It’s nice to stay home for once.
Eight teams have made the trip down to the Bayou State to join LSU in a PMAC-hosted regional for the first time since 2019. If LSU advances, one of those teams will join them in a trek to Fort Worth alongside five individual qualifiers. The Baton Rouge Regional will be hosted inside the legendary Pete Maravich Assembly Center and broadcast on ESPN+ starting tomorrow with John Roethlisberger and Sam Peszek on the call for the quad meets. Round One announcers have not
been announced, but expect a local crew to call that meet. Round One is April 1 at 2:00 and sees Air Force battle Nebraska. The first regional semifinal is April 2 at 1:00 and pits #7 Stanford, #10 Michigan, North Carolina and Utah State against each other. At 7 that same day, #2 LSU, #15 Clemson, Auburn and the Round One winner face each other. The top two teams from each semifinal face off in the regional final on Saturday at 5:00. Some tickets are still available here. I will be on site covering this regional, too.
Know before you tune in
Round One: The Air Force-Nebraska meet is a traditional dual meet. Since they have the higher NQS, Air Force will rotate as if they were the home team and Nebraska will rotate as if they were the road team.
Quad meet rotations: The NQS of each team determines the order in which their coach selects the event on which they start. The highest seeded team gets first pick, then second, then third. By the time this is being published, that order is unknown. Those picks have been made, and they’re rather interesting for the second round. Since it won’t be noted in the preview below, LSU will begin their semifinal on vault and the Round 1 winner will begin their semifinal on floor.
Individuals at regional semis: The top 12 all-arounders and top 16 individuals on each of the four events among teams who were not selected to regional semifinals (as determined by the individual’s NQS) qualify to compete at regional semifinals for a chance to qualify as an individual to nationals. There are two things I think you should know about them. First, Air Force and Nebraska have individuals among that set of 76 gymnasts that way they are guaranteed an opportunity to compete even if their team gets eliminated in the play-in since the play-in was the appendix left over from the old six-regional format. Second, the individual qualifiers rotate with one of the regional semifinal teams and compete after the team with which they rotate finishes on their event.
Two things I feel I should point out about the previews for each team. First, event rankings are based on NQS, not average. Second, the numbers by each team represent their NQS ranking. The NCAA gives a seed to the top 16 teams and places the rest of the teams using a system that isn’t made very transparent other than an explicit rule requiring teams to go to a regional if they’re within 400 miles as the crow flies of that regional. These previews are going to be separated by round, and after previewing each team, I’m going to give a brief overview of the individuals vying for a spot at nationals. Fun fact: this regional contains each of the three teams who qualified to regionals despite finishing last at their respective conference championships.
Round One
#30 Air Force (195.605 NQS, 15-13 overall (15-10 regular season), 4th at MWCs (dead last))
2025 finishes: 54th overall, 4th at MWCs (dead last)
Program overview: 2 national championships (’01 and ’02 USAG), best finish ever: 25th in ‘02, 1 conference title (2019 MPSF), 0 individual NCAA titles, 0 nationals appearances, 0 Super 6 appearances (1993-2018), 0 Four on the Floor appearances (2019-present)
Event rankings: #42 on vault [48.823], #32 on bars [48.909], #29 on beam [48.884], #34 on floor [49.034]
Preview: This has been an absolutely insane season for the Falcons. Entering 2026, Air Force hadn’t finished a season inside the top 50, much less at regionals, since 2002. In just the sixth season under LSU alumna and 2026 MWC Coach of the Year Jennifer Green, the Falcons went on a tear. They broke their program record four times and pushed it from 195.775 to 197.150. They set a new program vault record with a 49.150 and finished the season with more 49+ vault rotations, 3, than every prior other season combined, 2. They broke their program beam record twice and maxed out at 49.525, a score better than what Arkansas, Cal, Missouri and Michigan State, to name a few, did all season. They also picked up a share of the 2026 MWC regular season championship. Air Force did this on the backs of three all-arounders, one of whom is getting a lengthy paragraph later. They’re consistently scoring in the high 195s, but they can come out and hit a 196 if they click. One thing is certain: this team fought very hard to get this far.
Whom to watch for: See the individual qualifiers section.
#34 Nebraska (195.561 NQS, 7-19 overall (7-8 regular season), 12th at B1Gs (dead last))
2025 finishes: 28th overall, 9th at B1Gs
Program overview: best finish ever: 4th (’89, ’00, ’03, ’11), 23 conference titles (12 Big 8, 9 Big 12, 2 Big 10, last in ’13), 5 individual NCAA titles (last was Richelle Simpson in the AA and on floor in ’03), 26 nationals appearances (last in ’18), 12 Super 6 appearances (last in ’18), 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: #34 on vault [48.883], #25 on bars [49.014], #34 on beam [48.822], #44 on floor [4.906]
Preview: Well they certainly made it back. Nebraska as a program has been wallowing in a funk ever since the coaching change in 2019. Things are not where they could and should be, and I don’t understand why. I try to be more positive and hopeful in these previews, but this is a team that scored just two 196s: a 196.025 vs Ohio State on January 31 and a 196.825 at Iowa on February 7. The last time they had just two 196s in a regular season was the Covid-shortened 2021 season following some massive behind-the-scenes changes thanks to NCAA sanctions. In 2024 and 2025, Nebraska looked like they were figuring things out and slowly getting things back up and running, but this year hasn’t been a good sign of things to come. When it comes to the opening meet against Air Force, it’s about finding what can get them close to 196. If they can do that, they’ll pull off the minor upset.
Whom to watch for: See the individual qualifiers section.
Regional Semifinal 1
#7 Stanford (197.248 NQS, 14-5 overall (10-4 regular season), 2nd at ACCs) (start on vault)
2025 finishes: 18th overall, ACC Champions
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), 17 nationals appearances (last in ’24), 7 Super Six Appearances (last in ’15), 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: t-#15 on vault [49.128], #6 on bars [49.375], #7 on beam [49.318], #5 on floor [49.443]
Preview: In 2025, Stanford made their move to the ACC seem pretty easy. They looked like they were feeding off the momentum from their 2024 run to nationals and even upset Cal to win the ACC title. They entered regionals seeded #13, but a hot Denver team upset the Cardinal and tied Utah in the regional semifinal to push the team out early. That has fueled Stanford to new heights in 2026. The team put up their second ever 198 and first since 2004 on February 27 at Oregon State. They won their first ever ACC regular season championship. They were 0.025 away from winning their second ACC championship. This team has a fire under them that makes them fun to watch. They’re quite good and ready to push for a trip back to Texas.
Whom to watch for: Anna Roberts is the star of the show for Stanford. She earned a first-team All-America honor in the all-around after finishing fifth with a 39.630 NQS. She’s also a second-team All-American on vault, beam and floor. If Stanford misses nationals, she’s probably going to be the all-arounder out of this regional. If that doesn’t happen, she probably goes on either vault and/or floor. Her season high in the all-around is a program-record 39.875. She is also the only gymnast other than Kailin Chio to have scored multiple 10s in the same meet in 2026, and that came on her senior day. The floor field is a huge logjam. Stanford obviously wants to make it out of this regional, but it’d also help several other people trying to qualify on floor. That’s because Roberts is one of three Cardinal gymnasts with a 9.9+ NQS on floor. The others are Romanian Olympian Ana Barbosu and Filipina Olympian Levi Jung-Ruivivar with 9.920 and 9.910 NQSes respectively.
#10 Michigan (197.111 NQS, 19-7 overall (11-4 regular season), 4th at B1Gs) (start on beam)
2025 finishes: 17th overall, 4th at B1Gs
Program overview: 1 team title (’21), 27 B1G titles (last in ’23), 9 individual NCAA titles (last was Natalie Wojcik on BB in ’19), 26 nationals appearances (last in ’22), 10 Super 6 appearances (last in ‘11), 1 Four on the Floor appearances (‘21)
Event rankings: #13 on vault [49.172], #15 on bars [49.178], #5 on beam [49.347], #9 on floor [49.400]
Preview: In the off-season, long-time head coach and gymnastics legend Bev Plocki announced her retirement after an incredible career that saw her win more conference titles than any Big 10 coach has ever won. She’d been ready to step down for a bit and prepared her successor, current head coach Maile’ana Kanewa-Hermelyn, for the role in the years she’d been with the team. That change has worked out quite well for the Wolverines. They’re back in the seeded positions after missing it in 2025, and they’re looking for their first regional final since 2023. They are much better than they were last year thanks to strong leadership and strong routines. They’re usually hitting in the high 196s to low 197s.
Whom to watch for: Two Michigan gymnasts were named second-team All-Americans. Grad student Carly Bauman is in a seven-way tie for 11th on floor with a 9.935 NQS. She is one of the many people with a good chance to qualify to nationals on floor. Kayli Boozer is in a three-way tie for 13th on beam with a 9.930 NQS. Being in the first beam rotation can make it more challenging to get a high score, but Boozer is more than capable of drilling her routine.
#22 North Carolina (196.393 NQS, 9-14 overall (8-10 regular season), 5th at ACCs) (start on bars)
2025 finishes: 24th overall, 3rd at ACCs
Program overview: best finish ever: 15th (’04), 5 conference titles (5 EAGL, last in ’11), 2 individual NCAA titles (Courtney Bumpers on FX in ’04 & ’05), 0 nationals appearances, 0 Super 6 appearances, 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: #11 on vault [49.193], #22 on bars [49.043], #21 on beam [49.018], #19 on floor [49.240]
Preview: Things have changed since I last got the chance to talk about the Tar Heels. UNC has had three meets since their 195.950 at the Podium Challenge. They scored a 197.200, a 194.550 and a 196.025. They dropped to the afternoon session of ACCs after the 194.550 on senior night. This team has been solid all season, but that 197 is the only time they’ve put a complete meet together. This year has seen its ups and downs, but the general floor is higher than before. Their two sub-196s in the regular season is by far the best in program history. Advancing out of this meet is going to be very difficult with the quality of the seeded teams, and their best shot is to be the tortoise to the seeded teams’ hares.
Whom to watch for: Sydney Seabrooks earned second-team All-America honors on floor after tying for ninth in the country with a 9.940 NQS. She has four 9.950s on floor with her most recent being at the Purple & Gold Podium Challenge on March 1. Once again, there’s a logjam on floor. Outside of floor, Gwen Fink has a high ceiling on beam and JoJo Valahovic can drill a Yurchenko 1.5 to make it out on vault.
#26 Utah State (195.905 NQS, 19-5 overall (16-5 regular season), MWC Champs) (start on floor)
2025 finishes: 34th overall, MWC Champions
Program overview: best finish ever: 9th (’82 AIAW), best NCAA finish ever: 12th (’91), best finish since 1998: 15th (’99), 8 conference titles (4 Big West, 1 WGC, 1 MRGC, 2 MWC), 0 individual NCAA titles, 1 nationals appearances (‘91), 0 Super 6 appearances, 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: #36 on vault [48.866], #26 on bars [48.982], #25 on beam [48.955], #29 on floor [49.125]
Preview: Utah State was in a rough spot before the 2023 season after their head coach and several gymnasts left to start Clemson’s program. The Aggies missed regionals three straight years, but 2025 was a turning point. USU won the Mountain West and returned to regionals, and this year has seen even more growth. They won a share of the MWC regular season championship on the back of their best win-loss record since before the NCAA era, and they pulled out a second straight MWC meet title. Head coach Kristin White has reset the program’s culture in a very good way, and this is a team to watch among mid-majors as the years go on. They tend to be in the high 195 to low 196 range.
Whom to watch for: Isabella Vater has the team’s highest NQS, but it’s a 9.880 on floor. On less crowded events, one person that’s caught my eye from following this team’s Instagram all season has been Mya Witte. She is tied for the team lead on beam and just won the conference beam title with a 9.950. The best story of the year has been Nyla Morabito’s. The Canadian junior tore her ACL in 2025, but she’s come back strong and tied for the MWC vault title with teammate Lundyn VanderToolen.
Individuals:
Isabella Minervini, AA, Towson (rotating with Stanford): Minervini is tied for 34th in the country in the AA with UNC’s Gwen Fink at 39.290. The 2025 EAGL all-around champion is obviously a solid all-arounder, but her specialty is bars. She was a 2024 WCGA first-team All-American on bars and recently earned second-team honors on the event after finishing the season 14th in the country with a 9.930 NQS. She’s won the last three EAGL bars championships thanks to her impeccable double layout, and that could be what gives her a chance to make it to Fort Worth. Her all-around season high is a 39.450, so don’t expect her to be a huge pusher there. Instead, be on the lookout for her bars routine. Her season high is a 9.950, a score she’s earned twice and which came in road meets. Best of all, her season low is a 9.800. This senior deserves your eyes when the second rotation is ending.
Serena Mullin, AA, New Hampshire (rotating with Michigan): Mullin is ranked 47th in the country in the all-around with a 39.155 NQS. Mullin wasn’t originally selected to compete at regionals, but Nebraska’s Whitney Jencks pulled out due to injury. Her best event is bars where she leads the team with a 9.820 NQS. Her all-around season high is a 39.225 which she’s scored thrice overall and twice on the road. Her only 9.900 on any event came on floor in a February 8 home meet against Temple.
Jocelyn Lannon, VT, Towson (rotating with Utah State): Lannon is in a 15-way tie for 107th in the country with a 9.835 NQS. She does a Yurchenko 1.5. Her season high is a 9.875, both of which came on the road. Her most recent season high came at Pitt on February 27. Lannon tied for the 2026 EAGL vault championship alongside Temple’s Nikki Rengifo.
Polina Belanovski, VT, Towson (rotating with UNC): Belanovski is also in that 15-way tie at 107th with a 9.835 NQS. She does a Yurchenko Full. Her season high is a 9.850, which she’s scored four times. Her most recent 9.850s came in the last two meets of the regular season.
Camryn Chiu, UB, Pitt (rotating with UNC): Chiu’s NQS of 9.845 puts her in a nine-way tie for 125th in the country, the lowest possible to get in. Her season high is 9.900, and her road season high is a 9.875 at Elevate the Stage on March 8.
Hallie Copperwheat, UB, Pitt (rotating with Utah State): Copperwheat is in a seven-way tie for 64th in the country with a 9.880 NQS. The fifth-year senior from Leighton Buzzard, England, is no stranger to LSU since she rotated with the Tigers as an individual all-arounder in 2022. I had the privilege of interviewing her in 2023 and watching her journey back from injury recently has been remarkable. Her season high is a 9.925 achieved at home on February 27, and her road high is a 9.900 achieved at Elevate the State on March 8.
Jaime Pratt, UB, Pitt (rotating with Utah State): Pratt’s 9.860 NQS puts her in a 13-way tie for 95th in the country. Her season high is 9.900, a score she’s achieved thrice. The Hawaiian Islander’s only instance of an away 9.900 was on February 20at Clemson.
Celia Trotter, BB, Towson (rotating with UNC): Trotter is in a six-way tie for 136th in the country with an NQS of 9.835, tied for the lowest of any beamer to qualify. Her season high is a 9.900 scored on January 23 at Arizona.
Mady Harvey, BB, New Hampshire (rotating with Utah State): Harvey is in a six-way tie for 65th in the country with a 9.875 NQS. Her season high of 9.925 came in the team’s home opener, and her road high of 9.875 has come three times, most recently at the EAGL championship where she won the event.
McCall McMullen, FX, New Hampshire (rotating with Utah State): McMullen is in an 18-way tie for 109th in the country with a 9.870 NQS. Her season high is a 9.925 from a February 1 home meet. Her road season high is a 9.875 scored at LIU on February 20.
Isabella DeCroo, FX, Towson (rotating with UNC): DeCroo is also in that 18-way tie for 109th in the country on floor with a 9.870 NQS. The fifth-year senior is a transfer from Illinois State. Her season high is a 9.900 which she scored once at home and once on the road. Her road 9.900 tied her with LIU’s Raphaelle Perreault for the 2026 EAGL floor championship, her first individual event title ever.
Adriana Hoffman, FX, Towson (rotating with UNC): Hoffman is another gymnast in that 18-way tie for 109th in the country with a 9.870 NQS. Her season high is a 9.900 scored at home on March 13, and her road high is a 9.875. She scored a 9.875 on the road most recently at the 2026 EAGL championship.
Regional Semifinal II
#15 Clemson (196.686 NQS, 10-8 overall (5-8 regular season), ACC Champs) (start on bars)
2025 finishes: 29th overall, 5th at ACCs
Program overview: best finish ever: 29th (’25), 1 ACC title (‘26), 0 individual NCAA titles, 0 nationals appearances, 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: #18 on vault [49.097], #14 on bars [49.217], #15 on beam [49.119], #17 on floor [49.261]
Preview: Things have changed in Clemson since the end of the 2025 season. In April of 2025, Clemson fired head coach Amy Smith for cause after learning that she was still being a piece of garbage to her athletes, a thing they’d heard she’d done at previous jobs but decided to ignore. After doing so, they made a brilliant decision: hire Cal co-head coaches Justin and Elizabeth Crandall-Howell. In their first season, the Howells have gotten the Tigers from a play-in team to a seeded team and won the program’s first ACC title by 0.025. By bringing in transfers from Cal, former Cal commits, great assistant coaches and a great culture, the Howells have made this program something worth fearing. The Tigers have scored back-to-back 197s to close the season and have looked solid on each event. They’re in position for the first regional final in program history and have a bright future.
Whom to watch for: Senior Brie Clark became the program’s first All-American after earning WCGA first-team honors on floor. Her 9.945 NQS is eighth in the nation. As mentioned above, she’ll be part of a tight race for the floor spot out of this regional. On other events, Ella Cesario is the team’s only qualifying all-arounder with a 39.385 NQS. The fifth-year senior is tied for the team lead with a 9.875 NQS on bars. The other team leader on bars is quite interesting. Lilly Lippeatt originally committed to LSU, but for reasons that I’m not certain are public, she instead chose to go to Clemson before its first full season. Her 9.875 NQS on bars is solid, too. One last person worth mentioning is Madison Minner, the 2026 ACC vault champion. Minner walked onto Clemson’s first team and learned her competition vault after making the team. She’s a senior with a vault NQS of 9.835.
#17 Auburn (196.498 NQS, 4-19 overall (4-11 regular season), 9th at SECs (dead last)) (start on beam)
2025 finishes: 11th overall, t-7th at SECs (last)
Program overview: best finish ever: 4th (’22), 0 SEC titles, 2 individual NCAA titles (last was Sunisa Lee on BB in ’22), 6 nationals appearances (last in ’22), 2 Super 6 appearances (last in ’15), 1 Four on the Floor appearance (’22)
Event rankings: #14 on vault [49.168], #28 on bars [48.965], #14 on beam [49.158], #20 on floor [49.230]
Preview: Well, it’s certainly Auburn. The only other SEC team in this regional, surprisingly, is the one who is interesting for all the wrong reasons. The Tigers have had a rough season and enter the tournament unseeded for the first time since 2017. A dreadful showing at SECs at which they were a point worse than eighth place saw them flip spots with Kentucky. The issue all year has been consistency. When this team hits, they’re solid enough to earn a 197. When they’re off, they’re scoring a 195.300 like they did at SECs. That would’ve been fourth at MACs, for context. If they can get out of this semifinal, it’ll make up for what’s been a very forgettable season.
Whom to watch for: Paige Zancan’s vault NQS is 9.900, and her double front handspring is one of the rare truly one-of-a-kind vaults in the NCAA. Julianne Huff is the team’s only NQS-eligible all-arounder with a 39.395 NQS. Huff also has the highest single-event NQS of any Auburn gymnast with a 9.905 NQS on floor.
Individuals:
Kylee Greene, AA, Air Force (would rotate with LSU): Greene is ranked 45th in the country with a 39.200 NQS, the lowest of any all-arounder who qualified on their own merit. The senior’s best event is floor, an event on which she has an NQS of 9.870 (there’s that number again). Her all-around season high is a 39.450 earned on her senior day on March 14 against Fisk. Her road season high is 39.200. She has scored three 9.900s. Two of those 9.900s came on beam at home meets, and her 9.900 on floor came at Denver on March 9.
Alyssa Bigler, AA, Air Force (would rotate with Clemson): Bigler is ranked 37th in the country with a 39.275 NQS. Thanks to uncharacteristic miscues by her superstar teammate, Bigler shocked the gymnastics world and won the 2026 MWC all-around championship. The sophomore’s best event is floor on which she has a 9.890 NQS, but her 9.885 beam NQS is also rather solid. Her all-around season high of 39.500 came in the same Fisk meet mentioned above. Her road high is 39.275 scored twice in the span of five days on February 22 and 27. She’s scored a 9.9+ on all four events, but her three 9.925s on beam are her best scores.
Maggie Slife, AA, Air Force (would rotate with Auburn): Out of all the people to watch across all four regionals, Maggie Slife may be at the top of everyone’s list. Slife is an All-American in the all-around and on bars. She is seventh in the country in AA NQS with a 39.565, trailing only Anna Roberts of Stanford and Kailin Chio of LSU in this regional. She would be ranked second among all-arounders in the Big 10, Big 12 and ACC. Her bars NQS is a 9.940, tied with Chloe Cho, Konnor McClain and Kayle DiCello for #8 in the country. She is ranked higher than every Big 12 gymnast on bars and would be second in the ACC. She won all five Mountain West awards, Gymnast of the Year and the Specialist of the Year awards on each event, because she was far and away the highest ranked gymnast on each event. Despite that, she didn’t win an MWC title. Expect this junior to come in hungry. Her best chances to qualify to nationals are in the all-around, where she has a season high of 39.675 and two other 39.650s, and on bars, where she’s had two program-record 9.975s and no scores below 9.850. She also has season highs of 9.925 on vault, 9.975 on beam and 9.925 on floor. If you don’t watch her, you are missing out!
Molly Peterson, UB, Nebraska (would rotate with Clemson): Peterson is in a 13-way tie for 95th on bars with an NQS of 9.860. Her season high is a 9.875, a score she’s achieved four times. Her most recent 9.875 came on March 6 in Nebraska’s meet at Texas Woman’s.
Lauren Homecillo, FX, Nebraska (would rotate with Clemson): Homecillo is yet another member of that 18-way tie for 109th in the country with a 9.870 NQS. She has a season high of 9.925 which she’s scored twice, each time on the road. Her most recent 9.925 came at Penn State in their Big 4 meet.
Sophia Rice, VT, West Virginia (rotating with Round 1 winner): Rice does a very uncommon vault called a Tsukhahara Layout Full (shortened to a Tsuk Full), a 10.0 SV vault that she’s had a 9.975 on in her career. Rice is in a 10-way tie for 122nd in the country at 9.830 and is the lowest ranked vaulter to qualify to regionals. Her season high is a 9.875 which she scored at Utah on March 7.
Reese Samuelson, UB, Western Michigan (rotating with Round 1 winner): Samuelson is in an 11-way tie for 108th in the country with a 9.855 NQS. She’s scored a season high of 9.875 twice and did so most recently on March 6 at home. Her other 9.875 came in the season opener on the road.
Amber Lowe, BB, West Virginia (rotating with Round 1 winner): Lowe is in a 10-way tie for 102nd in the country with a 9.855 NQS. Her season high is a 9.900 scored in a quad meet at Towson on March 1.
Emerson Smith, FX, West Virginia (rotating with Round 1 winner): Smith is also in that massive 18-way tie for 109th in the country with a 9.870 NQS. Yes, all five floor qualifiers in Baton Rouge have the same NQS. Her season high is a 9.900 which she’s scored twice, both in road meets. Her most recent 9.900 came at Pitt on March 15.
