Thursday Afternoon Heights sounds bad, but that’s what we have.
The #2 LSU gymnastics team is back in action in Fort Worth for the fourth straight year. After winning the Baton Rouge Regional, the Tigers are looking to grab one of two available spots in the national championship and potentially pick up some individual hardware on the side. Standing in their way on the road to the final are #3 Florida, #6 Georgia and #7 Stanford. The meet begins at 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
The main broadcast will have John Roethlisberger, Sam Peszek and Aly Raisman on the call, Taylor Davis on the floor reporting, and Mary Joe Roehrig making her TV debut as gymnastics rules analyst. On ESPN+, you can find team streams which will focus on two teams each. I don’t know which set of commentators will get which set of teams, but it’ll either be Bridget Sloan and Anastasia Webb or Kennedy Baker and Trinity Thomas calling the LSU/Florida stream. For live stats, see the next two links. (session link, scores link)
One thing I want to note before getting into everything is a statistic I’m using for rankings. NQS isn’t a good indicator of where teams are at this stage of the season because it looks at the regular season only, and the new NQS formula uses almost the entire season. Instead, I wanted to see how teams are doing as they reach the late stage of the season. All numbers are based on the team’s average since Week 8 relative to the other eight nationals teams. The full table is below.
Also, I am aiming to get a recap of this meet done before the second semifinal ends. Expect a follow-up article tomorrow morning recapping any individual awards LSU gymnasts earn from podium finishes to All-America honors.
#6 Georgia (197.516 [6th], 23-9 overall (15-3 regular season), finished 5th at SECs, begins on bars)
Regionals scores: Semifinal: 197.125 (49.250 VT, 49.425 UB, 48.825 BB, 49.500 FX); Final: 197.750 (49.425 VT, 49.525 UB, 49.250 BB, 49.550 FX)
Program overview: 10 team titles (last in ’09), 16 conference titles (last in ‘08), 41 individual NCAA titles (last were Brandie Jay on VT and Brittany Rogers on UB in ’16), 34th nationals appearance (first since ‘19), 20 Super Six Appearances (1993-2018) (last in ’16), 0 Four on the Floor appearances (2019-present)
Event rankings: 5th on vault [49.347], 5th on bars [49.400], 8th on beam [49.234], 2nd on floor [49.534]
Preview: Who’s that coming round the track? After a long stretch of five years where the GymDogs couldn’t even get to a regional final, Georgia is back at nationals. The most decorated program in NCAA history with a history richer than Suzanne Yoculan’s ex-husband hasn’t been the same since she stepped down in after 2009. In 2024, the administration finally came to their senses and sent Courtney Kupets Carter packing. They elevated assistant Ryan Roberts to co-head coach and hired WCC coach, aka Simone Biles’ coach, Cecile Canqueteau-Landi as the other co-head coach. 2025 was a learning experience, but this year has been about acting on those lessons. Not even losing star Lily Smith for the season with a foot injury has kept them down. Advancing is going to be tough, but if they’re consistent across all four events, they’ll be able to hold their heads very high.
National title contenders: Georgia’s best chance at natty will come from their floor rotation. As mentioned in Monday’s individual title preview, CaMarah Williams is tied for second in the country in floor NQS. She scored a 9.925 in the regional semi and a 9.950 in the final. Her dynamic floor routine hits many of the boxes that judges like to see, so good execution on top can get her into natty contention. The rest of the lineup is solid, too, but Williams is probably the best chance overall.
Individuals with which they’re rotating and semifinal scores: Sage Kellerman (Michigan State; 9.900 UB, 9.950 VT), Abigayle Martin (Arizona; 9.925 BB), Gabi Ortiz (Michigan State; 9.950 FX)
#3 Florida (198.093 [1st], 26-2 overall (12-2 regular season), SEC champions, begins on beam)
Regionals scores: Semifinal: 198.125 (49.600 VT, 49.625 UB, 49.450 BB, 49.450 FX); Final: 198.050 (49.375 VT, 49.575 UB, 49.550 BB, 49.550 FX)
Program overview: 3 team titles (last in ’15), 12 conference titles, 24 individual NCAA titles (last was Leanne Wong on UB in ‘24), 40th nationals appearance (6th straight), 16 Super 6 appearances (last in ’18), 4 Four on the Floor appearance (last in ‘24)
Event rankings: t-3rd on vault [49.364], 1st on bars [49.625], 1st on beam [49.607], 4th on floor [49.496]
Preview: This team is on fire. Florida is the best team coming into nationals and should be the favorite to win the title as a result. They have scored 198+ in five straight meets. They are also motivated by their failure to reach the 2025 finals and have been using Tim Tebow’s famous promise from 2008 to guide them. After struggling early in the season, especially on vault, the Gators found something steady. Combine that comfort with their motivations and you get a team that should cruise out of this semifinal. If things go wrong, though, that cruise can sink. What will help them is the rotation order. This is the same one that they used to win the SEC title and helps them score their best.
National title contenders: I mentioned Selena Harris-Miranda in my preview Monday, but Florida’s stacked with several title contenders. Skye Blakely is a great beam and bars specialist who can also do a solid floor routine, Riley McCusker is a machine on bars and Kayla DiCello can hit any event she pleases. If I sat here naming potential title contenders, I’d name half the roster.
Individual with which they’re rotating and semifinal scores: Tory Vetter (Ohio State; 39.500 AA, 9.850 BB, 9.900 FX, 9.950 VT, 9.800 UB)
#7 Stanford (197.522 [5th], 19-6 overall (10-4 regular season), 2nd at ACCs, begins on floor)
Regionals scores: Semifinal: 197.175 (49.100 VT, 49.325 UB, 49.200 BB, 49.550 FX); Final: 197.225 (49.325 VT, 49.400 UB, 48.950 BB, 49.550 FX)
Program overview: best finish: 3rd (’04 and ’08), 6 conference titles (5 Pac-10, 1 ACC), 5 individual NCAA titles (last was Anna Roberts on VT in ’24), 18th nationals appearances (first since ’24), 7 Super Six Appearances (last in ’15), 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: 7th on vault [49.266], 4th on bars [49.422], 5th on beam [49.344], 6th on floor [49.491]
Preview: This program is back to where it was a couple decades ago, and that’s thanks to their flexibility in their process. The Cardinal are famous for their slow builds during the season where they go from ok to decent over the course of a season. This year, their floor was higher than in past years, and they hit floors they hadn’t been near in two decades. They added an Olympian and got another Olympian back who took time off to deal with their health, and they kept their incredible talent. If they’re going to pull an upset, they’ll need to up their game on vault and find what worked on floor at regionals.
National title contenders: Since I already covered her in my preview Monday, I won’t spend too much time on Anna Roberts as a vault and all-around contender. Instead, I’m going to focus on someone I didn’t mention: Ana Barbosu. The Romanian Olympian is fantastic on every event, but she can do wonders on beam and floor. Her beam high is 9.925 and her floor high is 9.950, but her potential is higher. If she hits, it could be big.
Individuals with which they’re rotating and semifinal scores: Brie Clark (Clemson; 9.950 FX), Cameron Smith (Ohio State; 9.950 VT), Sophia Diaz (Michigan; 9.875 UB), Carly Bauman (Michigan; 9.900 BB)
#2 LSU (198.081 [2nd], 20-5-1 overall (11-3-1 regular season), 3rd at SECs, begins on vault)
Regionals scores: Semifinal: 198.375 (49.475 VT, 49.625 UB, 49.575 BB, 49.700 FX); Final: 197.825 (49.450 VT, 49.300 UB, 49.425 BB, 49.650 FX)
Event rankings: 2nd on vault [49.500], 3rd on bars [49.441], 2nd on beam [49.541], 1st on floor [49.600]
Preview: Konnor McClain appears to be available on at least beam and likely bars if podium training is to be believed. She could be available on vault, too, but she didn’t do any vaults yesterday. As for the team overall, their normal is probably enough. Podium training wasn’t perfect, but that’s probably for the best since it was insane last year. They gave themselves room to improve for when everything counts. As long as they find their rhythm and hit the way they know they can, something they didn’t do in the regional final, they can get back to the natty. Also, Kailin Chio is defending her vault title. It doesn’t matter if she’s successful in doing so, but it’s worth a quick mention.
Individual with which they’re rotating and semifinal scores: Nikki Smith (Michigan State; 39.625 AA, 10.0 VT, 9.925 UB, 9.750 BB, 9.950 FX)
