Whether you’re a hardcore college gymnastics fan or someone who casually watches, there is one name you have likely heard: Trinity Thomas. Thomas has been a trailblazing athlete for the Florida Gators for the past five seasons, and she has made program and college gymnastics history time and time again. The 34–time All-American has an extensive and impressive list of accolades, but what’s made her popular among long-time college gymnastics fans and those new to the sport alike, is her ascendance as one of three record holders of the most career 10s.
Most college gymnasts dream of getting one perfect 10 in their career, myself included, but Thomas tallied 28 in her five years at Florida. She is currently tied with Jenny Hansen, a 1996 Kentucky graduate, and Jamie Dantzscher, 2000 Olympian, who competed for UCLA from 2001 to 2004. Given how rare this feat is it seems only fair that we revisit each of her 10s, starting from the beginning.
Freshman and Sophomore Seasons
As a freshman in 2019, Thomas came close to getting a 10 many times but never quite reached perfection. It wasn’t until her sophomore season in 2020 that she received her first, this inaugural one on the uneven bars. When asked recently about how she felt upon receiving that perfect first perfect 10, Thomas remembers the moment as if it were yesterday; “[This first one] was so special … I was in the O’Dome; it was so loud, it felt like the arena was shaking. My team was all around me, they were so excited; it was the coolest moment. … Bars was one of my worst events, it took me a long time to get it together, [so to get my first 10] on one of the events I’ve worked the hardest on was really special.” If you watch the entirety of the routine, you can hear Bart Conner, one of the meet commentators, saying, “A lot of fans think it’s about time she gets her first perfect 10.” He was absolutely right.
Once you get that first 10, it seems natural to work harder in the gym to get another. For Thomas, that drive paid off and she was able to experience perfection again a mere two weeks later, this time on beam. This routine (seen in the top left box) is jam-packed with all you could want in a beam routine. From the one-armed series to the stuck aerial full dismount, this routine was truly beautiful.
After scoring two 10s in her home arena, Thomas’ third came on beam in a dual meet versus Auburn, a school with a notably rowdy student section. “The energy [at a home meet versus an away meet] is definitely different. When you’re home, everyone in the crowd wants you to get a 10,” Thomas explains, comparing the energy to an away meet where, “The crowd is still super excited because they love gymnastics, but it’s a different type of excitement when it’s your home crowd.” With this routine, Thomas scored her second 10 within eight days.
With the 2020 season unfortunately getting cut short, Thomas’ final 10 of her sophomore season was earned in March during a meet versus Penn State. Just days before the 2020 college gymnastics season prematurely ended due to the pandemic, Thomas earned her first of many 10s on floor. With beautiful landings, unmatched performance, and an even greater reaction from her teammates, her floor routine was incredible, and as perfect a way as any for her to wrap up her sophomore season.
Junior Season
Eleven months later almost to the day, Thomas came back to get her fifth perfect 10, and the first of her junior season. This routine came after teammate Nya Reed scored a 9.925. Thomas was set up to get a perfect score and she delivered. From the tips of her fingers to her perfectly pointed toes, nothing was out of place.
As it turns out, the all-time record of perfect 10s wasn’t the only accolade Thomas was progressing toward. As of March 30, 2023, only five gymnasts in NCAA history have received more than one perfect 10 in a single meet. Thomas earned that honor for the first time during a meet versus Auburn in 2021. Competing at home, her first 10 of the night came on uneven bars. In an ‘unusual’ anchor spot, as opposed to her preferred fifth, Thomas proved her gymnastics to be undeniable, regardless of where she competed in the lineup. Her second 10 of the night came on floor. With her seventh perfect 10 of the season, and the second in one night, she made history, adding her name to the short list of athletes who achieve two tens in one night.“That’s one of the most fun times because everything just keeps rolling,” states Thomas on her own reaction to scoring a second 10 in one meet. “The energy is contagious and it takes the crowd to another level.”
Thomas’ next 10 did not come for almost two full months, but it was when her team needed it. On the first day of the Athens regional, she scored a 10 on bars in her only event of the night. Anyone who does one event knows how mentally challenging it is to only be responsible for one routine, especially in the last event of a potentially season-ending meet. Although she had proved it many times before, Thomas showed how clutch she can be when the pressure is on.
Senior Year
With eight perfect 10s to her name by the end of her junior season, Thomas was only starting to hit her stride. For the second time in her career, this time during a home meet versus Alabama, Thomas started and ended her night with perfection. Her first 10 came on vault, the only event she had yet to score a 10 on. This drilled Yurchenko one and a half came after a rather uncharacteristically low-scoring vault rotation from Florida. Not only did Thomas’ vault allow Florida to drop a low score in the first rotation, but it also completed her first gym slam (a 10 on each event), adding her name to a list of only 13 women who have achieved this in NCAA history (for the full list, click here).
Ending the night with another perfect routine, Thomas scored her 10th career-perfect 10, this time on floor, following teammate Nya Reed’s first career-perfect 10. With the final score of the meet separated by only a tenth of a point heading into her floor routine, she needed a 9.950 to help her team win. She did half a tenth better. “I think I typically perform well under pressure,” shares Thomas about how she handles being put in high-stakes situations. “[Handling pressure] is definitely something I have gotten better at throughout my collegiate experience. College has taken it to another level though, competing in front of that many people and competing every single weekend.”
The next week at a home meet versus Arkansas, following an already outstanding beam rotation, Thomas reached perfection in the fifth spot. Capped with a stuck aerial-full dismount at the Gators annual ‘Link to Pink’ meet, Thomas showed why she was number two in the NCAA on beam, tallying the 12th perfect 10 of her career during the third meet of her senior season.
If Thomas hadn’t already proved how calm and collected she was under pressure, she delivered in an important moment when the Gators were trailing by a tenth against Kentucky. ESPN commentator, and former NCAA and elite gymnast Samantha Peszek, was calling the meet during this routine. She spoke to Thomas’ consistency and reliability each week; “Trinity has this way of performing where she does carbon copies every weekend. … [w]hat you see is what you get here and what you get is near perfection every single time.” No matter whether she’s competing at home or away, Trinity is able to perform when it is needed most.
For a lot of teams, competing against the reigning national champions might seem intimidating, but for the Gators going up against the Oklahoma Sooners in their home arena fueled their fire even more. In the last rotation of this incredibly close dual meet, Thomas scored a 10 on floor, contributing to the Gators’ immense 49.650 on the event to win with three and a half tenths over Oklahoma.
In the last regular season meet of her senior year, Thomas notched her 14th career perfect 10, this time on vault, during an away meet versus Auburn. Though confidence seems like something an athlete like Thomas just has, in reality this was something she has had to work on. “I have struggled with confidence throughout my career; it’s something I am constantly working on. But I put in the work every day in the gym, and I’ve learned to lean on that. I tell myself ‘Trin you should be confident! You hit this routine every day in the gym, it’s no different when you go out to compete.’ … Nerves are normal, it’s just learning how to handle them,” Thomas says.
Moving to the 2022 postseason, Thomas scored six perfect 10s in a matter of 17 days and showed why she is one of the greatest that NCAA gymnastics has ever seen. Her first 10 of the 2022 postseason came on floor. She capped it off by scoring another 10 later the same night, this time on bars. Although her routine was stunning, there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the score. During her Pak salto, her shoulders were too far over the bar. Even though she handled the hiccup like a pro, there was a lot of dispute around whether this routine truly should have been a 10. Any doubt anyone had regarding her bar routine was put to rest during the next day of competition.
On the second night, Thomas competed an identically perfect floor routine in the fifth spot for the Gators. Immediately following her 10 on floor, Thomas drilled a huge Yurchenko one and a half for her second 10. Arguably the best part of this video is watching the reaction of the Gators fans and her vault coaches; it’s pure joy. Thomas’ 10 was the second in the Gators’ vault rotation, following an earlier 10 by Leanne Wong. This lights-out vault rotation helped the Gators advance to the 2022 national finals.
What Thomas did during the regular season and at regionals was tremendous. But to score a 10 at national championships is extremely difficult. During the regular season, there are usually two judges per event, and the scores are averaged. At regionals there are four judges, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle two are averaged. And at nationals there are six judges, the high and low scores are again dropped, but now the four middle scores are averaged. For someone to receive a 10 as their final score, at least four of the six judges need to be in agreement that the routine was perfect. If Thomas’ gymnastics wasn’t undeniable before, she made her dominance known at national championships. Although the Gators only needed a 9.2 score on floor to advance to the national final, Thomas herself needed a 9.9625 to officially get the all-around title. Getting a 10 on this routine not only allowed her to help send her team to the final, but she was able to win a very deserving all-around title, capping off an amazing year.
In one of the most nail-biting, nerve-wracking meets to ever be streamed, the top two teams, Oklahoma and Florida, were separated by exactly one tenth going into Thomas’ floor, and she certainly did not let the pressure get to her. “Normally before floor, I look up [at the scoreboard] because I like that extra pressure.” She continued, “It varied on events on whether I would want to know the score I needed, but most of the time, I would tell myself regardless of what I need, my job remains the same.” Although Florida did not end up winning the 2022 National Champions title, Thomas ended her senior season in an amazing way. With a flawlessly executed floor routine, a stuck last pass, and a final Gator chomp, she left her legacy as one the most decorated gymnasts in Florida history.
Or so we thought. Following the end of the season, she announced she would be back for one more year.
Fifth Year:
In her fifth and final season as a Gator, she was on the cusp of making history by breaking the all-time 10s record. In the Gators’ opening home meet of the year, she got her 19th career 10 with a new, more difficult beam routine. Reflecting on that routine, Thomas said, “No matter how many times you’ve competed, sometimes that first meet of a new season can be hard, so to get a 10 in the first meet, it was a good confidence booster to start the season like that.”
One week later, at home versus Auburn, she did it again. With new floor choreography, but the same breathtaking double layout and perfectly executed dance, Thomas was perfect for the 20th time. Thomas said, “From being a freshman to a senior, I definitely approach gymnastics differently. I have a different love and perspective for the sport, I don’t have to do gymnastics, I get to do gymnastics. … I would sometimes put too much pressure on myself, but Jenny [the head coach at Florida, Jenny Rowland] would tell me ‘It’s just gymnastics.’ It’s something that I started because I loved and it was fun for me, and that’s what I hold onto in those tough days.”
At a home meet in January, Thomas scored her third 10 of the season, and her first on vault in 2023. The crowd in the O’Dome absolutely erupted after seeing her perfectly stuck Yurchenko one and a half, which gave the Gators their first score over 9.9 of the meet, and Thomas her 21st career 10.
Much like the earlier controversial 10 on bars, at the Gators 2023 ‘Link to Pink’ home meet, her 10 on beam was challenged. Both meet commentators mentioned a movement of her foot on her aerial 1.5 dismount, and with the slow motion replay, there is a clear slide. Unlike other sports, gymnastics judges don’t get a playback, and with the rest of Thomas’ routine being flawless, she was still awarded the 10 for an otherwise beautiful beam routine.
Following this controversy, Thomas came back to show how flawless she could be on that event. Her beam routine following a 9.975 from teammate Kayla DiCello, exuded confidence and was the best beam routine Thomas had shown all season.
Looking at her career, what truly set her apart on the NCAA stage was her consistent performance and beautiful execution. Her consistency was especially notable in high-stakes situations like at the 2023 SEC Conference Championships where she once again scored two 10s in one night. Florida was in the second session facing off against the University of Kentucky, the University of Alabama and LSU, and the pressure was on for the Gators to bring home their 12th SEC Championship title. Following Kayla DiCello’s 9.9 in their second event of the evening, Thomas scored her 26th perfect 10, this one on bars.
Heading into the last rotation, the Gators had the lead by three tenths, but still needed to have a great floor rotation to win a back-to-back title. Thomas needed only a 9.675 to win for Florida, but instead, she scored her 27th 10 and her 12th on floor alone. Thomas explains how electric the environment is at a meet like the SECs; “The fans are ridiculously wild, and so excited, so passionate about their schools and gymnastics, so to get 10s in an environment like that is so cool.”
Scoring these two put Thomas in an ideal position to break the perfect 10 record. With four full meets left, two each at regionals and nationals, it seemed almost inevitable. On the first day of the regional championships in Pittsburgh, the gymternet was thrown into an absolute panic when Thomas stopped in the middle of her floor routine following her double layout. After the initial shock and concern for Thomas, the next thought was, “Is she done? Will this be the end of her NCAA career?”
With the Gators’ depth and determination, they were able to advance to the national championship and it was decided that Thomas would only compete uneven bars and vault. With only two more opportunities to break the all-time 10.0 record, the pressure was on. “Going into this national final,” she told me, “ it was very emotional, I have adored my college career. Here, I just tried to live in the moment; this record wasn’t something I was striving for or worried about. I took in every moment with my team, competing, looking around the arena, [and] I knew at that moment I was going to miss it so much.” She began her competition on vault, and it was truly a magical moment. Scoring her 28th perfect 10 and tying the record, this vault was everything Thomas could have asked for to say goodbye to her outstanding career in the NCAA. Luckily for us, she announced her attention to try for the 2024 Paris Olympics, so we get to watch her shine for a little bit longer.
READ THIS NEXT: Data Deep Dive: Determining the All-Time Greats
Article by Julianna Roland
