UCLA women’s gymnastics team advances to Super Six championship

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UCLA’s top-ranked women’s gymnastics team won the afternoon session at the NCAA championships in Athens, Ga. Thursday, moving the Bruins into Friday’s Super Six team final.

Utah and Oklahoma placed second and third and also advanced.

UCLA was tied for third place halfway through the events but used meet-best scores in its final two disciplines -- floor exercise and vault -- to forge ahead. The Bruins’ winning score was 196.875. Utah came in at 196.625 and Oklahoma at 196.550.

Vanessa Zamarripa tied for third in the session’s all-around competition and qualified for Saturday’s individual championships in the vault and floor exercise. Other UCLA gymnasts to qualify were Anna Li in the vault and uneven bars, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs in the vault and Brittani McCullough in the floor exercise.

McCullough had a career-high tying mark of 9.925 in the floor exercise, and Zamarripa had 9.9s in the floor exercise and vault to fuel UCLA’s rally.

-- Mike Hiserman