Team USA star Jordan Chiles and the UCLA Bruins will compete for an NCAA title Saturday after advancing out of their semifinal session at the NCAA gymnastics championships in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday.

Chiles, who was part of the U.S. team that won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, helped propel the Bruins ahead of No. 1 seed and defending NCAA champion LSU, which failed to advance in the second semifinal session at Dickies Arena.

Chiles finished fifth in the individual all-around competition, but she will still leave Fort Worth with an NCAA title.

The Olympic gold medalist nailed her dismount on uneven bars en route to a near-perfect score of 9.975, appearing somewhere between shocked and emotional after her feet hit the mat. The routine put her atop the leaderboard, ahead of her 2021 U.S. Olympic teammate Grace McCallum, who finished second.

It’s Chiles’ third NCAA apparatus title. She also won NCAA championships on uneven bars and floor exercise in 2023.

UCLA’s Brooklyn Moors won her first NCAA title in floor exercise with a 9.9625.

UCLA will be joined in the finals by Utah, Missouri and Oklahoma, which has won five of the past eight national championships.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The opening of the college football transfer portal has created a dash for cash.

The delay in approving the House vs. NCAA antitrust settlement means the rules around compensation are not yet in place, blowing up the market for the amount of money players can receive from their schools’ name, image and likeness collectives or from third-party endorsement deals.

More than 400 players have entered the portal since it opened Wednesday, according to tracking by 247Sports. Athletes have until April 25 to enter, and they clearly have leverage until the settlement is approved by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in California.

“It’s basically a free pass to pay guys as much as you want to pay them right now,” said Mit Winter, a Missouri sports law attorney who advises agents, collectives and schools. His advice to athletes: “Get your deal signed now before the House settlement gets approved and make sure the payments are made from a collective before July 1.”

Once the House settlement is approved, any NIL deals with a collective or third party over $600 must be reported to a clearinghouse, where it will be vetted to determine if the pay is commensurate with the service provided by the athlete and that it is in line with the athlete’s fair market value. July 1 is the expected date for the settlement to take effect.

Jacob Piasecki and Stefan Aguilera, co-founders of the Austin, Texas-based A&P Sports Agency, have been busy since winter negotiating “frontloaded” NIL contracts that will pay all or most of the money to their clients before July 1.

“It’s like an 11th hour now,” Piasecki said. “We’re getting to the point where collectives are going to be highly scrutinized and everything is going to be under a microscope.”

Michael LeRoy, a University of Illinois labor and sports law professor, said it would have been advantageous for the schools if Wilken had given final approval to the settlement in the days between the April 7 settlement hearing and the opening of the portal this week.

“The lack of closure,” LeRoy said, “adds one more element of chaos.”

Senior quarterback Steve Angeli plans to enter the transfer portal now that Notre Dame has played its spring game, according to a published report by The Athletic.

Angeli is best known for relieving an injured Riley Leonard late in the first half of January’s national semifinal, leading the Fighting Irish to their first score. Leonard returned in the second half and helped Notre Dame overcome a 10-3 halftime deficit and into the national title game with a 27-24 win.

HOCKEY

The United States cruised past Germany 3-0 to reach the semifinals at the women’s ice hockey world championship in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.

Kelly Pannek, Lacey Eden and Alex Carpenter each scored and captain Hilary Knight registered an assist to extend her record at the worlds to 51. Aerin Frankel made 12 saves in the shutout.

Later, Jennifer Gardiner and Sarah Fillier both scored twice and Canada grabbed a spot in the semifinals by routing Japan 9-1.

Canada will play Finland for a spot in the final, and the United States will meet host Czech Republic in Saturday’s other last-four matchup.

The U.S. has reached the final in all 23 previous worlds and won 10 titles.

In another game, Natálie Mlýnková scored a hat trick as the Czech Republic produced a five-goal opening period en route to a 7-0 rout of Switzerland and a fourth straight semifinal appearance.

Finland beat Sweden 3-2.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Auburn guard Chad Baker-Mazara and Memphis star PJ Haggerty entered the transfer portal, instantly making them two of the most productive players available before the college basketball portal closes next week.

Baker-Mazara, who turned 25 in January, started 34 games and was the Tigers’ second-leading scorer last season, averaging a career-high 12.3 points during their run to the Final Four. He has one year of eligibility left.

All-American and leading scorer Johni Broome, Denver Jones, Dylan Cardwell and Miles Kelly have used up their college eligibility, so Auburn coach Bruce Pearl now has lost his entire starting five from last season’s No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Haggerty was the nation’s third-leading scorer last season, averaging 21.7 points along with 5.8 rebounds.

TENNIS

Third-ranked Jessica Pegula cruised into the quarterfinals of the Porsche Grand Prix with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Magdalena Frech in Stuttgart, Germany.

Pegula, who won the Charleston Open title this month, needed just 59 minutes to oust her Polish opponent at the indoor clay-court tournament.

The third-seeded American will next face Ekaterina Alexandrova in a rematch of their Charleston semifinal. Alexandrova advanced by beating sixth-seeded Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.

Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff also won 6-1, 6-1, eliminating Ella Seidel in 57 minutes to set up a quarterfinal match against fifth-seeded Jasmine Paolini, who advanced with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Jule Niemeier.

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed, had a walkover to the quarterfinals after Anastasia Potapova withdrew because of injury. Sabalenka will face Elise Mertens.

HORSE RACING

A 3-year-old filly who won her only two races died from a training injury at Los Alamitos Race Course, state horse racing officials reported.

Non Compliant “sustained an injury while galloping early this morning,” California Horse Racing Board spokesman Mike Marten told City News Service.