UCLA senior Ciena Alipio was born in San Jose, Calif. in March 2004. Her mother Linda is Diné, and her father Dante is Filipino.

Ciena grew up in Northern California and began taking dance classes at a young age before moving on to gymnastics. She went on to become a four-time member of the USA Gymnastics Women’s National Team, representing the U.S. internationally in competitions in Europe. She earned her first international assignment at the 2019 Jesolo Trophy in Italy and won silver medals on the balance beam and with the team. In 2021, she earned an assignment to the Arthur Gander Memorial in Switzerland and captured a bronze medal in the all-around. At the national level, she was the runner-up on balance beam at the 2019 and 2022 USA Championships. Ciena moved to Minnesota to train at Midwest Gymnastics for her final two years of elite gymnastics training when the global pandemic restricted indoor activity in California.

In the fall of 2022, Ciena returned to California to attend UCLA. During her freshman season in 2023, she was a staple in the balance beam lineup and helped lead the Bruins to a Pac-12 regular season title and a fifth-place NCAA finish. She flourished as a junior in 2025, winning the Big Ten Conference balance beam title with her first career perfect 10. Ciena’s perfect mark led her team to a school-record balance beam score of 49.750 and to a Championship record team score of 198.450. UCLA captured the Big Ten Championship, as well as the conference’s regular season title. The Bruins finished 2025 as the runner-up at the NCAA Championships, where Ciena tied for third place on balance beam with a score of 9.9500 to earn first-team All-America honors.

A psychology major, Ciena earned 2024 Scholastic All-American and 2025 Academic All-Big Ten honors.

Photo Credits: Ross Turteltaub/UCLA Athletics on the balance beam photo. The one with the 10.0 sign was taken by Kaira Edwards/UCLA Gymnastics