Utah vs. UCLA gymnastics has always been an epic rivalry. And on Friday, both teams brought the firepower.
Utah freshman Grace McCallum — a member of the silver-medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in Tokyo — earned her first career 10.0 on bars, with her usual ridiculously clean form, and a dismount stuck so perfectly it looked like it surprised her:
GRACE MCCALLUM PERFECT 10 🌟@grace_mccallum2 | @UtahGymnastics pic.twitter.com/T61RQcIyRO
— espnW (@espnW) February 5, 2022
McCallum’s Olympic teammate Jordan Chiles, competing for opposing team UCLA, then answered with her own career high. She earned a 9.925 for an ultra-difficult routine that’s one of the toughest in all of NCAA gymnastics — and she hit every handstand to the nth degree:
JORDAN CHILES … WOW 🤯🤯@ChilesJordan | @UCLAGymnastics pic.twitter.com/d6Yj5SGEto
— espnW (@espnW) February 5, 2022
Finally, Chiles brought the house down in her home arena with a floor routine featuring a lofty double layout mount and a superwoman dive roll, scoring a perfect 10.0 of her own:
PERFECT 10 FOR JORDAN CHILES 🤩 @uclagymnastics#ThatsaW pic.twitter.com/uQZHFn6xv5
— ESPN (@espn) February 5, 2022
Chiles won the individual all-around, but Utah edged UCLA in the end, 197.750 to 197.650, aka about as close as two teams can get.
“At the end of the day I’m just going out there and having fun,” Chiles said to ESPN’s Sam Peszek at the end of the meet.