UCLA at California

Recap

The Big Storyline: After trailing through one rotation, California posted school records on back-to-back events to surge to a historic win over visiting UCLA. Emi Watterson notched her first career perfect 10 on bars in only her second bar routine of the season to lead the Golden Bears to a massive 49.825 on the event that ties the NCAA record on bars (with UCLA from 2004). Watterson also won the beam title en route to California posting a school record 49.500 before matching that number on floor to close the meet. Moments before Watterson’s perfect routine, Chae Campbell stuck her Yurchenko full on vault to notch a perfect score of her own and lead the Bruins while taking the all around title by a narrow 0.025 margin over California’s Nevaeh DeSouza.

Implications: California now sits alone in second in the Pac-12 regular season standings with one loss and only Washington remaining on the schedule before the conference championship meet. The Golden Bears will also likely continue to surge in the rankings. UCLA will finish third in the regular season Pac-12 standings.

Records: In addition to the various records mentioned above, Campbell set a new career high with her all around total while California becomes the 14th school in NCAA history to hit 198.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 10 UCLA at No. 9 California

Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: California and UCLA both enter this weekend with one loss in Pac-12 conference competition, meaning only the winner stays in the hunt for the regular season championship should Utah stumble in its final conference matchup. The Golden Bears and Bruins are both in unfamiliar territory, however, with Arizona State ranking second in the conference ahead of both teams, so watch both California and UCLA to be hunting down some big scores and look to jump the Sun Devils in the rankings.

You Can Fast Forward, but not Through This: Make sure not to miss UCLA’s floor rotation, headlined by viral routines from Nia Dennis and Margzetta Frazier, as well as an equally impressive set from freshman Chae Campbell. Bars is the highlight event for California, where five lineup regulars have been over 9.900 this season, including freshman Andi Li’s set that is tied for the team’s highest bars score.