Oklahoma had won two of the last three gymnastics national championships. The Sooners appeared in 11 of the past 13 finals.
For UCLA to win its first NCAA national championship since 2018 — and eighth overall — the Bruins were going to have to show their best on every rotation to take down the recent titans of the sport.
And at first, the Bruins could believe.
Oklahoma scored a 49.615 on balance beam, an event in which it is ranked No. 1 nationally. UCLA responded with an identical score on floor exercise, its signature event, with Jordan Chiles’ almost-flawless routine — receiving three perfect 10s from six judges en route to a meet-high 9.9750.
UCLA’s Jordan Chiles runs to celebrate with her team after competing on the beam during the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday.
(Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press)
But to finish first in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday afternoon, the Bruins needed the Sooners to stumble like they did when they tied their worst score of the season at the national semifinal. Under pressure, the Sooners did the opposite. Outpacing UCLA in every event from the second rotation onward, Oklahoma claimed the 2025 NCAA gymnastics national championship with a 198.0125 final score, four-tenths higher than the second-place Bruins, who ended the meet with a 197.6125 overall.
“I didn’t think second place was gonna sting as much as it does, but I think when you’re in a competitive sport getting so close, it does sting,” UCLA coach Janelle McDonald told reporters in Fort Worth. “If you had told me last year, or even at the beginning of the season, that we would finish in second — I would be ecstatic.”
Missouri finished in third place and Utah was last.
Whether it was Oklahoma all-arounder Faith Torrez scoring a 9.9365 on floor and vault or Audrey Davis’ national-title clinching uneven bars routine, the Sooners hit on each event to return to the top of the NCAA podium as the Bruins failed to make up ground.
If it wasn’t for Oklahoma, everything else was falling UCLA’s way.
Former Pac-12 rival Utah battled rare-shaky performances on balance beam — including a fall from All-American Grace McCallum — while Missouri never threatened second place, only recording five 9.9 or higher scores during the meet.
Fifth-year graduate student Chae Campbell, in her final meet as a Bruin, notched 9.90-plus scores on two of four events, finishing eighth in the all-around competition. Campbell, fighting back tears during the post-meet news conference, reminisced about her final floor routine — bringing back her sophomore-year choreography — as a Bruin.
“I’ll never get tired of that feeling of finishing a floor routine and nailing it for the team,” Campbell said. “I don’t know when, or if I’ll ever get the same gratification that I get when I compete for UCLA.”
UCLA celebrates earning second place during the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday.
(Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press)
Chiles, who became NCAA uneven bars champion on Thursday evening, kept UCLA within four-tenths of Oklahoma heading into the final rotation with a team-high 9.9625 score.
For Chiles, her junior-year return to Westwood ended a cut above her first year in blue and gold when the Bruins fell in the national semifinals. Embroiled in the 2024 Paris Olympics floor exercise bronze medal controversy, Chiles forged ahead and led UCLA to a Big Ten Championship in its first year in the conference. She ended the national championship with a 39.7750 all-around score, the best of the meet.
Closing the national championship on balance beam, seniors Emily Lee and Emma Malabuyo book-ended the Bruins final rotation with a 9.9250 and a 9.9375, respectively.
As Oklahoma celebrated at Dickies Arena — close to a tradition since the NCAA switched the final round from the Super Six to Four on the Floor in 2018 — Lee and Malabuyo, who arrived at UCLA in the same freshman class, consoled each other and their teammates in tears.
“Heading into this year, [the seniors] wanted to make sure they left this program better than they found it, and they showed up every single day to do just that,” McDonald said. “They’ve rewritten this chapter and now we can look forward to the future knowing that they’ve laid a foundation for us to build upon.”
It wasn’t just about falling short in the national championship, but for Bruins including Campbell, it is the end of their collegiate careers.
“I’ve seen this program at its worst, I’ve seen it at its best now,” said Campbell, who competed for former UCLA coach Chris Waller before he resigned in 2022. “The goal was to have the legacy restored, and I think we did that.”
