The hunters become the hunted for the first time
The defending SEC and national champion LSU gymnastics team has reached a new height: top seed entering the NCAA tournament. The #1 Tigers will head to University Park, Pennsylvania, for the Pennsylvania Regional in the 2025 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championship tournament. Their journey will begin in the second regional semifinal on Thursday, April 3 at 6:00 on ESPN+. They’ll face #16 Arkansas, Michigan (#17 in the rankings) and the winner of the first round meet between Maryland (#31) and West Virginia (#36). If they finish in the top two of that semifinal, they’ll face the top two teams from the first semifinal which includes #8 Michigan State, #9 Kentucky, Ohio State (#25) and Penn State (#28). That regional final will be at 4:00 on Saturday, April 5. I’ll have a more in-depth preview of the regional, including starting events and individual assignments, next week.
Tournament refresher
The best way to understand the tournament is to look at the bracket.
Following the first round, the top two teams from each round advance to the next until the national championship. There is also an individual competition happening the day of regional semis. All athletes on the teams competing and those who earned qualification on their own do their routines. The gymnast with the best score on each event and the all-around from each regional who isn’t going to nationals with their team gets their own spot at nationals to compete for an individual championship.