It didn’t matter that there was snow on the ground and more coming. Fans came in droves to Alaska Airlines Arena on Sunday afternoon.
They came to see two of the top gymnastics teams in the country, they came to see a pair of Olympic Gold medalists and they came to see Katelyn Ohashi, the internet sensation.
That defending national champion and third-ranked UCLA defeated No. 15 Washington 197.60-196 almost seemed beside the point.
That is because on this day when the arena was nearly full — no one remembered ever seeing a bigger crowd for a UW gymnastics meet — and the cheering was for both teams, the sport was the big winner.