“The best show in LA” is going national.
The UCLA gymnastics team — and its favorite catchphrase — is headed to the biggest stage in the sport for the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Bruins’ mantra helped them get there, coach Janelle McDonald trotting it out once more heading into the team’s final rotation at the regional meet earlier this month. UCLA was in third place at the time, needing a superb showing on the floor exercise to advance.
“I just remember standing there and Janelle was like, ‘We are the best show in LA for a reason — this is no different than any other meet we’ve ever been at,’ ” senior Ciena Alipio recalled. “ ‘I don’t want you guys to worry about scores, I want you to go out there and just put on a show and do what we do best.’ ”
Buoyed by those words, the Bruins dominated. Ashlee Sullivan’s 9.900 on the floor ensured that UCLA would advance, and Jordan Chiles’ perfect 10 secured the regional victory — the team’s first since 2019.
That triumph vaulted the No. 4 Bruins (32-2) into a semifinal with No. 1 Oklahoma — the defending national champion — as well as No. 9 Arkansas and No. 13 Minnesota at 6 p.m. PT on Thursday at Dickies Arena. The meet will be televised by ESPN2.
The top two teams from the session will advance to the final Saturday alongside two other teams from an earlier semifinal round involving No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Georgia and No. 7 Stanford.
Alipio and Chiles are among six UCLA gymnasts on the current team who competed at last year’s NCAA Championships, where the Bruins finished as runners-up.
Chiles has the most championships experience among the Bruins, having competed with the team in 2023 and 2025 and as an individual on bars and floor in 2022. In 2023, Chiles won the uneven bars title with a 10 and the floor title with a 9.9875.
McDonald said Chiles’ magnificent skill is only part of what makes the two-time Olympian such a great leader.
“She really leads with her passion and her heart,” McDonald said of Chiles, who has tallied eight perfect 10s this season. “She really is connected to the team and really wants what’s best for the team, and I think when you have one of your top athletes showing up with that mentality each and every day, it really sets the right example and your culture of what it’s about and how to be great.”
UCLA will begin on uneven bars followed by the balance beam, floor exercise and the vault. The Bruins are seeking their first national championship since 2018, having almost broken through with another title in 2025 inside the same venue where they’ll compete this week.
“We could taste a national championship last year — it was so close,” Alipio said. “So that has fueled the team a lot this year, and it has just helped propel us into our season that we’ve been having because we know what it could be like, and I think that has really been a driving factor. Everybody wants it so bad, so we just keep talking about it.”
If the Bruins find themselves needing a boost, they can go back to the saying that continues to resonate. They are the best show in LA — and maybe the country.
“I think that’s something that is really helpful and we’re going to definitely carry with us to nationals,” Alipio said, “because when we’re on such a big stage like nationals is, being able to kind of keep the calm and do what we do in the gym is going to be the most important thing at the end of the day.”
