Just two years removed from a remarkable postseason run in 2022, the Cardinal pulled off the feat yet again as it proved peaking at the right time matters en route to a near team final finish. While the expectation won’t be to pick up where it left off, Stanford starts the season with high hopes, returning enough of its championship-experienced roster to complement a lauded freshman class.
2024 Rewind
No. 5 overall | No. 4 at Pac-12s | No. 24 in regular season | NCAA semifinal
It will be improbable to top last season’s Cinderella run through the postseason to finish fifth, but upping the Cardinal’s final regular season ranking of 19th is very realistic for the 2025 roster. Stanford should strive for a regionals seed, which, ultimately, would make a string of postseason upsets to get back to Fort Worth more likely. In its debut ACC season, the Cardinal start as a darkhorse pick for the title, with Pacific Coast bestie California its toughest competition in the conference race.
Losses & Gains
| Returning | In |
| Seniors Anapaula Gutierrez Brenna Neault Juniors Ashley Carter Claire Dean Taralyn Nguyen Anna Roberts Ava Sorrento Porsche Trinidad Sophomores Victoria Cluck Temple Landry Sienna Robinson | Freshmen Kendra Chang Jamie Dugan Levi Jung-Ruivivar Ui Soma Alana Walker |
| Out | |
| Graduated Ira Alexeeva (UB, BB) Sandra Jessen Chloe Widner (AA) Amanda Zeng (VT, FX) Retired Sydney Razeghi Katya Sander |
Fresh Faces
Boasting three former five-star and two former four-star recruits in its freshman class is Stanford—good enough for fourth in the country. After competing in Paris under the Philippine flag, Levi Jung-Ruivivar is the most high-profile name in the class; however, fellow international elite Ui Soma from Japan is the class’s highest-rated rookie, and after deferring is finally in Palo Alto. The Cardinal is notorious for slowly integrating freshmen into lineups, but with this group’s potential and eight routines to replace, we may see more from the Stanford freshmen than usual.
Apparatus Deep Dive
Vault
2024 Event Ranking: No. 27 | NQS: 49.170 | Average: 49.067
| Event Overview: Vault was the weak spot for the Cardinal in 2024, with its quartet of 10.0 start values needing more polish and flash of those from top 10 squads to bring in the mid-49 totals. The newbie class brings in some useful difficulty and depth, though, as vault is where Stanford has the most room to grow in 2025. | ||
| Locks: Anapaula Gutierrez, Brenna Neault, Taralyn Nguyen, Anna Roberts With difficulty paramount in this era, the Cardinal’s four most difficult vaults will return to the lineup. NCAA vault champion Anna Roberts’ Yurchenko one and a half got a late start last season after coming back from a minor injury, and Stanford looks forward to having its best gymnast in the lineup for the entirety of 2025. Adding power and dialing in on landings—like it did during the postseason—will be key for this group to help improve its weakest event. | ||
| Contenders: Claire Dean, Jaime Dugan, Levi Jung-Ruivivar, Ui Soma If it’s another season of hidden freshmen, Claire Dean’s Yurchenko full will slide right back into the lineup. But, if Head Coach Tabitha Yim is going for full potential, a one and a half from Jung-Ruivivar and a full-on tuck from Dugan will get the green light for takeoff. A maximum-difficulty vault lineup could be the difference maker for a program fighting for a seed at regionals, and that pair of rookies would take the Cardinal to a full six 10.0 start values. | ||
| Wildcards: Kendra Chang, Victoria Cluck, Alana Walker Cluck has played substitute on vault before, making her a viable option to claim a lineup appearance yet again. But the power on Alana Walker’s Yurchenko full could make for a perfect leadoff if the difficulty-forward strategy is a no-go. |
Bars
2024 Event Ranking: No. 17 | NQS: 49.330 | Average: 49.019
| Event Overview: Outside of its season-opening disaster, the Cardinal was consistent on bars despite lacking multiple routines regularly notching scores above 9.9. Stanford did graduate two significant routines but it also brought in a group of freshmen with similar scoring potential to help lessen the blow. With more options, maintaining the status quo is realistic. | ||
| Locks: Anapaula Gutierrez, Brenna Neault, Anna Roberts The top two returning routines by NQS are what Stanford should build this lineup around, even though Gutierrez nor Neault are the most natural bars swingers. They thrive on consistency, something the Cardinal are going to want to see more of from Roberts on bars, where her season average from 2024 was far less than her 2023 mark. But, at her best—something she projects to be closer to this season—she makes it a routine Stanford wants in its lineup. | ||
| Contenders: Kendra Chang, Claire Dean, Jaime Dugan, Levi Jung-Ruivivar, Sienna Robinson, Ui Soma, Ava Sorrento No Stanford freshman makes the “locks” category due to the program’s reputation of waiting to develop them throughout the season, but Soma is as close to a lock as possible. Her swing is smooth yet crisp, and she can provide the lineup with an immediate replacement for the highlight routine lost from Chloe Widner. Fellow freshmen Jung-Ruivivar, Kendra Chang, and Dugan aren’t far behind—as this is a standout event for each of them—putting previous lineup spots for Claire Dean and Ava Sorrento in jeopardy. This freshman class could rewrite nearly the entire bars lineup for the better. | ||
| Wildcards: Alana Walker Walker, the only member of the rookie class yet to be mentioned for this event, can hold her own on bars, too. But, with so many flashier options ahead of her, this routine will likely serve as unseen depth. |
Beam
2024 Event Ranking: No. 14 | NQS: 49.385 | Average: 49.244
| Event Overview: After finding its groove halfway through the season, beam blossomed into Stanford’s best event, with Widner always capable of popping off for a 10 as the anchor. Now, with Widner’s departure, the Cardinal will search for a new centerpiece to sure up an event where they project to have plenty of options. | ||
| Locks: Claire Dean, Brenna Neault, Sienna Robinson With Stanford’s top two routines by NQS on beam from last season gone, Dean, Robinson, and Neault will carry the new lineup, as they’re the best returning beamers on the roster. In her freshman season, Robinson didn’t bring in as lofty of scores as expected after flourishing on the event pre-NCAA, so expect to see some higher totals from the sophomore as she continues to adjust to collegiate competition. | ||
| Contenders: Ashley Carter, Kendra Chang, Levi Jung-Ruivivar, Taralyn Nguyen, Anna Roberts, Ui Soma, Porsche Trinidad This is the large group of options from which Stanford will have to choose from to fill the first half of its lineup. Carter, Nguyen, and Trinidad all got solid reps under their belts a season ago, but their spots come into question with a healthier Roberts and a strong rookie class to contend with. Beam has never been a strength of Roberts, so she may not slide back into the lineup full-time, leaving more room for freshmen like Jung-Ruivivar and Chang to sneak in. Like on bars, if she’s good to go, Soma is a need—not a want—on beam. | ||
| Wildcards: Jamie Dugan, Alana Walker Adding to the depth are newcomers Dugan and Walker, who should expect to contribute in seasons to come rather than in 2025. Beam is an area where Yim can take her time folding in the freshmen. |
Floor
2024 Event Ranking: No. 24 | NQS: 49.390 | Average: 49.233
| Event Overview: Floor came on strong at the end of the season for the Cardinal, with that growth ultimately boosting it through regionals and down to Texas. Stanford shuffled lineups some in 2024, allowing it not to have to rely solely on fresh faces to replace the two lineup regulars. However, there are a few freshies it might rather have in its top six. | ||
| Locks: Claire Dean, Brenna Neault, Taralyn Nguyen, Anna Roberts The most consistent in scoring and lineup frequency, the above will be the core four on floor. Nguyen’s double layout is the only E pass among the group, so consistency will again be the key to the Cardinal’s success. | ||
| Contenders: Victoria Cluck, Sienna Robinson, Ui Soma, Alana Walker With more conservative routines from the locked returnees, Stanford may opt to take liberties with the two open spots by getting the freshmen E passes into the lineup. Soma’s double layout stunned at All Japan Championships over the summer while Walker nailed a full-in at the Pan American Championships for Jamaica. That’ll pressure Cluck and Robinson, who filled in successfully on occasion a season ago, to up their game to stay in the top six. | ||
| Wildcards: Kendra Chang, Jaime Dugan, Levi Jung-Ruivivar, Temple Landry The rest of the freshmen bring solid depth but don’t carry as much weight with difficulty and consistency. But in a pinch, these routines should be there and lurking to make an impact in the future. |
Records Watch
Team: 198.875 | AA: 39.825 | VT: 49.600/10.000 | UB: 49.725/10.000 | BB: 49.750/10.000 | FX: 49.925/10.000
Most of the team’s lofty records were posted back in the program’s heyday in the early 2000s, meaning individual marks are more likely to be matched in 2025, as this roster contains a 10-able routine from Roberts. A vault stick earned her the NCAA title a season ago and could get the upperclassman her first perfect score.
The Big Picture
We’ve seen this story before, but the difference-maker for Stanford in 2025 will be its top-five freshman class. The core of Roberts, Neault, Nguyen, and Dean can carry the Cardinal to a regionals seed—which should be the minimum goal for this squad—with impact rookies determining how far onto the nationals bubble it can get. Boding well for the cause was seeing more fresh faces than usual a season ago.
READ THIS NEXT: 7 Teams That Could Surprise Everyone in 2025
Article by Brandis Heffner
