Iowa gymnasts line up before a meet. A gymnast in the center raises her arms to salute

Biggest Improvements in the Class of 2025 Recruit Ratings

The re-rating of senior year recruits was celebrated last year and should be again this year, as quite a few unrated recruits have had incredible seasons and other rated recruits have made massive improvements. These ten were especially impressive and college coaches will be happy to see that their belief in these gymnasts’ potential has been rewarded.

Madison Bell

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: Pittsburgh

Improvement: NR to 67

Reason for improvement: Bell had a breakout season, upgrading her Yurchenko full to an excellent one and a half and debuting a full-in on floor.  She had an incredible regionals, reaching a career high 9.950 on vault and an all-around score of 39.125 — nearly a full point above her previous best and the highest of all age groups at that competition.

Where she’ll excel in college: Bell has the potential to be an all-arounder for the Panthers. If she continues to improve at this rate, that is especially likely, but as things stand, her strongest impacts are likely to be on vault, beam, and floor.

Stella DePaola

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: Iowa

Improvement: 49 to 74

Reason for improvement: Part of the first class of Iowa gymnasts recruited under Jen Llewellyn, Iowa is the only school to have two gymnasts on this list, and DePaola’s improvement is one of the most remarkable of her year. On floor, her career high of 9.475 from last year increased to 9.900 this year, and all nine of her 2025 floor routines were above the 9.475 mark. Her all-around career high increased by nearly a point, her bars career high also increased by nearly three tenths, and she set a career high on vault as well.

Where she’ll excel in college: DePaola will be strong contender for the Hawkeyes’ bars, beam, and floor lineups. Beam is the only event where her rating did not increase this year, so it may be the most likely event of those three where she is likely to get edged out. Floor is the event we are most likely to see her, and that’s supported in how she managed to more than double the event rating points she received this year. While she also improved on vault, she may not be quite strong enough to make that lineup as things stand, so we’ll see if she’s able to continue her improvement there.

Jillian Fisher

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: North Carolina

Improvement: 50 to 64

Reason for improvement: After previously committing to Iowa State and Arizona State, Fisher found her home with North Carolina. Coming off a strong season, the Tar Heels will be glad to have a recruit coming in who has matched their improvement over the last season. Increasing her all-around career high by over three tenths compared to last season and also setting a new career high on bars are strong indicators for Fisher’s future success.

Where she’ll excel in college: Bars is Fisher’s strongest event, and it’s possible that she may even find herself in the second half of North Carolina’s lineup. Otherwise, the event where we are most likely to see her is vault, though with several returning athletes at a similar level, we’ll see if she manages to crack that lineup consistently.

Lacey Gardner

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

College: BYU

Improvement: NR to 58

Reason for improvement: Another commitment switch from Arizona State, this time to BYU, Gardner is another gymnast who managed to have all of her 2025 floor routines beat her career high as of 2024. This is incredibly impressive and may have been supported by changing the pass in which she did her double tuck for it to be her dismount, something that would give her an extra tenth of bonus in NCAA.

Where she’ll excel in college: Bars and floor are Gardner’s strongest events and are where she’s most likely to contribute in college. She will face some tough competition if she wishes to be in those lineups consistently, but based on this year, she could definitely be up to the task.

Natasha Lopez

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: Bowling Green

Improvement: NR to 63

Reason for improvement: Choosing to take a gap year and aim for recruitment as a 2025 after originally being a 2024, Lopez committed to Bowling Green on a full ride and had a fantastic season. Qualifying to nationals when she had not the year before and then coming seventh in the all-around and fifth on bars was especially impressive. She’ll definitely be one of next year’s Falcons that’ll be worth keeping an eye on.

Where she’ll excel in college: Bars, her strongest event, is where we’re most likely to see her have a strong impact. Other events to watch for are beam and floor, where she will likely be in the lineup discussion, and the same will be true for vault if she manages to make a few improvements. 

Arianna Ostrum

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: Minnesota

Improvement: 69 to 82

Reason for improvement: Recruited to Minnesota as a three-star recruit with 48 points, Ostrum has made tremendous improvements from year to year, and this year, her season fittingly culminated with earning the highest all-around score of any athlete at nationals. She upgraded her Yurchenko full to a one and a half that scored a 10.0 at nationals and made improvements on all her other events as well.

Why she’ll excel in college: Everywhere. Ostrum is likely to compete in the all-around for Minnesota and could find herself in the latter half of several lineups. Her one-and-a-half will be especially welcome in the vault lineup, but she will likely make an impact across the board.

Autumn Rardin

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: NC State

Improvement: 53 to 69

Reason for improvement: Rardin made significant improvements on vault, beam, and floor, but vault is where she shines the most. While she competed her front pike half last year, it seems that getting another year of experience under her belt helped her to improve her execution and consistency. On beam and floor, she set new career highs of 9.800 on both events.

Where she’ll excel in college: Rardin may find herself in the second half of the vault lineup quite early on, but she is likely to make the floor lineup as well. Beam is more uncertain, but if she is training well and consistently, we could see her there too. While bars is unlikely, as her weakest event and the only event where her event score did not increase, with more time for development, she could one day be an all-arounder.

Sophie Schriever

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: Iowa

Improvement: 74 to 87

Reason for improvement: Schriever is another recruit who has been flying up the rankings from year to year, and is another Iowa athlete following that pattern. This year, her biggest improvement came on bars, where she is now arguably one of the best bars workers of her year and was national champion. She set a new career high on beam and tied her career high on floor as well.

Where she’ll excel in college: Schriever should be expected to make a massive impact on several events and may even find herself anchoring a lineup or two. While she is likely to compete in the all-around, if there is one lineup that we may not see her, it would be floor. Her 10.0 start value vault will be especially appreciated, but bars is an event she could anchor, and she should slot in well to the beam lineup.

Lily Thaxton

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

College: Kentucky

Improvement: 51 to 63

Reason for improvement: Thaxton jumped from being a low three-star recruit to a four-star recruit, and this was helped primarily by improvements on vault and floor. Thaxton competed both a Yurchenko full and a one-and-a-half this season, but even her full has great dynamics with a flared landing. She set a new career high of 9.900 this season and reached that mark on three separate occasions. On floor, she upgraded her first pass to a gigantic double layout. This led to her also setting a career high on that event with her runner-up placing at regionals.

Where she’ll excel in college: Thaxton should contend for both vault and floor lineups. The Wildcats will hope to see her one-and-a-half in the latter half of the vault lineup, and her floor should make an impact as well.

Ava Thurston

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

College: Ball State

Improvement: NR to 56

Reason for improvement: Thurston improved substantially on vault this season, an event that she is increasingly demonstrating is her strongest. Thurston upgraded to a Yurchenko one-and-a-half, and set a new career high of 9.900 this season. She also set career highs on beam and floor of 9.625 and 9.725 respectively.

Where she’ll excel in college: Look for Thurston in the vault lineup where her 10.0 start value should help her make an immediate impact. Her next most likely event would be floor, where she improved significantly this season which could potentially put her in a position to fight for a lineup spot.

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By Gemma Selby

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