LOS ANGELES — Nya Reed danced in front of an imaginary audience to Taylor Swift’s “22” wearing the UCLA gymnastics team’s latest meet-day accessory — a glittering UCLA Bruin logo the size of a dinner plate hanging from a thick, gold-colored chain.
Her celebration was merited after a breakout performance on vault at Pauley Pavilion and especially after the week of tough love that the Bruins had given each other.
Reed was one of multiple Bruins to reach one or more season-best scores against Arizona on Sunday afternoon as UCLA continued on its path of steady improvement to surpass a 198 team score and beat the Wildcats 198.075-196.525.
“I wasn’t mean,” Selena Harris, whose 39.775 all-around score is third-highest in the nation, said, “but I was just like, we need to hit these goals. Some of the goals we were setting weren’t ambitious enough.”
Surpassing a 198 team score is something that only three other teams in the country had done heading into Sunday. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 5 LSU and No. 22 Ball State had each reached that mark or higher.
The Bruins’ 49.750 in floor exercise was the sixth-highest in program history. They closed out the meet with back-to-back 9.975s from Reed and Harris, while freshman Katelyn Harris scored a 9.950 to claim second place in the event.
Chae Campbell was a late scratch in the event due to a minor injury that flared up, but Emma Andres stepped in for a 9.925 in her competitive debut on floor.
Reed said she was feeling about 70% healthy just before her floor routine and was applying heat to her knee before stepping onto the mat.
“If I can do that when I’m at 70,” Reed said, I’m pretty sure my 100% is going to be…”
“A 10,” Harris said, finishing the sentence.
Reed, a graduate transfer from Florida, had a breakout performance on vault, scoring a season-high 9.950. It was a dramatic improvement from her previous high of 9.850 and prompted the chain-laden celebration.
The Bruins had the top…
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