA Regional titles. The Bruins enter this year's regional with a final RQS of 197.840, its highest year-end RQS since the 2004 squad finished with a RQS of 198.055.

The six regional fields and sites are as follows:

Columbus Regional (at Ohio State), 6 pm ET: No. 3 UCLA, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 15 Boise State, No. 25 Ohio State, No. 33 Pittsburgh, No. 34 Kent State

Minneapolis Regional (at Minnesota), 4 pm CT: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 12 Kentucky, No. 13 Denver, No. 24 Minnesota, No. 28 Iowa State, No. 35 Iowa

Raleigh Regional (at North Carolina State), 4 pm ET: No. 2 LSU, No. 11 Nebraska, No. 14 Oregon State, No. 19 George Washington, No. 20 North Carolina State, No. 31 Maryland

Salt Lake City Regional (at Utah), 4 pm MT: No. 4 Utah, No. 9 California, No. 16 Auburn, No. 21 BYU, No. 26 Stanford, No. 32 Southern Utah

Tuscaloosa Regional (at Alabama), 4 pm CT: No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Michigan, No. 18 Georgia, No. 22 Missouri, No. 23 Illinois, No. 36 Central Michigan

University Park Regional (at Penn State), 4 pm ET: No. 5 Florida, No. 8 Washington, No. 17 Arizona State, No. 27 West Virginia, No. 29 Penn State, No. 30 New Hampshire