We won’t waste your time with a lengthy intro. With so many exciting conference matchups, there were bound to be things you missed. So without further ado, catch up on everything that went on, including scores, event winners, highlights and full meet recaps.
| Big 10 Championship | |||||
| Full Results | UM: 197.200 | Neb: 196.950 | Ill: 196.625 | Iowa: 196.400 | tOSU: 196.375 |
| Minn: 196.225 | PSU: 195.500 | MD: 195.250 | RU: 194.400 | MSU: 194.275 | |
| VT: Houchin, Stone, 9.900 | UB: B. Brown, Lu, Aepli, 9.950 | BB: Hodan, Marinez, G. Williams, 9.900 | FX: Schweihofer, Tsang, 9.950 | AA: Schweihofer, 39.525 | |
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In the Big Ten afternoon session, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan State faced off. Nebraska started with solid floor and vault rotations then moved to bars, where the Huskers posted a season-best total in a big comeback from its Big Five meltdown. On beam, the team recovered from a fall by Sienna Crouse in the second spot to finish with a season-best road score of 196.950. That total was enough to put pressure on the night session teams. Penn State suffered tough falls and landing errors through the first three events but managed to score a 49.400 on floor in the fourth rotation, highlighted by Sabrina Garcia’s entertaining routine. Rutgers started strong on beam and floor and were on track for a season high score halfway through. However, the Scarlet Knights faltered on bars in the fourth rotation, struggling through some handstands and recasts. MSU was led by freshman all arounder Lea Mitchell, as well as Hailee Westney on bars and beam. The bar squad put up the Spartans’ highest event total, a 49.100. MSU struggled on beam, which held the team total down.
All six teams in the evening session—Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, Minnesota and Maryland—came into the meet looking to top Nebraska’s 196.950. In the first rotation, Minnesota put up a solid rotation of Yurchenko fulls, highlighted by Lexy Ramler’s big and clean (and comparatively underscored) full. Hops kept the team total from being hugely competitive. Meanwhile, Maryland’s big single bar releases, Iowa’s clean beam rotation and a precise floor rotation for Illinois kept scores close, with the Illini taking an early lead. Michigan and Ohio State debuted in the second rotation, highlighted by big, clean bars from Michigan, totaling a 49.400 on the event. Ohio State’s floor rotation was led by Alexis Mattern’s excellent anchor performance. After two, all six teams were off to strong starts.
The highlight of the third rotation was Iowa’s floor, led by excellent performances from Melissa Zurawski and Lanie Snyder to the delight of the loud contingent of Iowa fans in the crowd in Champaign. The Gophers were solid on bars, but still playing catch up after vault. Illinois came off of a bye in the fourth rotation to bars, where Lindsay Dwyer fell in the second spot. The remaining four routines came through, and the Illini totalled a 49.275, keeping them in the hunt for second. On floor in the fifth rotation, Michigan captured the arena’s attention with explosive and well-executed tumbling while Illinois and Maryland finished their respective nights on beam and vault. The Terps lacked some vault amplitude, keeping their total slightly lower than much of their competition. Illinois’ beam rotation was highlighted by Bridget Hodan’s anchor routine—redemption from a fall last week. Neither team passed Nebraska, though Illinois outscored the other three afternoon session teams, and Maryland surpassed the totals from Rutgers and MSU.
In the final rotation, Michigan put up five big vaults, highlighted by Syd Townsend’s Yurchenko 1.5. In the anchor spot, Emma McLean brought back her own 1.5 but sat it down. Her score didn’t matter, however, since the Wolverines had already overtaken Nebraska’s score with a 197.200 to secure the championship win for the fifth year in a row. The Huskers’ Megan Schweihofer’s 39.525 all around score held from the afternoon session, and she took the all around title.
| Big 12 Championship | ||||
| Full Results | OU: 197.775 | DU: 197.075 | Iowa St: 195.650 | WVU: 195.625 |
| VT: Karr, Jackson 9.950 | UB: Lehrmann 9.975 | BB: Schou 9.925 | FX: Young, Karr, Dowell, Webb, Nichols 9.900 | AA: Nichols 39.675 |
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Oklahoma came into Big 12s as the favorite and did not disappoint. It came out strong from the getgo on floor, where three of its six gymnasts shared part of the event title. Its bars rotation marked the best score in program history as junior Nicole Lehrmann neared perfection once again with a 9.975, and no counted score was below a 9.900. Beam, typically a highlight for the Sooners, was actually the team’s weakest-scoring event of the meet at 49.225 with the only 9.900 score coming from Maggie Nichols. The Pioneers could not top the Sooners. However, they put up their best road score of the season to help move them up to No. 13 in the rankings and into a better chance at making it back to nationals. After a solid vault rotation capped by Lynnzee Brown’s and Maddie Karr’s Yurchenko 1.5s—Karr’s went 9.950—the Pioneers set a program record on bars. The meet was much closer than expected at the halfway point, with Denver trailing Oklahoma by just 0.125. Its beam rotation was solid but not without wobbles; however, the team managed to erase Emily Glynn’s fall and still tally a 49.200. The Pioneers closed the meet on floor where they showed consistency once again. Karr had the highest score on the event, but the highlight of the rotation, as always, was Nikole Addison’s huge double layout.
Iowa State opened the meet with a consistent yet not-high-scoring beam rotation. It counted all scores in the 9.700-range after Haylee Young had some troubles. The highlight of the Cyclones’ meet was floor, where Young earned a share of the event title. The team also had a good vault rotation, but two falls on bars set the team back. Lastly, West Virginia put up a consistent meet and did not count a fall on any event, and vault, bars and floor all had team scores above 49. Kirah Koshinski had the team’s highest vault and floor scores at 9.875; Zaakira Muhammad took that distinction on bars with the same score. Beam, much like for the Cyclones, was a little bit of a struggle for the Mountaineers. It did not count Muhammad’s fall, but no gymnast recorded a score over 9.800 and the team had to count a 9.575 as well. It was tied with the Cyclones at the end of the meet. But after an inquiry from the Cyclones, they edged out the Mountaineers for third place by just 0.025.
| Pac-12 Championship | ||||
| Full Results | UCLA: 197.500 | Utah: 197.350 | Cal: 196.950 | UW: 196.750 |
| OSU: 196.575 | ASU: 196.425 | Stan: 196.350 | Ariz.: 195.825 | |
| VT: Merrell-Giles 9.950 | UB: Price, Ross 9.975 | BB: Lee 10.000 | FX: Ohashi, Price, Skinner 9.950 | AA: Ross, Skinner 39.675 |
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The Bruins won their 18th conference title after roaring back into the lead with strong beam and floor rotations in the second half of the competition. The uneven bars have been UCLA’s weakness this season and the team was forced to count Sonya Meraz’ 9.775 and Katelyn Ohashi’s 9.650 in Tucson after Peng Peng Lee uncharacteristically missed her Bhardwaj. The Bruins actually fell to third at the midway point behind Utah and California, but a huge 49.600 on beam topped by yet another 10.000 from Lee propelled them back into the lead. Sophomore Kyla Ross had a stellar day across all four events and tied with Utah’s Mykayla Skinner for the all around title. Ross also earned a share of the uneven bars title while Lee won beam and Ohashi tied for the floor title. The Utes didn’t start off as strongly as they needed to take a significant lead over the Bruins. They had falls on bars and beam, and while these didn’t count, they made it hard for Utah to build its momentum. They finished the meet with the highest vaulting score of the competition, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the Bruins for the title. While Skinner tied for the all around and floor titles, junior MaKenna Merrell-Giles won the vault outright, earning the first individual conference title of her career. California had a fantastic day to finish third, its highest finish at the Pac-12 championship in school history. The Bears also had their highest beam total on record with a 49.400. Washington had a clean and tidy performance overall, despite a few hiccups here and there, to finish in fourth place with 196.750.
In the afternoon session, the Beavers came out as the top team with a strong and consistent showing, hitting 24 for 24 routines. Dani Dessaints was back in the competitive lineup on bars and scored a 9.900. The Sun Devils had their highest finish at a conference championship since 2012 and once again scored well into the 196s with scores above 49 on all four events. Senior Nichelle Christopherson was back in the bar lineup after being out with injury since early February. Stanford once again depended heavily on senior Elizabeth Price, who managed to tie for the uneven bars and floor titles despite competing in the earlier session. The Cardinal had an overall strong showing by its standards to finish third in this session and seventh overall. Arizona ended the night in eighth with 195.825, which unfortunately was not enough for the team to qualify to regionals. The Wildcats had some uncharacteristic struggles on bars, their strongest event, especially after the usually reliable Christina Berg scored just a 8.975. They did, however, come back strong on beam in the final rotation for a 49.225, their only event above a 49.
| SEC Championship | ||||
| Full Results | LSU: 197.400 | Ala: 196.975 | UF: 196.825 | UK: 196.550 |
| Ark: 196.425 | UGA: 196.350 | Miz: 196.100 | Aub: 195.650 | |
| VT: McMurtry 9.975 | UB: McMurtry 9.950 | BB: Baumann 9.975 | FX: Guerra, Boren, Dukes 9.900 | AA: Finnegan 39.500 |
It wasn’t the most decisive finish in the world, but LSU picked up its second consecutive SEC title by managing to be OK on a day when the field was Really Not Okay. Florida looked to be on pace to win the title through the first two rotations but had to count a fall on floor after both Megan Skaggs and Alex McMurtry missed and Amelia Hundley stepped out of bounds. The Gators finished strong, but it wasn’t enough as the team had to settle for third. Alabama, meanwhile, looked like it was off to a bad start when its first competitor up fell on beam. But the Tide pulled it together and closed the rotation with a pair of 9.950s from Kiana Winston and Nickie Guerrero. The success continued from there as the team finished the night in second. Kentucky rounded out the top four, but still seemed to struggle on beam as it has in recent weeks, with a fall from Sidney Dukes and overall sub-par performance. But the meet really was all about LSU. The Tigers, despite trailing at the halfway point, stayed steady after Florida’s mistakes, hitting beam strong and closing out the meet with a hit performance on floor. However, questions still remain for LSU going into regionals and nationals as vault landings weren’t there and bars, being performed for the first time in front of four judges, was more realistically scored than at a typical home meet in Baton Rouge.
In the first session, Arkansas and Georgia put up a good fight, each with solid showings, yet scores remained tight and realistic, keeping final totals down. The Razorbacks clinched the top score of the session with a 196.425, thanks to a solid final rotation on floor and 9.875 from Sophia Carter—the highest mark on the event of the session. Georgia had a solid meet as well. Sydney Snead hit a 9.900 and 9.875 on beam for the Gymdogs’ only two scores above 9.850. Missouri had a hit competition but was a bit too 9.7-y to contend while Auburn had trouble on beam, having to count a 9.650. However Auburn did end its meet on a high note with two big 9.925s on vault.
| EAGL Championship | ||||
| Full Results | NCSU: 196.625 | UNH: 196.300 | GWU: 195.875 | |
| Towson: 195.675 | Pitt: 195.475 | UNC: 194.775 | ||
| VT: Drouin-Allaire, Nettles, Grantham 9.900 | UB: Mulligan 9.950 | BB: Arduino 9.950 | FX: Hislop 9.950 | AA: Knight 39.425 |
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George Washington came in as the favorite to win the EAGL championship and its third in four years but couldn’t get the job done after a rather average day—one that was without senior all arounder Alex Zois for the second week. But it was N.C. State that came out of the gates firing, picking up the win with a huge 196.625. Wolfpack senior Chelsea Knight continued to lead her team, posting a 9.900 on beam and 9.875 on bars. But she had some help this meet with Alexa Phillips hitting 9.900 on floor and Drew Grantham with the same mark on vault. New Hampshire, who came into the meet fighting for one of three regionals spots, surprised by finishing second and hitting the score it needed to extend its season another weekend. Danielle Mulligan impressed on bars, nailing her routine for a 9.950 while Danielle Doolin notched a 9.925 on floor. It was the Wildcats’ highest road score of the season. Towson, the lowest-ranked team coming into the competition, took advantage of others’ mistakes and competing at home by finishing fourth overall. Tigers Mary Elle Arduino and Gabriella Yarussi tallied 9.950 and 9.900 on beam and floor, respectively to lead the team. Pittsburgh had a good-not-great meet. But with a regionals position already clinched, the outcome or score of this meet had little consequence. North Carolina held its own fate in its hands, needing a big score to make it to regionals. However, trouble on both bars and beam dashed those hopes, leaving the Tar Heels to close our their season at these conference championships. There were still bright spots as Madison Nettles hit 9.900 on vault, Morgan Lane 9.925 on both beam and floor and Khazia Hislop 9.950 on floor. Despite not qualifying a full team to regionals, the tar Heels will still be represented by a number of individuals with the hopes of qualifying a representative to the national championship.
| ECAC-I Championship | ||||
| Full Results | Yale: 195.325 | W&M: 194.575 | Brown: 194.025 | |
| Penn: 193.2 | Cornell: 193.15 | Temple: 192.675 | ||
| VT: Todd 9.825 | UB: Levi, Waldman, Wang, Ryan 9.80 | BB: Baldovino 9.9 | FX: Buford 9.925 | AA: Waldman 39.2 |
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Yale set a program record to win its second consecutive ECAC title, led by event-winning 9.900s from Jacey Baldovino on beam and Jade Buford on floor. No. 1-ranked Temple suffered a bars meltdown that allowed Yale to win, but it’s not all bad news for the Owls; sophomore Daisy Todd took home the program’s first conference vault title. William & Mary shined to finish second, finishing with the sixth-best score in program history and finishing in the top two for the first time in five years. Brown rounded out the podium, breaking the 194 mark for the first time this season, as well as registering two event season highs.
| ECAC-II Championship | ||||
| Full Results | Bridgeport: 195.1 | WCU: 192.625 | SCSU: 191.9 | |
| VT: Kistner, Lesperance 9.725 | UB: Tereshko 9.825 | BB: Ramirez 9.875 | FX: Reimers 9.925 | AA: Campbell 39.075 |
Bridgeport won its 10th consecutive ECAC title on Saturday, finally joining Lindenwood and TWU as a DII team to score a 195+. The Purple Knights won at least a share of every event title, with Gabrielle Kistner, Kelli Tereshko, Lauren Ramirez, Maya Reimers and Kelsey Campbell picking up honors. West Chester edged SCSU to finish second, led by second-place bars finishes from Melanie Wojewoda and Myranda Marshall. SCSU picked up a vault title for Alexandra Lesperance.
| MAC Championship | ||||
| Full Results | CMU: 197.025 | NIU: 195.875 | BGSU: 195.850 | |
| EMU: 195.275 | WMU: 194.775 | KSU: 194.375 | Ball St.: 194.225 | |
| VT: East, Williams, Bartemio, Potts, 9.850 | UB: Harrison, 9.925 | BB: Clements, 9.950 | FX: Fletcher, 9.925 | AA: Plaska, 39.350 |
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Three MAC teams had record setting days at the conference championship Saturday. Central Michigan’s lights-out performance was highlighted by a program-record tying beam rotation, led by Katy Clements’ 9.950, title-winning routine. The Chippewas also excelled on bars, notching a 49.400 on the event. Northern Illinois’ highest-ever MAC finish (second) was led by the trio of Ashley Potts, Anna Martucci and Katherine Prentice. Prentice notched a career-high 39.300 in the all around, finishing second behind CMU’s Plaska. For Bowling Green, the meet was about beam, where the rotation notched a program record 49.300. The Falcons closed the meet on vault while NIU was on beam. The Huskies just managed to outpace Bowling Green for second.
EMU gained momentum throughout the meet, starting slow on floor and vault yet putting up big totals on bars and beam, landing the Eagles in fourth. An overall strong day for Western Michigan, headlined by Stacie Harrison’s strong performances on bars and career high 39.100 in the all around, was not enough to propel the Broncos past EMU, but the team did hold off Kent State. The Flashes were without injured star senior Rachel Stypinski after her tough fall on floor last week. Freshman Abby Fletcher stepped up and secured the floor title, and the Flashes totalled a 49.375 on the event. A tough beam rotation kept the team from a high finish, though. For Ball State, Tia Kiaku had a strong day on beam and floor, but the Cardinals struggled on bars and finished last.
| MIC Championship | ||||
| Full Results | LU: 195.225 | TWU: 194.650 | UIC: 194.375 | |
| SEMO: 193.875 | Ill. St.: 192.075 | CC: 188.550 | ||
| VT: Sokolowski, Brawner, 9.850 | UB: Alexander, Baker, 9.850 | BB: Sokolowski, 9.925 | FX: Northern, 9.900 | AA: Jones, 39.150 |
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In a meet that featured some questionable floor scoring, TWU struggled there on its first event. But Bria Northrop did make her season debut. Lindenwood similarly had some low floor scores in the second rotation. In the third, UIC had a stellar bar rotation, totalling a 49.150, and the Flames found themselves leading after each team had competed two events and held that lead even after counting a fall on beam. UIC faltered on floor, however, and Lindenwood and TWU both surpassed the Flames. SEMO had a strong meet, putting up a season high team score as well as a season high on vault with a 48.675. Illinois State was led by standout all arounder Gabrielle Cooke, who finished second to TWU’s Schyler Jones in the all around. Lone MIC DIII program Centenary was somewhat outside the hunt for the conference title, but the Ladies were led by a strong all-conference all around performance by Tavia Smith. Though no MIC teams qualified to regionals, all six may have individual qualifiers—or, in Centenary’s case, a qualifier to USAG nationals.
| MPSF Championship | ||||
| Full Results | SJSU: 195.975 | UC Davis: 195.200 | Air Force: 194.975 | |
| CSUS: 194.775 | SPU: 194.300 | UAA: 192.200 | ||
| VT: Andrada 9.875 | UB: Salamone 9.875 | BB: Howard, Brown 9.925 | FX: Brown 9.925 | AA: Won 39.225 |
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San Jose State defended its MPSF title in a surprising upset over No. 1 seed UC Davis, led by a conference record score on beam—an event that has caused problems for Spartans all season. It’s the first time SJSU has won back-to-back conference titles. Chelsey Andrada won the vault title with a 9.875, and Katie Won and Stephanie Relova tied for third on beam with the same score. Won also became MPSF all around champion in her final conference championship.
UC Davis’ Alexis Brown led the Aggies to a strong showing for second place, picking up two event titles in the process. Air Force set a season high to stay ahead of Sacramento State for third place, as well as picking up two event titles for Analise Howard and Anna Salamone. Sac State was held back by having to count a fall on beam but was still able to put together a competitive total. Seattle Pacific set a season high by over a point, led by Lena Wirth and Miyuki Matsune who tied for fifth place on beam. Alaska also set a season high, registering its fourth-highest beam and seventh-highest bars rotations in program history.
| MRGC Championship | ||||
| Full Results | Boise St: 196.875 | BYU: 196.000 | USU: 195.825 | SUU: 195.575 |
| VT: Stockwell 9.900 | UB: Hortman Evans, McGregor, Remme 9.900 | BB: Means, Pavicic 9.900 | FX: Pearson, Greenlief, Hortman Evans, Collantes, Jorgensen, Ward 9.900 | AA: Hortman Evans 39.400 |
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Boise State recorded its second-highest score of the season en route to its fourth straight MRGC title. Its best event of the day was vault at a 49.300, led by Ann Stockwell’s 9.900. The team also performed well on beam, where it did not record a score below a 9.800. The team’s steady performance on each event led it to capture the title. It was thought that the meet would be close between the Broncos and BYU, however BYU ultimately scored 0.875 lower to finish second. The Cougars struggled on beam but came back to recorded a season best 49.400 on floor, which included three 9.900s. Shannon Hortman Evans added a 9.900 on bars in addition to floor en route to the all around title. Utah State’s meet was pretty consistent all around except for a rough go on bars as Mikaela Meyer had to stop mid-routine, only scoring in the 4s. McKinley Pavicic and Madison Ward were highlight performers for the Aggies, recording 9.900s on beam and floor, respectively. SUU struggled on vault after a fall from McKenna Burnside and other subpar scores. However, it kept pace with the others on the remaining three events. It hit six for six on beam, which is a step for the team, although no scores broke 9.800. The team’s only 9.900 of the meet came from Autumn Jorgensen on floor while Hannah Nipp neared that mark with her 9.875 on the same event.
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Article by the editors of NCAA Gym News
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