Gymnastics regionals are back, surprise!
Since this was written after the First Round of the Fayetteville Regional concluded, individuals for BYU have been removed and the rest has been edited to match.
The Fayetteville Regional of the 2024 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship begins today at 2:00 p.m. with the first round meet between #29 Boise State and #32 BYU, a play-in round to the regional semifinals. The regional semifinals are on Thursday, with the first between #7 Kentucky, #10 Arkansas, #24 Arizona and #27 Nebraska beginning at 1:00 and the second between #2 LSU, #15 Minnesota, #18 Oregon State and the winner of the first round beginning at 7:00. The top two teams from each regional semifinal advance to the regional final on Saturday at 5:00, and the top two teams from the regional final advance to nationals. All regional rounds will be streamed on ESPN+. Each stream will have a view of each event as teams compete, so you won’t have to worry about missing any routine. Alex Perlman and four-time NCAA champion Anastasia Webb will be on the call for all three quad meets.
Things you need to know before watching:
Round One: The Boise State-BYU meet is a traditional dual meet. Since they have the higher NQS, Boise State will rotate as if they were the home team and BYU will rotate as if they were the road team.
Quad meet rotations: The NQS of each team determines the event on which teams start their rotation within the Olympic order (vault, bars, beam, floor). For the semifinals, the team with the top NQS (Kentucky and LSU) will start on vault, the team with the second-best NQS (Arkansas and Minnesota) will start on floor, the team with the third-best NQS (Arizona and Oregon State) will start on beam and the team with the worst NQS (Nebraska and the winner of Round One) will start on bars. In the regional final, the team with the highest NQS will start on beam, the team with the second-highest NQS will start on bars, the team with the third-highest NQS will start on vault and the team with the worst NQS will start 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 three things I think you should know about them. First, Boise State and BYU 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. Third, the NCAA managed to screw up the tiebreaking process for selecting individuals to regionals, so five extra people got added to the list of gymnasts and made the total higher, hence the asterisk. I asked a friend of mine, YouTuber The Gymnastics Spot, to create a compilation of a routine by each individual qualifier. It’s linked here.
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. On top of that, Arkansas’ NCAA seed is 10 and not 12 because they were forced into the regional in which the 12 seed is placed because they are the host (they switched spots with Michigan State, a team that looked thrilled when they learned their fate). 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 includes four past or future Olympians who represent four different countries on three different continents and an additional bronze medalist at the 2022 World Championships. This is also the only regional without any teams that have won a national championship.
Round One
#29 Boise State (196.715 NQS, 20-5 overall (17-5 regular season), MWC champions)
2023 finishes: 28th overall, 3rd at MRGCs
Program overview: best finish ever: 13th (’11 and ’17), 18 conference titles (3 MWAC, 3 Big West, 2 WGC, 4 WAC, 5 MRGC, 1 MWC), 0 individual NCAA titles, 0 nationals appearances, 0 Super 6 appearances (1993-2018), 0 Four on the Floor appearances (2019-present)
Event rankings: 43rd on vault [49.005], 33rd on bars [49.210], 21st on beam [49.300], t-32nd on floor (w/ Towson and Illinois State) [49.320]
Preview: This meet is a rematch of the Los Angeles Regional Round One meet from 2023, but Boise State is a better team than they were then. The Broncos snuck by San Jose State by .070 to claim the 36th spot in the tournament and proceeded to break the record for highest Round One score in the brief history of its existence. Now they’re a solid team set to prove last year was a stepping stone toward greatness. Vault is a rough event for them as you can tell, so they’ll need to blow past that if they want to advance. This season has been pretty consistent, and they’re on a six-meet streak of scoring at least 196.500. They eked out a win at the first ever Mountain West Conference Championship last time they competed, and their season high is a 197.025 at Utah State on February 23rd.
Whom to watch for: Beyond the individual qualifiers mentioned below, the person on the team to watch for is Alyssa Vulaj. She is a leadoff specialist in a similar role to Christina Desiderio when she was at LSU, though Alyssa has a vault (full on, pike off) in addition to a beam and floor routine. I also interviewed her back in January, so if you want to know more about Boise State or her, go check it out here, it’s worth it.
#32 BYU (196.665 NQS, 11-15 overall (9-13 regular season), 3rd at Big 12s)
2023 finishes: 33rd overall, 2nd at MRGCs
Program overview: best finish ever: 8th (1991), best finish since 1998: 11th (’00 and ’05), ? conference titles (BYU didn’t have great records I could reference, their last title was the ’21 MRGC title), 0 individual NCAA titles, 8 nationals appearances (last in ’05), 0 Super 6 appearances, 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: t-32nd on vault [49.150], t-24th on bars (w/ Clemson, Arizona State & Ball State) [49.255], t-29th on beam (w/ San Jose State) [49.205], t-37th on floor (w/ Arizona State) [49.295]
Preview: BYU is on a downswing in recent years. After five straight years finishing in the top 25, the Cougars have not been doing too great. This is a team that goes off in spurts either good or bad. They tend to stick in the mid-196 range, but they can flop a 195 or raise a 197 like the 197.050 season high at Big 12s. They’re one of the teams with a lot of talent, but with a core that isn’t enough to buoy them out of the play-in rounds, especially on the leg events. If they wanna make it to tomorrow, they’ll need to show up again.
Whom to watch for: Other than the individuals I’ll talk about below, look for Mina Margraf. Yes, I am also biased toward her because I did an interview with her (one I highly recommend you listen to if you want to know more about her unique experience at BYU) and am currently working on a story about her work to receive her CNA. She is a beam specialist with an incredible story off the floor that can overshadow her gymnastic abilities, but her role is like that of Amari Drayton in LSU’s vault lineup: a bridge to the heaviest of hitters.
Regional Semifinal 1
#27 Nebraska (196.780 NQS, 14-15 overall (11-9 regular season), 7th at Big 10s)
2023 finishes: 31st overall, 6th at Big 10s
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: t-36th on vault (w/ Washington) [49.125], 20th on bars [49.310], t-37th on beam (w/ Kent State) [49.100], t-21st on floor [49.400]
Preview: This was a bit disappointing. With all the talent on the Huskers’ roster, people anticipated something better than last year. Unfortunately, they were too inconsistent to make noise in the Big 10. It’s a big rebuilding process for a program that collapsed hard after NCAA violations into doing a thing that’s now been legalized (paying an extra coach), but they’re trying. This is not the first time Nebraska’s been to Bud Walton Arena this season. They earned their season high, a 197.375, there in the regular season finale on March 15th.
Whom to watch for: Last year, I said to watch for Emma Spence. I am reiterating that fact again with some added context: her first language was French. She’s also a world bronze medalist as part of the first Canadian team to ever win a medal, but she wasn’t even supposed to be on it. To learn more about that, go listen to the interview I did with her back in December and read the feature story I did on her, too. She is one of the strongest all-arounders in this regional outside of the SEC teams. Also, Csenge Bacskay is a 2024 Olympian who will represent Hungary. Remember my thing about the NCAA screwing up individual qualifiers earlier? That exact thing happened at worlds to get Bacskay an Olympic spot and FIG didn’t even rectify it by adding an extra spot as an “oopsie” to undo the harm.
#24 Arizona (196.885 NQS, 10-15 overall (9-9 regular season), 7th at Pac-12s)
2023 finishes: 21st overall, t-6th at Pac-12s
Program overview: best finish ever: 6th (’93), 0 Pac-10/12 titles (best finish: 2nd in ’90, ’92, ’02 and ’05), 2 individual NCAA titles (last was Heidi Hornbeek on floor in ’96), 9 nationals appearances (last in ’02), 1 Super 6 appearance (’93), 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: t-32nd on vault [49.150], 32nd on bars [49.220], t-19th on beam (w/Arizona State) [49.305], t-21st on floor [49.400]
Preview: It’s weird to peak in your third meet, but that’s what Arizona did. The Wildcats are looking to reclaim whatever got them a 197.000 vs Stanford on January 27th if they want any hope of making it to Saturday. This team has hovered in the mid to high 196s for the majority of the season. Last year was a decent year, and this year should finish that way, too. Their season high on the road is a 196.950 at TWU on February 19th. They’re an okay team with a penchant for hitting beam, but they run into two very deadly programs in this session.
Whom to watch for: The afternoon session is rough for any team looking to have individuals at nationals, but Elena Deets is up for the task. She’s been a solid part of the bars and floor lineups all season, but she hasn’t done better than 9.875 on either. Beam is a different story. She has a 9.910 NQS on beam, tied for 36th in the country with Aleah Finnegan, Ella Burgess, Rebecca Wells and Sloane Blakely. She’s got one fall on the season, at Pac-12s, and five 9.9+ scores. Her season high is a 9.975 she earned at Washington on March 3rd.
#12 Arkansas (197.445 NQS, 10-11-1 overall (8-6-1 regular season), 6th at SECs)
2023 finishes: 17th overall, 7th at SECs
Program overview: best finish ever: 5th (’09), 0 SEC titles (best finish: 2nd in ’11), 2 individual NCAA titles (Katherine Grable on vault and floor in ’14), 8 nationals appearances (last in ’18), 2 Super 6 appearances (’09 and ’12), 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: 11th on vault [49.355], 15th on bars [49.355], 16th on beam [49.380], t-9th on floor (w/ Florida) [49.565]
Preview: This team has surpassed every expectation possible this season. In Jordyn Wieber’s first few years at the helm, the Razorbacks were middle of the pack in the country and bottom of the pack in the SEC. Their status in the SEC has barely changed, but their status in the country has. One of the biggest things they’ve managed to fix this year is consistency. It’s not like anybody’s waiting for the meltdown at each meet, it’s become a normal team with the same drama as Mizzou or Michigan State, and that’s really good. The freshman class from last year developed really well this year, and they couldn’t have asked for a better time to be a regional host. Under the current format introduced in 2019, every seeded host school has advanced to nationals. If they can remain consistent and get some mistakes ahead of them, they’ll need a 5-and-a-half hour drive to get to nationals. The last time they were in Bud Walton, they put up their first 198 in program history.
Whom to watch for: As usual, watch their entire floor rotation, it’s a smash hit. If you want someone to pay attention to who can hit more than just floor, look at Maddie Jones who leads the team with a 9.895 bars NQS and has a 9.885 beam NQS alongside her impressive 9.925 floor NQS.
#7 Kentucky (197.810 NQS, 17-6 overall (12-4 regular season), 3rd at SECs)
2023 finishes: 6th overall, 4th at SECs
Program overview: best finish ever: 6th (’23), 0 SEC titles (best finish: 3rd in ’24), 8 individual NCAA titles (all by Jenny Hansen from ’93-’96, 3 in AA, 2 on VT, 2 on BB, 1 on FX), 2 nationals appearances (’18 and ’23), 0 Super 6 appearances, 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: 5th on vault [49.450], 9th on bars [49.445], 7th on beam [49.445], t-6th on floor (w/ UCLA) [49.615]
Preview: For the third consecutive season, Kentucky is a top 10 seed. This is the third time this has ever happened, too, and now they’re chalked up to be at nationals (pun intended). It’s a team built on front pike half vaults, solid routines across the board and a load-bearing Raena Worley. It’s tough to preview Kentucky for a third time and make it different because they’re so solid and the story isn’t as interesting as Arkansas’. It really comes down to being normal in the semis and hitting like a freight train to box LSU and Arkansas out at the finals if either get there. Their highest road score is a 197.925 at the Kidney Care Women’s Gymnastics Championship on March 16th, a real meet that actually happened in Nashville. This regional is one of the hardest to predict because of the Arkansas wild card, so if the Wildcats want to make nationals in back-to-back seasons for the first time ever, they’ll need to bring it like they did in Norman last year.
Whom to watch for: Raena Worley is Kentucky’s superstar, so instead of talking about her, I want to focus on their unsung hero Delaynee Rodriguez. The Las Vegas freshman did the all-around until the penultimate meet before regionals when they pulled her off vault, her worst event. Despite being a freshman, she serves as the team’s beam and floor lead and can put up really good scores despite that. She led off their SEC beam rotation with 9.900, and has scored a 9.850+ on 75% of her beam routines. She’s been perhaps the most underrated and unsung freshman in the SEC this year.
Individuals:
Kendall Whitman, AA, George Washington (rotating with Nebraska): I talked about Kendall before in my Podium Challenge preview, but unless you went to that meet, you never saw her. She’s someone I had the chance to interview about her gymnastics (listen here), and it may look familiar to any LSU fan out there. She had the same mental block Haleigh Bryant had that caused her to develop into a fantastic front tumbler. Her vault is a unique one known as the Whitman in the Level 10 code and her floor routine is the most difficult in the NCAA with three E passes that she can execute at a ridiculous level. In fact, she won the EAGL floor title with a 9.950 with the routine shown in the video. Bars is her weakest event, but GWU was downright awful on the event compared to their other three events all season. This could be her last appearance as a gymnast since she’s a senior. Her season high in the all-around is 39.425 on March 15th at Towson, the same meet at which she tied her season high on vault with a 9.900 (a score she first received at Next Level on January 20th) and where she set the GWU program floor record with a 9.975. Her season high on bars is a 9.825 she earned on her senior day on March 17th, and her season high on beam is a 9.900 earned at EAGLs on March 23rd.
Kiera O’Shea, VT, Northern Illinois (rotating with Arkansas): Despite ranking 55th in the country, the Huskies managed to get a couple gymnasts to regionals, and this sophomore is one that stands out. She does a Yurchenko 1.5, the only 10.0 SV vault on the team. She’s only gone below 9.8 once on her 11 vaults this season and has four 9.9+ scores. Her best score is the one you see in the video, a 9.925 that won her a share of the 2024 MAC vault title. It also tied the program vault record.
Sarah Zois, VT, George Washington (rotating with Arizona): She does a decent Yurchenko Full that would need a miracle to get an individual spot since judges are harsher on that vault. She is a junior, so perhaps she’ll be back. She has two 9.9+ scores on vault in 2024, a 9.900 at Maryland on March 1st and a 9.925 at Towson on January 26th.
Alyssa Al-Ashari, UB, Northern Illinois (rotating with Arkansas): Weird fact: Alyssa won a share of the MAC beam title this season despite her best event being bars. Fun fact: she is part of the NIU Student Nursing Organization. She is the last remaining gymnast in Fayetteville I interviewed on my show this season that I’ll be talking about (listen here). She’s gone below 9.8 just once on her 12 routines, and that was a 9.775. She has three 9.9+ scores on the year, and her season high is a 9.925 she scored at the first session of the Tennessee Collegiate Classic on January 19th and tied at Kent State on February 11th. This might be Alyssa’s final routine of her career since she’s a senior.
Maya Peters, BB, George Washington (rotating with Arizona): First thing’s first, Peters is a freshman. Despite that, she has been the best beam worker in the Revolutionaries’ arsenal. In her 11 routines in 2024, 0 have been falls, two have been below 9.8 and a whopping four have been at least 9.9. Three of those four 9.9+ scores are road scores. She’s tied her season high of 9.925 three times.
Regional Semifinal 2
#18 Oregon State (197.085 NQS, 15-8 overall (12-4 regular season), 5th at Pac-12s)
2023 finishes: 12th overall, 4th at Pac-12s
Program overview: best finish ever: 4th (’82 and ’91), best finish since 1998: 6th (’19), 6 Pac-10/12 titles (last in ’13), 6 individual NCAA titles (last was Amy Durham on floor in ’93), 26 nationals appearances (last in ’19), 2 Super 6 appearances (’95 and ’96), 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: t-17th on vault (w/ Auburn) [49.240], 7th on bars [49.485], 25th on beam [49.235], 20th on floor [49.415]
Preview: The Beavers are coming in on a downswing and are hoping to reset their momentum quickly. After hitting their season high of 197.400 on March 1st vs Arizona State, they’ve had a worse score every week. This culminated in a 196.775 at the second session of the final Pac-12 championship, a worse score than the winner of the early session, Stanford. They have talent and ability to keep up and advance, but if they don’t get their heads right, it’ll be a long two hours. This is a very good bars team with lesser results on the other events. If they can hit, they can pull an upset and make regional finals.
Whom to watch for: Jade Carey. Normally, there would be a lot to say about how good an athlete is. All I need to say is that she has a gym slam and is training to make it back to the Olympics for Team USA. She won the final Pac-12 floor title with a 10.0 and is expected to be in the all-around. She’s a strong contender for an individual spot to nationals on every event.
#15 Minnesota (197.310 NQS, 24-7 overall (16-6 regular season), 2nd at Big 10s)
2023 finishes: 18th overall, 3rd at Big 10s
Program overview: best finish ever: 6th (’22), 6 Big 10 titles (last in ’21), 1 individual NCAA title (Marie Roethlisberger on bars in ’90), 6 nationals appearances (last in ’22), 0 Super 6 appearances, 0 Four on the Floor appearances
Event rankings: 19th on vault [49.235], 21st on bars [49.285], 8th on beam [49.435], 11th on floor [49.560]
Preview: This is a team still on the rebound after losing two of the best gymnasts in program history after 2022. They had a very strong and surprising showing at Big 10s and their worst score since February came as the result of a fluky bars rotation. Other than that weird one, the Golden Gophers have been a solid 197-caliber team. They have a disparity between their best and worst events as seen above, but they should be capable of pulling off a solid enough meet to advance. Their consistent scores are better than OSU’s. Their season high is a 197.725 on senior day and their season high on the road is a 197.525 at Penn State on March 3rd.
Whom to watch for: Mya Hooten. What can I say about her that hasn’t been said by countless others? The six-time Big 10 champion is coming off a perfect 3 for 3 meet in which she won all the titles she went for. The only event she doesn’t do is beam, but she’s quite capable on the other three and has six floor 10s in her career. She’s a heavy favorite to make it on floor as a result, but she can vault well, too. It’s pretty shocking she hasn’t gotten a 10 there with the many 9.975s she’s gotten including at Big 10s.
Individuals:
Luciana Alvarado-Reid, AA, Central Michigan (rotating with BYU): The final Olympian in this regional represented Costa Rica at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and is a sophomore. The third-best AAer in the MAC does a Yurchenko Full on vault, so that’s not an event on which she’s likely to qualify. One interesting note I haven’t mentioned is how few all-arounders are in this regional. Only 12 people have an individual AA NQS, though Jade Carey could come in and wreck that party if she wants to do it. Alvarado-Reid’s best event is the one on which she won a MAC title: bars. She’s gone 9.8+ on every bars routine this season and has a season high of 9.950 she set on February 24th vs Kent State. Her other events aren’t on that level yet. Her season high in the AA is a 39.525 vs Western Michigan on March 15th, her season high on vault is a 9.850 she’s done three times, her season high on beam is a 9.900 she also set on March 15th, and her season high on floor is a 9.925 she set at Bowling Green on February 4th.
Elizabeth Cesarone, VT, Central Michigan (TBD): That TBD is the result of the NCAA’s incredible inability to apply tiebreakers correctly. Cesarone serves as the team’s floor anchor, but her Yurchenko Full has been quite reliable all season with 9.75+ scores on all 12 she’s done this season. Her season high is a 9.900 she scored at MACs on March 23rd. This may be her last routine since she is a true senior.
Hallie Hornbacher, FX, Central Michigan (rotating with Minnesota): Hornbacher is a floor queen, though that seems to be more common in 2024 than in any year in the history of the sport. The senior is looking to send her career out on a bang, potentially. Her season low is 9.825, one of just four sub-9.9 scores she’s had on floor all year. She’s gone on floor 12 times this year, so a bit of quick math tells you 75% of her routines have been at least 9.900 including the one which earned her a MAC floor title, and her season high is a 9.925 she’s scored three times.
Courtney Blackson, UB, Boise State (rotating with Minnesota): Just go watch her release move. The 2023 national vault runner up is injured and has missed the last two meets, but she can hit bars. Her season high is a 9.950 on March 10th, the same meet she got injured. If it’s the last routine the senior does, let’s hope it’s a good one.
Emily Lopez, UB, Boise State (rotating with Oregon State): The 2024 MWC Gymnast of the Year and Bars Specialist of the Year has dominated this event all season. She’s in the top 20 in the nation on bars thanks to her incredible ability to hit. Six of her 10 bars routines have gone 9.9+ and only one, a fall, has gone below 9.850. Her season high is 9.950 which she’s done three time and her career high is a 10.0. She is one of the best chances for an upset qualifier to regionals out of Fayetteville.
Adriana Popp, BB, Boise State (rotating with Minnesota): The 5th year beam and vault specialist hasn’t missed a meet all year. Five of her 12 beam routines have gone 9.9+ and her season high is a 9.950 at home on February 16th.
Emma Loyim, BB and FX, Boise State (rotating with Oregon State): Loyim is the only member of the Broncos who won an individual conference championship, and she won both on the events on which she qualified to regionals. Her best event is floor, but both are very good. Her season high on beam is the 9.950 that won her the MWC beam title. Her season high on floor is 9.950, also tied with 16 others for the school record, which she’s done twice this year, once on January 16th at the Collegiate Quad and another on March 1st at Washington. Fun fact: she has a twin sister on Iowa State’s team named Hannah. Don’t ask how I know that or who she is or why she’s awesome.