Zoned In, Zoey Molomo Looks Beyond 2025

06 Mar Zoned In, Zoey Molomo Looks Beyond 2025

Posted at 12:37h in 2025 NCAA Headquarters, 2025 Women's NCAA News, News & Features by Christy Sandmaier 0 Comments

By Christy Sandmaier

Vice President & Co-Publisher

While Gabby Douglas was winning the 2012 London Olympics, 4-year-old Zoey Molomo was rushing home to watch.

“There’s a video of me. Gabby Douglas is doing a floor routine, and I would come home from preschool, and I would put my leotard on while the Olympics is going on, and I would watch her floor routine on replay, and I would just be flipping around with her,” Molomo said. “That’s my first memory of watching gymnastics, and I’ve just been at it and loved it ever since.’’

Thousands of hours of training and layers of chalk dust later, Molomo and Douglas competed at the same Core Hydration Classic last May, although in separate sessions, while vying for spots at the U.S. Championships on the road to the 2024 Olympics. It was something Molomo never could have imagined in a million years. As a rookie, she was now training and competing with Douglas, her hero, who was attempting a comeback and a run at the Games. For Molomo, the knowledge and the moment was truly surreal.

“I never thought that would be possible, ever,” Molomo said. “She was just one of the greats before me. She was somebody that I looked up to, so I never thought that was possible. It’s pretty cool.”

Now, the younger athletes are looking up to Molomo in much the same way, both inside her own gym at Metroplex in Allen, TX, and around the country. She’s helping set the stage for the next generation in the U.S., and recently made her 2025 debut at Winter Cup in Louisville, where she won vault, tied for bronze on beam with her teammate, Ashlee Sullivan, and made a little extra noise with an extra “skill” on bars she couldn’t help but laugh about.

With her first meet in the books, Molomo is both zoned into business this year, and looking ahead to what’s next with gratitude. But first, a quick look back at what brought her here.

“Have The Best Time Ever”

Last summer, Molomo qualified for the Olympic Trials in Minneapolis alongside the most decorated roster of athletes the U.S. women had ever assembled on one floor. It was an experience she calls the most amazing of her life. For those of us watching her, it was evident how much it meant to her by the joy on her face. In fact, we took to X right after her floor routine on day two to write: Zoey Molomo has the crowd in the palm of her hand. Soak it in Zoey!!!

“The energy that the crowd created, that the girls that I was with created, was like nothing I have ever experienced,” Molomo said. “I remember we were in the back on day two, and we’re about to run out and wave and do the National Anthem, and Simone (Biles) was telling us, ‘You guys are some of the best gymnasts here. Have the best time ever. Soak this in. Not a lot of people get to have this opportunity.’ Just her giving us encouraging words and Jade (Carey) and Jordan (Chiles), they all just gave us such encouraging words before we went out. That just made me realize that wow, the greatest gymnasts ever are right in front of me, encouraging us just to have fun.

“I was tearing up during my floor routine,” she remembered. “Just being there, the whole crowd was clapping as I was going. It was so surreal. It was insane. I will never take that for granted. That was the most fun I’ve ever had. It was just awesome.”

Molomo placed 12th in the All-Around and 8th on beam at Trials. Paired with a renewed and lasting confidence in herself and her gymnastics, as well as love for her teammates, the experience set the stage for her next set of goals. The camaraderie among the women who assembled inside the Target Center that week is also something that she’ll never forget (check out her teammates during her floor routine!) and it’s inspired her to always be a leader for the younger athletes who are looking up to her now.

“It felt like just everybody was so together. We all were doing it for each other. We were all doing it just to follow our dreams and just see what would happen,” Molomo said, noting she also looks up to Skye Blakely and Chiles, especially for their strength and encouragement. “They are big sisters in a way. They’re very easy to talk to, especially Skye. Just watching her journey and how hard she’s worked, she’s motivated me so much. And then just watching Jordan Chiles, seeing her make the team in 2021, and then being able to be alongside her at the camps and her making the team this Olympics. She gave me some really cool advice. They’ve definitely been some big people that I looked up to for sure.”

Westwood Calls

Following Trials, Molomo went full speed ahead into deciding her NCAA future. She focused on where she felt most comfortable and where her heart took her. And, after official visits to Florida, LSU and UCLA, Molomo knew she wanted to be a Bruin.

“Ever since I was little, UCLA has been my dream,” she said. “The school, just the whole atmosphere of UCLA, it’s so incredible. Their history is just amazing. I was really into it, but I knew I couldn’t just look at one school. Going to the SEC, it was a really different experience from UCLA. And Florida was a really good start. The experience was amazing. At LSU, I was with Dulcy (Caylor), Hezly (Rivera) and Evey (Lowe). We went to Trials together. We’ve been friends for a long time. They really pulled out the stops for us. I had watched The Climb and followed along with the girls to get into that college feel.

“By the time I went to UCLA, my coaches and my parents said, ‘just take this in. This is what little you has dreamed of for so long. Have fun. Just have fun. Don’t think about anything else besides watching practice, being with the coaches and the girls.’ And, I swear when I landed in California, I could hear better. I was seeing stars. I don’t know. Everything aligned so perfectly. I was there with Nola (Matthews), Tiana (Sumansekera), and their class, so I got to think of them as future teammates. Westwood, it’s the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. The coaches were so welcoming, and it really just felt like home. That team has my heart. (Head coach) Janelle (McDonald) reminds me so much of my coach, and it was very comfortable. It felt like I was talking to my friend, just like someone I talk to all the time.”

A stop in the pro shop ultimately sealed the deal. And Molomo will join her Metroplex teammate Michelle Pineda in UCLA’s class for the 2027 season.

“I committed on the last day because I was so sure,” Molomo said. “Every visit, we would go to the pro shop and buy clothes and shirts. I got to the UCLA store and I bought, I think, everything there! And my mom was like, ‘I really hope you’re coming here!’ It was a great way to end all the visits because I felt so stressed with the first two and getting to UCLA, being my last visit, it just felt so perfect. It just had to happen. My dream really did come true and this is so amazing that I get to do this with such great people.”

Smooth Operator

In Louisville, Molomo loved being back out on the floor among her teammates and friends, and overall, was pleased with what she accomplished.

“It was a good start to the season for sure. I’m just all about competing,” she said. “I love getting the experience. It was a really good start. I mean, obviously, besides my little fun skill that I created [on bars]! I liked starting on beam – it was really good just hitting a really good beam routine to set the pace for the rest of the meet. It was a lot of fun. I felt like I was really calm. I’m starting to figure out the competitions a little bit more and figuring out how to handle all my nerves and everything.”

Handling her nerves well, and maintaining her composure was on full display in Louisville, especially during bars, where Molomo first struggled a bit on her toe-on full pirouette on the low bar, and then slipped out of her toe-on Shaposh half (Van Leeuwen), ultimately launching into a back tuck – that she actually stuck – before turning around to get her bearings. And thankfully, laughing.

“I guess the whole week, it felt a little slippery, and I thought, I hope I get my grips to grip well! [When I came out of the skill] I thought I landed the other way! I don’t know if I thought I twisted or something, but I just landed straight up. I heard everybody in the crowd react, and I started laughing. And then everybody’s laughing with me, and I was like, ‘oh, oh, my gosh. Okay, I still have to finish. Let me turn around and get back on!’ It was definitely a little silly, but it was fun.”

Molomo’s confident and even-keeled approach is instilled by her support system – her family, her coach Marnie Futch and her teammates at Metroplex. She thrives in the positive atmosphere and embraces the open communication she has with Futch.

“I’m a communicator. I love communicating, and she’s really easy to talk to,” Molomo said. “If I’m ever struggling, I can text her, call her, come to gym the next day and be like, ‘Hey, can I sit in your office? Can we talk?’ just to figure out the plan. Sometimes at the gym, I’ll go on autopilot and I’ll just shut down, and she’ll ask, ‘Are you okay? Do you want to talk?” She definitely gets me. She understands me. I love going along this journey with her, and I’m really excited for more with her. She’s awesome.”

The positive atmosphere and approach is evident at Metroplex, and when Sullivan took home the All-Around title at Winter Cup, no one was happier for her than Molomo.

“It’s so special. I love that girl so much. She came to our gym trying to figure out how we operate. We love to have fun. We get to do cool things. And she was very serious. I got to crack her open a little bit, break her shell and joke with her. We have so much fun in practice every day. There’s never a dull moment with her and us getting to share the tie on beam, that was so fun. She’s one of my best friends.”

In addition to communication and the friendships, Molomo also let us in on a little secret to her success on beam while we were chatting about music.

“Okay, I love a R&B. I’m really into Sade and Lauryn Hill,” she said. “My beam song is Smooth Operator. That’s what’s playing in my head when I’m doing beam. But I’m also really into Drake. When I’m getting ready, it’s Drake. And when I’m walking into the meet, it’s Sade, slow, calm music.”

New Year, New Goals

With an Olympic Trials experience on her resume, a new Winter Cup gold added to her collection, and UCLA waiting for her, Molomo still has a few items on her elite list to tackle, including hopefully getting more international experience soon, making the National Team again, and upping her start values.

“I’ve been on two assignments, and I got hurt at Pan Ams, so I didn’t get to compete. I definitely want to compete more internationally, get on a little bigger stage, have more nerves and see how I can handle it,” she said. “Making National Team again at U.S. Championships would be amazing. And I’ve been working the second vault. I competed it for the first time at Winter Cup, which is crazy to me. I definitely want to put my name out there for getting vault medals and doing vault. Getting the Yurchenko double full and then upping my front vault for sure is the goal – I’m just doing the front pike half to get my feet wet, compete it a couple times. I’ve also been working a lot on beam this year. I didn’t do my highest difficulty [at Winter Cup], but I’m really working on getting my start value up and competing more.

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“I want to get to Selection Camp [for Worlds] just to be with the best and see how it goes. I mean, individual Worlds, there’s so many amazing girls. It’s going to be so hard. I think making the World team next year would be great as well. I feel like I’m a really good team player. I love cheering and being with the girls. That’s definitely a goal for sure.”

Molomo is also leaving the door open to pursuing an elite and NCAA career simultaneously, though she’s definitely weighing all of her options before deciding for sure. “I definitely want the college experience. It’s so different from elite and just being a part of a team is really important. I have goals that I want to accomplish in the NCAA. So right now, I think I want to go to school first, see how it is. I mean, hopefully my body will keep allowing me to do gym and everything! I feel like I owe it to myself to try to do elite after or in college – I’m not really sure yet. I haven’t come to a decision yet, but it’s definitely out there. I think I want to try to do both, but we’ll see how it goes.”

And what about LA in 2028? Molomo said she’d at least like to try.

“I feel like I would have to,” she said. “Having the Olympics at home, being in LA, going to school there, it’s just so perfect. If I can try, I will, because that’s just such an amazing opportunity. I’ve been there. I know what the Olympic Trials are like. I was in the room where they picked the Olympic team. I saw the team being named. So I know what it takes to get there.”

Look for Nate’s NCAA Notes each week and stay tuned to InsideGym.com and Inside Gymnastics magazine for spotlight features and interviews throughout the 2025 season!

Nate Salsman, Della Fowler, Megan Roth and Christy Sandmaier provide NCAA coverage for Inside Gymnastics.

Photos by Lloyd Smith for Inside Gymnastics magazine.