For the 17th time in history and for the first time since 2012, UCLA has won the Pac-12 Championship title. The team clinched the title in the second session today with a 197.250. Second place was a tie between Utah and Oregon State who both scored a 196.925. California followed with a 196.725. Following Cal was the session one teams: Stanford (196.125), Arizona (195.525), Washington (195.300) and Arizona State (191.675).

UCLA’s win is a bit of an upset since rival Utah, ranked four places above them at #5 in the nation, was expected to win. Much of the result came down to the balance beam, which was the undoing of Utah but a huge asset for UCLA.

Utah’s Breanna Hughes won the all-around title with a 39.550, followed by a tie between teammate Baely Rowe and OSU’s Maddie Gardiner, both scoring a 39.500.

Missed the competition today? We’ve provided a full recap below.

Rotation 1 - Utah Struggles Early

Utah started the competition on balance beam. While this is normally a strong event for the Utes, they were forced to compete without their anchor, Maddy Stover, due to a shoulder injury. The struggle started right off the bat with lead off Samantha Partyka falling on her tumbling series. Freshman Makenna Merrell, in to replace Stover, also struggled and fell on her front aerial, causing Utah to count a fall. The Utes rallied at the end and put up some big numbers from Rowe (9.95) and Hughes (9.9).

UCLA also had a bit of a rough start to the competition with a fairly mediocre vault rotation. The main issue for UCLA was small errors like form and steps on the landings. Pua Hall had the highest score of the rotation for her Yurchenko 1 ½, but she had some form issues and scored just a 9.85. In addition, Madison Preston had a scary mistake when he hands slipped on her block, causing her to do a double back off and land on her knees. Fortunately, she was uninjured and this was the only fall for the team.

California had no major errors in their bar rotation, but most of the gymnasts had some form issues like short handstands and big hops on dismount landings which caused them valuable tenths. The best routine came from Jessica Howe who performs two big release moves and stuck her dismount to score a 9.85.

OSU had a solid floor rotation to start the meet off on top, though they also struggled with landing issues. Their best score came from Jamie Radermacher who displayed clean tumbling and had good landings to score a 9.85.

After one, OSU led the meet with a 49.15, followed closely by UCLA (49.125), Cal (49.00) and Utah (48.775.

Rotation 2 - Competition remains close

After a disappointing beam rotation, Utah performed well on floor to boost themselves out of last place. The top of the lineup started things off with Rowe and Merrell both going 9.9 and Tiffani Lewis putting up the high score of 9.925. Hughes and Sabrina Schwab finished things off for the Utes and both scored 9.875 - good numbers, but a bit lower than what they normally get due to a few steps on landings.

Meanwhile, UCLA went to their weakest event - the uneven bars - and had the second best rotation of the season. Danusia Francis started the team off strong with a 9.875, her highest of the year. Melissa Metcalf suffered a fall when she went over on a handstand, but the rest of the lineup did their job and this was the only fall of the rotation. JaNay Honest’s routine was the highlight - she hit her handstands, had huge height on her Tkatchev, and stuck her full in dismount to score a 9.9.

Cal had a decent beam rotation, with a couple of big routines from Desiree Palomares and Emily Richardson, both who scored 9.9. Richardson’s routine was particularly exciting. It was only her 3rd beam routine and she had solid tumbling and one of the best double tuck dismounts, with lots of height and a stick.

OSU had some struggles on vault. Similar to UCLA, their issues mainly came from lack of difficulty combined with little errors here and there. Several gymnasts piked down on landing and had hops and steps here and there. The best of the rotation came from Gardiner who performed a huge Yurchenko full which she stuck to earn a 9.9.

After two, UCLA jumped into first place with a 98.425, followed by a tie between all three remaining competitors at 98.250.

Rotation 3 - UCLA golden on beam

UCLA is one of the best in the country on beam, and they certainly lived up to this reputation in this meet. Their anchor Francis put up the team high of a 9.95, and the rest of the lineup did so well before her that they ended up dropping a 9.9.

Utah built up some good momentum on vault, putting up the highest score on the event out of any team with a 49.400. Although the majority of the lineup performs the Yurchenko full, they do so with such good execution that they get the big numbers. Hughes is the one gymnast who performs the Yurchenko 1 ½, and she did it near perfectly tonight, sticking the landing and scoring a 9.975.

OSU had an okay bars rotation but had some issues with landings on their dismounts, with big hops costing them a lot in deductions. McKenna Singley put up the best routine with great form and almost stuck her dismount to earn a 9.875.

Cal had their best rotation of the meet on floor, where they were anchored by Toni-Ann Williams who had tons of power in all her tumbling. She opened with a huge double layout and ended with a full-in, and scored a 9.925 for the Bears.

UCLA remained at the top after three at 148.000, followed closely by Utah (147.650), Cal (147.625) and OSU (147.400).

Rotation 4 - UCLA hangs on to win it

Both UCLA and Utah ended on strong events for each team. UCLA went to floor, where their scores started a bit lower than usual. Both Katelyn Ohashi and Honest had some big steps in their landings, causing them to score sub-9.9. The rotation was bolstered by Francis and Preston who put up solid performances, but concern started to seep in when Angi Cipra had a few uncharacteristic mistakes. She missed her straddle jump out of her second pass and then sat down her double pike at the end. Sadiqua Bynum anchored and had to score a 9.6 to win the title, and she more than delivered with a huge 9.9 to end the competition.

Utah put up a decent fight at the end, but small errors like short handstands and steps on dismounts kept them behind. Kassandra Lopez put up the high score thanks to her huge Tkatchev and stuck double layout dismount to score a 9.875.

Cal’s vault rotation is one of the more fun ones to watch given how unique their vaults are. It wasn’t their highest scoring event tonight, mainly because of big hops on landings. Arianna Robinson gave the standout performance with her unique front handspring to front double pike, which she stuck to score a 9.9.

OSU put up a huge performance on beam to end their meet, scoring a huge 49.525. Gardiner and Risa Perez had super confident routines with no major noticeable mistakes, and both were rewarded with 9.95s.

UCLA Clinches their 17th Title, Breanna Hughes wins All-Around

At the end of two sessions, UCLA clinched the Pac-12 Championship title. Although Utah did not have their best meet, Breanna Hughes gave the top performance and clinched the all-around title with a 39.550.

On individual events, Breanna Hughes also won the vault title with a 9.975. Bars was a 3-way tie between UCLA’s JaNay Honest, Stanford’s Elizabeth Price, and Washington’s Kaitlyn Duranczyk, who all scored 9.9. The beam title was a 4-way tie between UCLA’s Danusia Francis, Utah’s Baely Rowe, and OSU’s Risa Perez and Maddie Gardiner. The floor title went to Tiffani Lewis who scored a 9.925.

Related:
Pac-12 Championship Session 1 Results: Stanford Clinches Top Spot
Pac-12 Championship Session 2 Results: UCLA wins Title