LOS ANGELES \u2014 Ciena Alipio stared up at the Pauley Pavilion crowd as she took a deep breath from under the uneven bars, the weight of years of yet-realized effort lifting off her shoulders as the senior leaped from the ground to swing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so excited and nervous at the same time,\u201d Alipio said. \u201cI hadn\u2019t competed bars or floor (exercise) in Pauley before.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pauley Pavilion crowd, made up mostly of UCLA gymnastics die-hards at the preseason Meet The Bruins intrasquad meet on Dec. 21, roused with cheers in notice of Alipio\u2019s bars routine as she stuck her dismount. Teammate Jordan Chiles hopped in the air as her screams reverberated across the sparsely filled arena, before grasping Alipio\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
Injuries, including a thumb injury in her fourth practice at UCLA after falling off the bars, and timing had kept the senior Bruin off the events in which she flourished across her elite career before arriving in Westwood in 2022. Alipio had represented the United States National Team four times, finishing ninth in the all-around at the 2022 U.S. Classic.<\/p>\n
Yes, Alipio had her star turn on the balance beam, becoming the 2025 Big Ten beam champion, with a perfect 10, and a first-team All-American on the event. However, the San Jose native missed the rest \u2013 the imaginative display of floor exercise and the power attached to bars.<\/p>\n
So when the 2025 season ended and Alipio met with the coaching staff ahead of the 2026 season, she had one thought on her mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of last season, I really knew, I only have one year of gymnastics left \u2013 I really want to make the most of it,\u201d Alipio said. \u201c(I told the coaches), I just want to do what I can. I want you guys to be able to rely on me if we need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Janelle McDonald was game. Alipio \u2013 along with junior Katelyn Rosen \u2013 remained in Westwood and trained all summer, trying to advance skill set and consistency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had conversations about what was possible, and I really thought that if she went through the summer and just really dialed in some of her technique and her consistency on floor and bars that she absolutely could be in the picture for lineups for us,\u201d McDonald said of Alipio, the Bruins\u2019 beam specialist, with nine 9.9-or-higher beam scores in 2025. \u201cAnd she really did just that. She trained all summer long.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t about just checking boxes, McDonald said. For Alipio to be in the conversation for lineups \u2013 or as the gymnast put it herself, \u201con the bubble\u201d \u2013 she needed to prove that she was all in on the grind on numerous events.<\/p>\n
UCLA\u2019s fourth-year coach added that as Alipio\u2019s offseason commitment rose, so did her voice in the gym.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think going into your senior year with that mentality, it\u2019s just so inspiring, because it\u2019s so easy to just be comfortable and to rely on kind of your experience at that point,\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n
Alipio was once the quiet gymnast off to the side while longtime Bruins, such as Margzetta Frazier or Chae Campbell, led the way in practices and meets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of just took a back seat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Alipio said last year she felt her confidence in team meetings blossom into a role where she felt comfortable to voice her opinion. Alipio, now outnumbered by underclassmen on the 2026 roster, has learned to raise her leadership pitch in support of her new teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though you don\u2019t think that you\u2019re a leader,\u201d said freshman Tiana Sumanasekera, who turned to Alipio during media availability earlier this week. \u201cI know you say you\u2019re not that vocal, but you, you really help us whenever we need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sumanasekera, also a former United States gymnast with elite experience, said that just a week ago, Alipio recognized that a few Bruins needed a shoulder to lean on \u2013 and immediately stepped in. McDonald said Alipio has become that pulse she can turn to from a coaches\u2019 perspective as well.<\/p>\n
Whether Alipio debuts competitive routines on bars and floor Saturday in No. 4 UCLA\u2019s season-opening quad meet, against No. 17 Oregon State, No. 20 Cal and No. 34 Washington in Seattle, is yet to be decided.<\/p>\n
But Alipio\u2019s growth in commitment in and out of the gym will be on full display from the moment UCLA\u2019s first rotation begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf for some odd reason, tomorrow was my last day of gymnastics, I think I\u2019d be very content with where I\u2019m at,\u201d Alipio said, \u201cand what I was able to accomplish over summer and just in preseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Best of the West Quad<\/p>\n
Who: No. 4 UCLA, No. 17 Oregon State, No. 20 Cal and No. 34 Washington<\/p>\n
When: Saturday, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
Where: Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle<\/p>\n
TV: B1G+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Ciena Alipio stared up at the Pauley Pavilion crowd as she took a deep breath…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10990,1327,63156,48,52,51,47,50,49,127,10992],"class_list":["post-119322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-big-ten-conference","tag-college-sports","tag-gymnastics","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-sports","tag-ucla-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}