We’ve been patiently waiting since April, and the NCAA season is finally right around the corner. Fantasy gymnastics season is also fast approaching, and creating a draft all alone may feel daunting. We’re here to help! We put together a few sample drafts at this link that you can reference, as well as a tool to help get you started with your own custom draft! Read more about the strategies and themes for each of the sample drafts and experiment with our drafting tool below.
What is the theme of your sample draft, and why did you select it?
Emma: I had the honor of doing two drafts this year! I am a huge fantasy gymnastics nerd. I could spend hours surfing through all of the data… so I did! I created the Consistency Queens draft, as well as the upperclassmen draft.
Peri: My theme this year (as it has been since I started playing fantasy gymnastics) is international gymnasts. This year’s draft list is my longest yet, reflecting the NCAA’s worldwide recognition and the growing number of gymnasts with dual citizenship.
Tara: I did the freshman draft. I started drafting a freshman team of my own years ago—it’s a great way to learn more about the newcomers and how they fit into their respective teams!
What methodology did you use while creating your sample draft?
Emma: I stuck to the data for consistency queens. I used our senior data editor Jenna’s methodology from 2022. I calculated the percentage of scores on each event that were at least a 9.85, at least a 9.9, and at least a 9.95. I averaged those percentages on each event for each gymnast, and then I added the sums across events to get a ranking index for the gymnast.
Peri: RoadToNationals is a drafter’s best friend for returning gymnasts, giving me data for scoring and lineup frequency. For freshmen, I used our recruit rankings to see their rough odds of making lineups on each event. With my pool of gymnasts specialist heavy, I weighed lineup frequency much higher than a high-but-infrequent score. After looking at the likelihood of getting scores from my top picks, I adjusted the list to account for teams we expect to have a tougher lineup to break into (ex. – Utah, Florida).
Tara: I started with our recruit ratings. From there, I cross-checked rosters to make sure I caught any unexpected removals. I augmented the level 10 ratings with additional metrics before adding elites to the final list. The last step was rearranging the list based on anticipated lineups, strength of team, and injuries.
Who is the No. 1 pick in your sample draft? Who else did you consider for that spot, and why did you ultimately choose that gymnast?
Emma: It was Haleigh Bryant before the data was even finished. Her lowest score on the season was a 9.825. She averages at least a 9.930 on every event. That is the definition of consistency and excellence. While Jordan Bowers, Selena Harris, and Jordan Chiles are all incredibly consistent competitors with high averages across all events, Haleigh Bryant was the only gymnast who didn’t have a “weak” event.
Peri: In my international draft, Anya Pilgrim was the top drafted name. While Florida’s lineups run fantastically deep, Pilgrim’s all-around consistency gives this team (if drafted) a cushion of hopefully at least two 9.850+ scores each week.
Tara: Mine was Avery Neff, and it wasn’t really close. She’s our No. 1 recruit for a reason and it’s clear by every metric.
What would the average gym fan find surprising about your draft? This could be a big name who appeared lower than expected or a hidden gem who’s highly placed.
Emma: Sophomores Lily Smith and Anya Pilgrim crack the top 15 in the consistency queens draft. I was pleasantly surprised to see Payton Harris come out in 17th in this draft, rewarding her excellent 2024 season. Fellow Buckeye Tory Vetter is close behind her at 27th. Skylar Draser ranks at 42nd, and I expect her to have a breakout season as one of the Gator’s most consistent competitors.
Peri: Alaska has been the frontrunner in recent years with their heavy recruitment of international gymnasts and has eight this year, but it’s joined this year by Iowa and Pittsburgh who have five apiece. Michigan freshman Sophie Parenti is high up in the draft as a five-star recruit, recognizable to Canadians from her days in junior elite. Both of her parents are Canadian, and each of them has competed in two Olympic Games.
Tara: Factoring injuries into the draft, several high-profile gymnasts landed lower than they would have otherwise. Numerous elites such as Ondine Achampong and Skye Blakely suffered what would be considered long-term injuries in the lead-up to the Olympics, and while we’ve seen bits of training, if we see them come back this season, their roles will likely be diminished. I also want to point out a couple of highly-ranked level 10 gymnasts who aren’t necessarily big names but had massive glow-ups in their senior seasons, Elizabeth Leary and Madison Gustitus.
Custom Draft Tool
Aside from the sample drafts above, we have also brought back our tool for creating your own custom draft. To create your draft:
- Enter the number of gymnasts you need on your team (team size) and the number of players in your league (league size).
- Choose the primary and secondary metric that you would like to use for sorting gymnasts. Pick from among various career-level and season-level metrics, such as career high or season NQS. When available, season-level metrics are based on the most recent season in which the gymnast earned an NQS on the event. Otherwise, the most recent season in which the gymnast competed on the event is used.
- Choose your outlook on newcomer success. As they have no college scoring history, metrics have been estimated for these gymnasts based on the performance of similarly-rated gymnasts in previous recruiting classes (details on our Recruit Ratings system here). Where similarly-rated gymnasts competed only a small number of routines, these estimates were lowered to reflect the reduced likelihood of these gymnasts recording scores. If you select “Neutral,” the tool will use the median of the estimated metrics. Otherwise, a lower or higher percentile will be used, for selections of “Conservative” or “Optimistic” respectively.
- Choose what rank after which to stop considering a gymnast’s scoring potential on an event. After sorting the gymnasts, the tool estimates each gymnast’s potential contributions to your team. One factor is the likelihood the gymnast will make their team’s lineup and get to compete. If you think the top six gymnasts based on your chosen sorting metrics will be the six gymnasts who make lineups, you may choose a cutoff of six. But if you would prefer some leeway, you may still want to consider the scoring potential of the seventh-ranked gymnast on an event, for instance.
- Choose how much you would like to prioritize all-around gymnasts as opposed to specialists, as well as gymnasts with more college experience as opposed to newer gymnasts. For example, if you choose to prioritize all-around gymnasts 50% of the time, the tool will look for the next gymnast in your sort order based on metrics across all events in 50% of picks and based on metrics on a single event in the other 50% of picks. Similarly, if you choose to prioritize more experienced gymnasts 75% of the time, when choosing between gymnasts with otherwise similar metrics, the tool will pick the gymnast with more scoring college routines under their belt 75% of the time.
- Lastly, feel free to experiment with themed drafts! The tool allows you to choose the conferences, class years, or states that you would like to limit your draft to, if any. You can also choose whether you would like your draft to include transfers only, not include any transfers, or both. Note that the tool will only draft as many gymnasts as meet your chosen criteria.
| Draft Order | Name (Team) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VT | UB | BB | FX | VT | UB | BB | FX | ||
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Article by Dara Tan, Peri Goodman, Tara Graeve, Emma Hammerstrom
Interactive tool built by Izzi Baskin
