FILIPINO-AMERICAN Emma Malabuyo scored high in three events for the University of California-Los Angeles Bruins as they turned back the Stanford University Cardinals, 197.675-197.100, on Sunday in a Senior Day meet at home in Los Angeles.
The Bruins relied on solid performances in the balance beam and the floor exercise in the final two rotations to take the over half-point win before a record-setting crowd of 12,918 fans at Pauley Pavilion.
It was UCLA’s ninth straight time to score 197 or higher, with each graduating senior having their shining moment, in their clash with the Cardinals, who saw action with Paris Olympian and Malabuyo’s teammate with the Philippine squad in Levi Jung Ruivivar.
UCLA’s latest achievement came after securing the Big Ten regular-season title as it gets ready for the regionals.
The 22-year-old Malabuyo, who represented the Philippines at the Paris Olympics, registered 9.925 in the beam, 9.900 in the floor and 9.875 in the bars.
Her time to shine came at the beam in the third rotation, when Malabuyo did a clean wolf turn, followed by a slightly off-center back handstand, layout-stepout move.
Malabuyo then did a front aerial to beat jump and transitioned to a back handstand swing-down combo, before executing another split jump, split ring, off-center landing.
She recovered with full-gainer back handstand and finished with a stuck landing for a 9.925.
While at the floor in the fourth rotation, Malabuyo started her routine with a double pike, leaping high with a controlled landing.
From there, she did a switch ring to switch half, transitioned to a clean double wold turn, a good back one-and-a-half back somersault to front lay, which saw the judges give her a 9.9.
Junior Jordan Chiles led with a 39.750 all-around score, a new season high for any gymnast in the Big Ten Conference.
Chiles scored 9.950 in the vault, uneven bars and floor exercise to win four individual events, including the all-around, and added a season-high-tying 9.900 in the balance beam.
“Today, was a really special day. I can’t say enough about our senior class. They’ve been through so much in their journey as Bruins, had a lot of change throughout the course of their career. Going into this year, they decided they wanted to leave a better legacy than they walked into,” said coach Janelle McDonald on social media.
