focuses

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team enters the NCAA regionals on Friday in Corvallis, Ore., focused on three principles — calm, confidence and commitment to one another. The Bruins started leaning on the mantra to help them stay dialed in as they took home the Big Ten tournament title, Mika Webster-Longin said.

Now, they will use it as they to push to reach the NCAA championship.

“The Big Ten win really feels good and helps our confidence going [into NCAA regionals],” she said. “It felt great to put everything together because I feel like we really built off of one another and showed what we can do to not only the Big Ten competition, but to everyone.”

“It gives us just the right amount of confidence going into regionals and then seeing where it takes us,” Tiana Sumanasekera said.

UCLA gymnasts Nola Matthews, left, and Tiana Sumanasekera, right, cheer as Jordan Chiles lands a jump during her floor exercise routine at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

During the NCAA Corvallis Regional, San José State and Washington will face off for spots in the main pool. No. 4 seed UCLA then competes in one of two sessions on Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 13 seed Minnesota, Iowa and the winner of the Spartans versus Huskies early matchup.

If the Bruins place in the top two, they advance to the regional final on Sunday to face the top two teams in the other regional pool that includes No. 5 seed Alabama, No. 12 seed Utah, Denver and host Oregon State.

The top two teams in the regional final along with the top individual all-around performer and top event finishers not on a qualifying team advance to the NCAA championship.

Last year, UCLA finished in first place during its opening regional matchup and second during the finals, advancing to the championship meet.

The Bruins’ biggest takeaway from last season’s competition has been to be intentional, attack their gymnastics and be aggressive with their routines, UCLA coach Janelle McDonald said.

“The best teams that have the most success at these competitions are the ones that really leave no doubt out there,” she said.

At this point in the season, performing a familiar routine isn’t hard for UCLA. The Bruins’ main focus is on nailing details and to be present during every moment of their routines to score every possible point. With a two-day competition waiting for them in Corvallis, the Bruins also need to make sure they commit to recovery treatment so that they’re as sharp as possible for the second day of competition, McDonald said.

“That’s really been our mentality, be really efficient, very confident, very present and intentional about what we’re doing,” she said.

The stakes are higher, but the conference champions say they will treat this as business as usual. The Bruins want to lock in and highlight the areas that have helped them demonstrate competitive greatness throughout the season.

“Each and every weekend we’re building that mentality,” McDonald said. “We have so many experiences under our belt that we’ve learned from.”

Sumanasekera said hard work all season has helped prepare the team for the test it faces this weekend.

“We’re really excited, we have incredible depth on this team, so I think that really helped us in the long run,” she said.

UCLA teammates cheer as gymnast Jordan Chiles completes her floor routine during the Big Four competition at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 27.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Webster-Longin experienced the postseason last year as a freshman. This year, she had a late start due to an illness that kept her out for three meets.

Since returning on Feb. 27, she has competed in all-around events during the last three meets and has improved her scores each week.

That was the moment Webster-Longin remembered just how competitively great she is, McDonald said.

“I’ve seen the details become more consistent, and I’ve just seen her just be excited to go out and help the team in any way they need,” McDonald said, “And boy, has she done just that.”

Webster-Longin was asked to fill in as an emergency injury replacement during her first meet of the season and has figured out how to be successful whenever she’s placed in the lineup.

“At least for me, trusting the work I put in this year and even the experience I’ve had last year helped me be able to step up for those pressure situations and important moments,” she said.

Alipio has turned the page

UCLA gymnast Ciena Alipio celebrates after competing on the uneven bars during the Big Four meet at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 27.

(Katharine Lotze / Getty Images)

During the Big Ten championship, Ciena Alipio fell during her balance beam routine. It was a moment when she was looking forward to doing her best, McDonald said, but Alipio didn’t have the result she wanted. Instead, it was a great lesson for her to learn — mistakes happen.

“She’s just really been able to turn the page and get back into training,” she added. “She’s had a great week of training. She looked phenomenal and just really dialed in and it kind of put those kinds of mistakes behind you.”

Three weeks into spring practice, USC football coaches are making one thing clear: 95% of their best will not be accepted or tolerated. Wednesday’s practice started with some of the players doing up-downs after forgetting equipment.

“It was a good message from some of our staff and leaders in terms of the approach that we need to have every day that we come out here,” Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said.

A sentiment that was shared by junior defensive tackle Jide Abasiri: “We just have to be better prepared.”

After the hiccup, Riley said the team responded well and it was back to business.

USC defensive tackle Jide Abasiri (97) is pushing himself to be a more vocal leader as a the Trojans help young players get acclimated to the program.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

After a spirited day on the field on Tuesday following a one-week spring break, Wednesday’s practice was scripted with the intent to cause stress and create discomfort — stacking multiple two-minute drills after a 6 a.m. team meeting. The goal is to build a no-excuses program.

“It’s invaluable time, invaluable reps,” Riley said. “Coming out and working plays and the techniques, great. When you start putting those guys in real-life situations and you make it really difficult on them, you really start to see who rises up and they’re great teaching moments for these guys and for the team in terms of what we want to be and what we want them to be.”

Regardless of the mental challenges Riley applied, the Trojans’ morale remains positive as players compete for spots in the lineup. The energy of the team comes from within, Riley said.

“It allows us as a staff to really hone in on pushing these guys, and coaching and critiquing and correcting,” Riley said. “And they’re taking it well.”

Attention to detail has always been important at USC, but Abasiri said this year there is an extra emphasis being placed on play-specific details. The staff has implemented drills that focus on a player’s specific movement or job during various plays.

Entering his third season with the Trojans, Abasiri said he felt like he needed to be a team leader. USC landed the No. 1 class in the nation for the first time since 2006. With so many new young players joining spring practice and a limited number of Trojans with three years of experience, Abasiri felt it was his job to lead.

“Just being an older guy, I feel like it’s important for me to … help them just come along,” Abasiri said.

So far, his advice has been to “just have fun with it.”

“I mean, obviously, stay on top of everything and all your stuff, but I feel like people get so stressed and so caught up in what they’re doing that they forget that this is supposed to be enjoyable,” Abasiri said.

The coaching staff, meanwhile, is balancing teaching schemes and the playbook.

“You have to be able to do both at this level,” Riley said. “The new guys that came in did have a pretty good foundation. A lot of them came from really good programs. A lot of them had a pretty good working football knowledge to where when we got started with them, it wasn’t like you felt like you were starting from literal square one.”

Return game is still unsettled

USC is still working to identify its top kickoff and punt return options.

“We haven’t done a lot of live returns yet,” Riley said. “We’re just trying to figure out who really fields the ball well, who understands it, who makes decisions and honestly, the returners, they’re showing us a lot of what they can do just in the offensive and defensive periods.”

The coaching staff has a pretty good idea who some of the best players in that position are, but at the moment, they just want to develop the skills, from a return standpoint.