In a big surprise, Jordan Chiles and UCLA fail to make NCAA gymnastics final

A surprisingly shaky semifinal night for UCLA gymnastics had the Bruins leaving Fort Worth early after finishing in third place in the NCAA national semifinals.

An early fall from Jordan Chiles followed by some wobbly jumps in the final rotations were too much to overcome as No. 13 seed Minnesota stunned in its final rotation on bars and national favorite Oklahoma was steady throughout. The top two teams qualified for the championship on Saturday.

The No. 4 seed Bruins had a score of 197.2750, 0.1875 behind Oklahoma and Minnesota and just ahead of No. 9 seed Arkansas, which was also eliminated. UCLA was the only top-four seed not to advance.

Chiles won the individual floor title with a score of 9.9750, her second NCAA floor championship.

UCLA (18-3) was 0.1250 out of second place after a rotation after Chiles’ error cost the Bruins on bars and they had to count Nola Matthews’ 9.7625, the lowest score to count for any team in the first rotation.

Chiles ended the Bruins’ first rotation with a handstand fall from the high uneven bar to start and had to restart his routine, costing him a half-point reduction. She won the bars championships in 2023 and 2025.

In any case, it was his first fall since his fall on the bars in February 2025.

The 9.3625 was removed from UCLA’s bars score and eliminated Chiles from the all-around early in the night.

Oklahoma led the first rotation with a stellar performance on vault, with no scores lower than 9.9375.

The Bruins didn’t bounce back quickly on beam in the second rotation. After a strong performance from freshman Tiana Sumanasekera, she didn’t hold up the downhill and finished with 9.8250, the lowest score.

Chiles, however, bounced back with a clean beam and came down for a score of 9.9500 to put the Bruins back in contention. Senior Ciena Alipio closed out the rotation at 9.9375, but UCLA remained 0.0750 off the lead with Minnesota’s floor game near perfect.

Luckily for the Bruins, next in the rotation was their best event: floor.

Sophomore Mika Webster-Longin notched a 9.8875 to put the Bruins within a whisker of second place and Sumanasekera put them narrowly ahead of Minnesota near the end of the rotation.

Ashlee Sullivan’s 9.9375 routine put the Bruins in first place for the first time all day and Chiles finished with a 9.9750, the highest floor score of the day and allowed the Bruins to hang on by 0.2250.

“All we’re talking about right now is it’s not over until it’s over,” Alipio told ESPN after the floor was rotated. “We are adopting it today.”

Katelyn Rosen missed her vault and earned a 9.2125 that the Bruins had to overcome in the final rotation. Webster-Longin also faltered on his outing and his 9.5875 had to count.

Riley Jenkins and Sullivan recovered and Chiles got a 9.8875, but it was far too late. This ended Chiles’ career at UCLA and the Bruins are still without a national title since 2018.

LSU and Florida advanced earlier today and will face Oklahoma and Minnesota in the Final Four.