GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Selena Harris-Miranda has made a name for herself. She was the Pac 12 Freshman of the Year in 2023 and the Pac 12 Gymnast of the Year as a sophomore in 2024. But after two years at UCLA, Harris-Miranda wanted to make a change. She entered the transfer portal, something she called terrifying.
Harris-Miranda went through her recruitment during COVID-19, she didn’t have the chance to visit schools or build excitement around her college commitment. She wanted those experiences but she also wanted a fresh start somewhere.
One night it came to her in an odd way.
“When I was in the transfer portal, I was just really thinking hard about it. I really couldn’t picture myself anywhere. I had this dream one night where I was just running and it’s so weird to say out loud,” Harris-Miranda told Florida Victorious. “But there was like a spotlight on the big floor, almost like when you’re at nationals, and your whole team is wearing the same color and our team was wearing orange, these big orange jackets. And someone running in front of me was holding this big brown trophy — the National Championship. I was like I don’t know any other school that’s orange other than Florida. I think the next morning I talked to Jenny (Rowland) too.”
We’re glad Clemson or Texas didn’t come to mind because the Gators are getting one of the best college gymnasts in the country. She was the backbone of the Bruins’ gym team in 2024. She competed all-around in every single meet, not just doing so without a fall but never failing to score below 39.325. She posted four perfect 10s across two events, including two in one meet against Clemson in the final home meet of the year. That same meet she racked up a massive all-around total of 39.900, the highest by a UCLA gymnast since Mohini Bhardwaj in 2001 and the second-highest of all time.
Originally, from Las Vegas Nevada, the move to Gainesville hasn’t been easy. She’s a long way from home and her mom but the Gators have made Gainesville feel like home as much as they can.
“It’s definitely been a struggle. I think me being in LA, I kind of had to learn to be on my own in a weird way. Coming to Florida I was like, oh I can do it, I’ll be fine. I think the biggest difference was my mom was like four hours away and now it’s like seven hours and an airplane to get to me. I think that was one of the main things, being homesick, especially during my birthday. My family came down in my freshman and sophomore years a lot of the girls on the team, I haven’t had teammate friendships like that. Coming here they definitely made me feel super welcome and that made me feel a lot better,” she told Florida Victorious. “Our staff is great. They’re always making sure we’re ok, that also gives me a little security too. I’m very happy to have them, they’ve made a big move very welcoming and comforting for me.”
Harris-Miranda is fitting in with the Gators in and out of the gym. With a quad-meet on tap for this Friday, Harris-Miranda and the rest of the Florida gymnastics team is ready to get back on the competition floor. =
“Our team is super competitive. It can feel like a dogfight in the gym,” Harris-Miranda said. “That feels great because iron sharpens iron, I feel. Moving into the team aspect, our main thing is we’re doing it for the Gators and we’re just going to all do our best and we’re all super excited. We’re over the preseason. We’re at that final stretch where we’re all like, can we please get started? Preseason is hard. We’re ready to fight everyone as one instead of us beefin’ in the gym. We’re really hyped and we look fabulous.”
