Lee’s perfect 10 leads gymnastics to fourth-place Super Six finish

Valorie Kondos Field had just one word.

“Finally!” the UCLA gymnastics head coach said with outstretched arms on ESPNU right after Peng-Peng Lee scored her first perfect 10 on beam on her last collegiate routine.

The senior’s career-high on beam led UCLA to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships on Saturday in St. Louis. The Bruins finished with a 197.1 while Oklahoma sewed up its second straight national championship with a dominant 198.3875, which was the highest team score ever at a Super Six.

LSU finished second with a 197.7375, followed by Florida’s 197.7. Utah (196.5875) and Alabama (196.0) rounded out the field.

UCLA stumbled on its first event while chasing its seventh national title. Starting on their weakest event, the Bruins scored only 49.0 on vault, more than two-tenths lower than its season average and the meet’s lowest vault team score.

Led by Lee, UCLA surged on the final three events. The fifth-year senior put up one of UCLA’s three scores of 9.9 or higher on bars as UCLA scored a 49.4375. Kyla Ross, who tied for the individual NCAA title on the event Friday, led the team with a 9.95, followed by Madison Kocian‘s 9.9375 and Lee’s 9.9. The Bruins rattled off five hit routines to avoid having to count a fall on the event after Sonya Meraz missed her major release skill in the lead-off position.

Lee’s fourth perfect 10 of the year, and UCLA’s 10th, paced the Bruins to a 49.4875 on beam as Katelyn Ohashi added a 9.95.

Lee, a former Canadian national team member who specializes on uneven bars and beam, is known for unique skills on both events. On beam, she starts her routine with Homa flares, which are named for former UCLA gymnast Leah Homa, and is one of only a few gymnasts in the world to have ever competed the skill. While the basic requirement for all beam routines is a full, 360-degree turn, Lee ups the ante with a double turn. She lands her back handspring-back layout series on the four-inch beam on two feet instead of the more common walk-out technique. The perfect score at nationals was a long-awaited reward for her showmanship and risk-taking, Kondos Field said.

“All I was focusing was not even doing a perfect routine, just go out there, have fun, inspire my teammates,” Lee told Pac-12 Networks. “I told them I did it for them right after the routine. It was all for them.”

Kocian and senior Hallie Mossett scored matching 9.9125s on floor as the team scored 49.3375 on its final event.

UCLA’s fourth-place finish is its highest since 2013 when it took fourth at the championship meet hosted at Pauley Pavilion.