At the U.S. worlds trials in September, Tiana Sumanasekera scored over 13.0 points on bars for the first time in her career. She was ecstatic. After years of struggling on her weakest event, she felt that all her hard work was starting to pay off.
One year earlier, Sumanasekera was one of the most successful junior elites with major potential on beam and floor. She won four gold medals, including the all around, at the Jesolo Trophy, three golds and a silver medal at the Pan American Championships, as well as gold on floor at the U.S. championships.
The brilliant results, though, failed to mask an issue that jeopardized her all-around scores: she consistently failed to hit 12.0 points on bars.
At the end of her last junior season in the summer of 2022, Sumanasekera realized that if she wanted to make a real run to achieve her Olympic dreams, she needed a coaching change. That September, she moved from West Valley, California, to World Champions Centre, in Texas, where she started training with Laurent and Cécile Landi.
She had a successful first senior season in 2023. She won three medals at the Pan American Championships, including gold in the all around, won gold with the team at the Pan American Games, and was named to the U.S. national team.
Given the results, Sumanasekera feels “extremely happy” with the gym switch and her first year as a senior. She’s improved on all events and, in particular, she’s made evident progress on bars. “It was extremely frustrating seeing very low scores on bars and not knowing how to fix it. Being able to hit a 13.0 this year was one of the best feelings,” she said. “I’m not saying my bars are amazing right now, but I have come such a long way. I used to absolutely hate bars; but now I just don’t like it.”
It was in June, right in the middle of her elite season, that Sumanasekera entered the recruiting process as a five-star recruit. Due to her busy schedule, it wasn’t easy to find the time to visit her preferred schools, but every university proved accommodating.
She initially planned five visits. She visited Cal in early September and, after a hiatus due to elite competitions, she paid visits to UCLA and Florida in the first two weeks of November. While she didn’t have a No. 1 school in mind, she explained, she wanted “to be part of a program that I felt most at home. I was looking for great academics, team, coaches, environment [and] support system.”
After her Florida visit, she decided she’d seen enough. She canceled the two remaining visits, gathered all the information she had, and went over the details. The decision proved difficult because each school offered great opportunities but, she said, “it really came down to which school I loved the most and would be the best fit for me.” That school was UCLA.
As Sumanasekera reviewed the schools she’d visited, she didn’t know that two of her future teammates were doing the same and reaching her same conclusion. Four-star recruits Jordis Eichman and Nola Matthews were on Sumanasekera’s same visits to both UCLA and Florida. While they knew that they had all enjoyed their UCLA visit, the three gymnasts didn’t know the others’ intentions until the week after the Florida visit. After gathering their thoughts, they had a group call, where they found out they had all decided to commit to UCLA.
Once the enthusiasm subsided, they planned to announce their commitments on the same day “to add some extra excitement” to the already exceptional news. Thanks to Sumanasekera, Eichman, Matthews and three-star recruit Ava-Marie Callahan, UCLA currently sits in second in the school rankings of the class of 2025.
To Sumanasekera, UCLA felt like home. She loved her future teammates, with whom she’s already close, as well as the coaches, who, she said, “are amazing people and are so passionate about what they do.” Plus, she’s delighted to move back to California.
After following NCAA gymnastics assiduously for a few years, she can’t wait to compete in college and contribute to her future team. “I absolutely love the energy that UCLA gymnastics has, I can’t wait to be a part of that special team,” she said. “I would love to do my best individually, as well as contribute to the team to win a national championship title.”
As an Olympic hopeful and UCLA commit, Sumanasekera can now argue with conviction that gymnastics is a tough sport, but the opportunities that come with it have made up for the hard work. “In my early years I would not have even dreamt of representing Team USA and competing internationally or committing to UCLA,” she said. “I kept working hard and went with where it took me. I am so incredibly proud of how far I have come. I know my younger self would be in awe right now.”
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
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