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Norah Flatley, Jordan Chiles Represent UCLA Gymnastics at NCAA Individual Championships

The Bruins had two representative in Forth Worth, with the senior Flatley squeezing onto the podium for beam and the all-around.

Sam Connon

Norah Flatley, Jordan Chiles Represent UCLA Gymnastics at NCAA Individual Championships
Norah Flatley, Jordan Chiles Represent UCLA Gymnastics at NCAA Individual Championships /

While the entire Bruins' squad wasn't able to make the trip to Fort Worth, a freshman and senior made the most out of their trip down south.

UCLA gymnastics' Jordan Chiles and Norah Flatley competed in the NCAA individual championships on Thursday. The duo joined Missouri and Michigan, respectively, in their rotations in the second session of the NCAA team semifinals, a bid the Bruins missed out on by just a few inches and fractions of a point two weeks ago in the Raleigh Regional.

Flatley hit on all four of her routines in the all-around, posting a 39.600 to help her place seventh. That big run started on floor, when Flatley scored a 9.8875.

The next rotation featured Flatley on vault, as she posted yet another 9.8875. Flately was nothing if not consistent as the afternoon progress, posting an identical 9.8875 score on bars on the next rotation.

Flatley broke out of that streak on beam, where she swung big and wound up with a 9.9375. That score was good enough to put Flatley in an eight-way tie for fourth on beam – her highest placement of the day.

Chiles, who had qualified to compete on floor and bars at regionals, was not able to match Flatley 4-for-4 efficiency.

The freshman Olympic silver medalist missed on a piked Jaeger to open her bars routine. Chiles got back up and ended with a strong full-twisting double back dismount to salvage a 9.3375, and that recovery led into her bounce back performance on floor.

Chiles went for 9.925 on her signature event, but since there were 16 scores of 9.900 or higher in the late session alone, that only put her in a tie for 14th overall.

Flatley was able to earn First Team All-American honors on beam, plus a nod to the All-American Second Team in the all-around, with her performance Thursday. Chiles, meanwhile, picked up Second Team All-American honors on floor.

The pair of Bruins made sure there was still some true blue and gold representation in Forth Worth – not maize and gold. Utah was the only Pac-12 program competing in the team semifinals, but Flatley and Chiles were joined by Oregon State's Jade Carey, Arizona's Sirena Linton and Stanford's Kyla Bryant in repping the West Coast.

Oklahoma and Utah were the top-two teams in the early session, while Florida and Auburn advanced from the late session, meaning Flatley and Chiles were unable to bring Missouri or Michigan any stroke of good luck.

The NCAA championships will take place at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and this will be the second year in a row that UCLA will not be taking part after participating in each of the previous four.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon was the Publisher and Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s All Bruins from 2021 to 2023. He is now a staff writer at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s Fastball. He previously covered UCLA football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, cross country and golf for The Daily Bruin from 2017 to 2021, serving as the paper's Sports Editor from 2019 to 2020. Connon has also been a contributor for 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' BruinBlitz, Dash Sports TV, SuperWestSports, Prime Time Sports Talk, The Sports Life Blog and Patriots Country, Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s New England Patriots site. His work as a sports columnist has been awarded by the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon graduated from UCLA in June 2021 and is originally from Winchester, Massachusetts.

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