For full scores and results for every meet, check out Week 1 Results.
The debut weekend of NCAA gymnastics in 2024 did not disappoint! Although not every team was in action, the long-awaited start of the season gave us plenty of excitement with a handful of key duals and the Super 16 quad meets headlining the weekend.
Super 16
With most of the top teams meeting in Las Vegas to compete in the Mean Girls Super 16 Gymnastics Championships, these quad meets were the talk of the weekend. Denver started off the season with a dominating performance in the first session, with Jessica Hutchinson and rookie Madison Ulrich going 1-2 in the all-around to pace the Pioneers. Friday finished off with a stacked session featuring four preseason top-12 teams, but Oklahoma dominated in unsurprising fashion to knock off Kentucky, Michigan State, and Michigan. The Wildcats’ Raena Worley impressed with a 9.975 on bars to lead her to tie with Faith Torrez for the all-around title at 39.625 and the highest four-event score of any session. However, it was Spartan Sage Kellerman with the highest total of the event, reaching perfection for the first time in her career on vault for a stuck handspring front pike half.
On Saturday, while Jade Carey hit 9.975 on bars to lead a much improved Beavers’ bars lineup (three teams in the afternoon session hit program top-five marks on bars) and 9.900 on beam, it wasn’t enough to overcome a Minnesota squad that exceeded expectations to win by a few tenths. The Golden Gophers got a breakout beam performance from Brooklyn Rowray for a near-perfect 9.975 of her own. The evening featured a quartet of preseason top-10 teams, with Alabama coming out on top after a back-and-forth affair with California, Auburn, and UCLA. Gabby Gladiuex upped her career-high on floor to 9.975 to highlight the session, and the Crimson Tide were the only team to top 49.000 on beam in this session—factoring into their win.
To top things off, the world was treated to an overload of spirited commentary from former LSU head coach DD Breaux and Sunisa Lee’s elite coach Jess Graba, who were also joined by deferred UCLA star Jordan Chiles on Saturday evening.
Notable Duals
Utah and Georgia got their seasons off on the right foot, primarily due to some standout individual performances. Maile O’Keefe earned the 11th perfect 10 on beam of her career as the Red Rocks easily overtook visiting Boise State, while GymDog freshman Lily Smith showed off why she was a five-star recruit with a 9.975 on bars in her collegiate debut to help Georgia outpace N.C. State.
LSU won, but not without some drama, as counting a beam fall meant the Tigers needed to mount a final rotation comeback over Ohio State. Haleigh Bryant was as stellar as usual—posting the nation’s top all-around total—while Kiya Johnson’s return was going well until leg cramps took her out of the floor lineup. But, it made room in the lineup for freshman Amari Drayton to shine, as she made in her NCAA premiere with 9.925s on vault and floor—including a stuck Yurchenko one and a half.
While it was earned in a quad meet and not a dual, Missouri was arguably the most impressive team of Week 1. Currently atop the SEC and ranked third in the nation, Missouri looked the part, too, as Jocelyn Moore’s meet-ending 9.975 on floor rounded out a complete performance from the Tigers.
Nebraska and Illinois State also drew some eyeballs during opening weekend. The Cornhuskers looked ready to make a return to relevance, while the Redbirds outperformed their 2023 opening total by over three points to enter Week 2 ranked in the top 20.
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Article by Brandis Heffner
