The SEC is one of the most prolific and successful conferences in college gymnastics, containing three of the seven teams who have ever won an NCAA gymnastics championship. However, in recent years these traditional powerhouses have started to shift, with the old guards becoming dormant and new teams rising to the top of the conference.
Alabama: New beginnings
Alabama is the second most decorated SEC program, having six national championships and 10 conference championships—the most recent of which came in upset fashion in 2021. Alabama was in a unique position under longtime head coach Dana Duckworth, always staying near the top of the conference, ready to strike whenever a top team made mistakes. Under Duckworth, the Crimson Tide experienced great success, not falling below third at the conference championship during her tenure in Tuscaloosa.
However, in 2022, Duckworth’s reign came to somewhat of an unceremonious end when she hastily retired, leaving the historic program without major leadership. Then steps in the heir apparent, former Crimson Tide gymnast and Auburn associate head coach Ashley Johnston. Johnston came to Tuscaloosa after an impressive tenure of her own at Auburn (we’ll get into the details of that later), ready to bring the team back to its glory days from when she was a gymnast there.
Currently, Johnston is working with recruiting classes brought in by Duckworth’s coaching staff, including the third-ranked class of 2023, headlined by top-rated recruit Jamison Sears. Moving forward, Johnston is ready to embrace the competition of the conference, saying, “As one program gets better, it pushes and challenges us to raise the bar…and challenges us to continue to refine some of the details.” With a total of six rated recruits coming in over the next two seasons, there’s no shortage of talent to live up to the historic expectations of the Crimson Tide name.
Arkansas: The SEC’s little brother
Arkansas has generally resided near the bottom of the conference standings over the last few seasons, though rankings may not be the priority for the Razorbacks. Head coach Jordyn Wieber noted that instead of results, Arkansas aims to “graduate student-athletes with the ability to take on life after gymnastics after they’ve finished their four years with the program.” That’s not to say the Razorbacks aren’t looking for athletic success as well, but in a conference that is often considered to be the upper echelon of collegiate gymnastics, this mindset is somewhat refreshing, even if it hasn’t translated to success on the competition floor.
Wieber still has visions of upward mobility for the team, though, stating the team’s goal as to “continue to grow, continue to build and increase the level of the program a little bit more each year.” With a trio of four-star recruits coming to Fayetteville over the next two seasons in the form of Priscilla Park, Joscelyn Roberson, and Grace Drexler, maybe this laid-back, athlete-first approach will finally have some numerical payoff at both the conference and national level.
Auburn: The ultimate Cinderella story?
Auburn has experienced the SEC’s largest glow-up of the last few years, going from 35th after COVID put an end to its postseason prospects in 2021 all the way up to fourth the following season. While a variety of factors went into this successful 2022 campaign, perhaps one of the most important factors was the team’s morale. Fifth-year Derrian Gobourne noted a long-standing tradition for the 2022 season: “We brought a Texas flag everywhere we went because that was our goal, and we crushed it.” 2022 ended up being Auburn’s most successful season on record and its first time landing in the top five at season’s end.
It’s impossible to ignore the star power Sunisa Lee has brought to Auburn. Lee contributed the most points of any gymnast on the team throughout her freshman season and ended the season with the national title on beam. However, with Lee recently announcing her intent not to return to Auburn after the 2023 season in order to pursue elite gymnastics ahead of the 2024 Olympics, the Tigers will be in need of a new leader to fill the void. Luckily for Auburn, there’s a bit of a hidden gem ready to fill in the role: Olivia Greaves. Greaves missed the 2023 season after a failed ACL surgery, but in top form she could be a top contributor, especially on bars and beam.
Florida: Conference royalty
Ever since bursting onto the scene in the late ’90s, the Florida Gators have not fallen out of the top 15 in the national rankings, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to anytime soon either. Florida has pursued an aggressive recruiting strategy that has brought in a number of top elite gymnasts, to a variety of success levels. The last five years have been the age of Trinity Thomas, the former elite standout turned perfect 10-producing machine. Now in her fifth season, Thomas seems to be passing her crown to Leanne Wong while simultaneously pushing ever closer to the all-time 10s record of 28, currently held by former SEC standout Jenny Hansen and UCLA gymnast Jamie Dantzscher.
While Florida hasn’t been golden since its three-championship-title run from 2013-15, with the top recruiting class of 2024 joining a roster that boasts a combined 10 world and Olympic medals, it feels like we’re counting down the days until Florida is able to win another NCAA championship.
Georgia: Teaching an old dog new tricks
If there’s any team that knows how to win, it’s Georgia. The Georgia Bulldogs, or as the gymnastics team is known, the Gymdogs, currently have the most NCAA championship titles of any school with 10, including five consecutive from 2005-09. While this kind of success was bound to come to an end at some point, no one really expected the downfall Georgia would experience after legendary head coach Suzanne Youclan retired after the 2009 season. The first head coach of the post-Suzanne era was Jay Clark, and while his tenure may not have been the most notable, make sure you keep his name in the back of your mind, he’s gonna be important later. Dana Durante followed Clark, though it was a similarly short-lived stay.
Flashing forward to the present, Georgia has continued its rankings free-fall, especially once current head coach Courtney Kupets-Carter took over the program in 2018. Issues on Kupets-Carter’s pet event as an athlete, beam, have proven disastrous and have often undermined an otherwise talented roster. There is, however, hope on the horizon for the Gymdogs in the form of the top-ranked recruiting class of 2023. While Georgia has cultivated somewhat of a reputation for mismanaging talent, with a new slate of assistant coaches, including former Alabama standout Ryan Roberts, Georgia has started to rise up the rankings both in the conference and nationally.
Kentucky: Slow and steady wins the race…or does it?
Kentucky has been perhaps the most stagnant of SEC teams over the last few seasons, generally falling near the middle of the pack as the other teams in the conference rise and fall. Recently, the Wildcats have found success through a high-scoring core of upperclassmen that includes Isabella Magnelli, Raena Worley, and Arianna Patterson. However, even as Kentucky has posted program records week after week, it’s still yet to break into the top half of the conference rankings.
This middle-of-the-pack reputation is seemingly evident in recruiting as well. On paper, having the No. 9 recruiting class for 2023 and the 14th-ranked group of college newcomers seems like an impressive feat, but these numbers place Kentucky fifth and seventh, respectively, among its SEC peers. Perhaps the key for Kentucky, then, is taking advantage of other facets of the NCAA gymnastics landscape, including the transfer portal and the last few years of the COVID year of eligibility.
LSU: Always the bridesmaid, never the bride
Remember Jay Clark? After 20 seasons, seven NCAA titles, and 14 SEC championship titles at Georgia, he headed west to Baton Rouge, first as an assistant coach under D-D Breaux and then as head coach starting in 2020. LSU has also been a historically important team, winning the first SEC championship all the way back in 1981.
Since then, LSU has stayed near the top of the conference and the national rankings, ending the season ranked in the national top 10 more times than not over the last decade. Perhaps Clark’s greatest strength, however, lies in his recruiting prowess. Back in 2011, in his last year at Georgia, Clark was named the ninth-best recruiter in all of college athletics by ESPN the Magazine. His recruiting prowess has continued all the way until the current day, with LSU having top-10-ranked recruiting classes for both 2023 and 2024.
So what’s left for the LSU Tigers heading forward? The one thing that has been out of LSU’s reach up to this point, and the end goal for Jay Clark and his gymnasts is a national title. LSU has been a national runner-up three times in the last seven years, most recently in 2019. With a talented crop of returning gymnasts like Haleigh Bryant and Aleah Finnegan, along with an incredibly talented group of newcomers on the horizon, these coming years could produce the title LSU has been working toward for years.
Missouri: The New Kid on the Block
Along with Auburn, Missouri proved to be the SEC’s other Cinderella story of the 2022 season, ending it at a program-high fifth place. Missouri is the newest member of the conference, making the switch from the Big 12 for the 2013 season. Within a decade, the Tigers were able to claw their way through the postseason, in part due to the success of Sienna Schreiber and Amari Celestine, a dynamic duo of national runners-up on beam and vault, respectively.
Missouri has never had the most prolific recruits of the conference but has consistently made the best out of what it brings in. Although the 2023 season hasn’t been quite as successful as the last, with international elites Olivia Kelly and Kaia Tanskanen coming to Columbia over the next two seasons, it may be high time for the Tigers to take a permanent seat at the top of the conference standings.
BONUS: Oklahoma: Ready to spice things up
While not part of the conference until the 2025 season, it’s impossible to neglect the future of the SEC with Oklahoma in tow. The Sooners have been dominating the 2023 season, holding the top spot in the national rankings by multiple tenths over future in-conference rival Florida. This isn’t just a fluke either—the Sooners have won five national championship titles over the last 10 seasons, along with eight of the last 10 Big 12 championship titles. Simply put, Oklahoma is the newest member of NCAA gymnastics royalty, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be slowing down any time soon.
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Also, Florida didn’t “burst into the scene in the 90s”, Florida was THE powerhouse of the SEC in the 80s, winning four conference titles in a row in 82, 83, 84, 85 and one more in 89. The were often the top SEC team finish at NCAAs in the 80s as well. They were 3rd in 1985, which was a major accomplishment at the time for the SEC, until Georgia won in 1987. It was often thought that Florida would be the SEC team to win NCAA first, not Georgia or Alabama.
This was before the SEC was the top conference in gymnastics. As NCAA was ruled by independent Utah and the PAC 10 teams UCLA, Arizona State, Washington, Oregon State, Arizona, and PAC 10 affiliate Cal State Fullerton (a forgotten team but one who had several top 3 finishes and individual winners in those early years).
IIRC- Florida did have one hot finish in the 90s- I think they went 2nd at NCAAs when everyone else splatted. But they only really began to climb in the late 00s. And can we discuss that they have about 2 SEC titles and one NCAA runner up placement given how frickin much talent has come through that program in the last 8 years?
UGA didn’t really collapse until the Covid years- they went to nationals in CKC’s first two years. I think the mismanagement rap comes from Durante and CKC recruiting a lot of injured athletes. That ’23 class should be significant as the main recruits are all healthy and competing well on their way in which has not been true of their recruits for a while. Finally discovering the portal was also a boost.
I give Weiber credit for using the portal better than anyone but I don’t see where they are the rocket ship everyone claims. I’m also not sure their bigger name recruits will translate to NCAA execution.
And can we discuss the Jay Clark experience- top recruiter, all the girls love him… but significantly underperforming his predecessor at two straight gigs.
I think Duckworth’s recruits from 22 & 23 can deliver a championship if Johnston knows how to manage them.