FILIPINO-AMERICAN bet Emma Malabuyo is set to see action for the University of California-Los Angeles Bruins as they fight for the conference’s women’s gymnastics honors in Ann Arbor, Michigan this weekend.
The Bruins will be the no. 1 seeded team in the Big Ten finals, ahead of second-ranked Minnesota, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.
Their next challenge comes after the Bruins’ nine-game winning streak got halted on Saturday night, when they fell to No. 5 Utah, 198.100-197.425, in their regular conference encounter at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
Competing before a sold-out crowd of 15,558, the Bruins ended strong in the balance beam in the final rotation, scoring 49.450.
Emily Lee led with a 9.900, with Mika Webster-Longin debuting in the event with a 9.800.
After that, Chae Campbell hit a career-high 9.950 and their pair Ciena Alipio and Malabuyo each scored and closing highs with 9.900s.
During the final rotation, the 22-year-old Malabuyo did a clean, full wolf turn, followed by a back handstand and neat layout-stepout move. After that front aerial to beat jump, which transitioned to backhand handstand swingdown, Malabuyo went through with a split jump to split ring, without wobbling.
Malabuyo, a Paris Olympics’ veteran representing the Philippines, is currently No. 7 in the national rankings with a national qualifying score of 9.925 and holds a season average of 9.902.
Earlier in the floor exercise in the third rotation, the Bruins also started out strong with 9.850s from Webster-Longin and Malabuyo.
But the Bruins’ floor score of 49.375 was beaten by Utah’s 49.600 in the beam, on the strength of a perfect 10 from senior Grace McCallum.
Callum’s result put Utah in the lead, going into the final rotation.
So far, Malabuyo has scored 9.900 or higher in eight of 10 meets this season, with a high of 9.975, and has earned Top 2 finishes in eight meets, including a team-best five wins.
