As the 2026 season rapidly approaches, speculation as to who will earn lineup spots this year is at its peak. While these conversations naturally tend to revolve around the freshmen who stand to redefine lineups and immediately contribute to their teams, returning athletes are an equally important part of the discussion. In particular, several seniors have the potential to debut new events in their final season of competition, as showcased in the preseason training footage most teams have been sharing on social media. These potential contributions have the bandwidth to impact their teams significantly, not only through the skills demonstrated on each event, but through the leadership and mentality that a veteran athlete can bring to a lineup.
Cecilia Cooley – Vault (Denver)
Cooley served as an integral part of Denver’s surge to the regional finals last year through her consistent high-quality contributions on bars, beam, and floor. While she has yet to compete vault in college, Cooley has been training a Yurchenko full throughout the offseason that stands to be competition-ready per the footage posted by her and the team. If Cooley debuts vault, she has the potential to emerge as a steady all-around competitor for the Pioneers, with confidence already built and bolstered on three of four events. This would be a pivotal debut for Denver, as Cooley provides leadership and consistency in a season where Denver will be working through multiple transitions, ranging from an entirely new lineup of assistant coaches to the integration of a stellar freshman class into the team.
Brie Clark – Vault (Clemson)
Clark has gained attention beyond the gymnastics world for her unique skillset and performance quality, particularly on floor where she is the only NCAA gymnast to compete the Biles I. As evidenced by her ability to complete such a skill, Clark is an extremely powerful athlete, yet she has not competed — or trained — vault in her time at Clemson. Clark surprised Clemson fans and debuted a 10.0 start value vault at the Tigers’ preseason showcase this month, which quickly began to gain traction as a very viable option for the Howells’ newly crafted lineup. If Clark is able to hone in on vault and replicate the consistently strong form she maintains on beam and floor, she stands a great chance at entering the Tigers’ vault lineup at some point throughout her final season of competition.
Ciena Alipio – Bars (UCLA)
Alipio, who has been limited to beam throughout her time in Westwood due to injuries in her first two years of competition, has been featured in footage from UCLA’s intrasquads that reveals her readiness to expand her competitive repertoire. Alipio entered her collegiate career with a recruit event rating of 20 on bars, and the training clips released depict why. Alipio is known for her clean lines on beam, but they translate wonderfully to bars as well. Her high level of execution should provide her with the opportunity to exhibition on the event at the least, with evident potential for her to have a solid chance at the competitive lineup as well. Seeing an expanded portfolio of events from Alipio in her final season of competition would be wonderful, and based on what has been shared so far, it seems likely that this will occur at some point throughout the season.
Sage Kellerman – Beam (Michigan State)
Michigan State fans have been speculating upon Kellerman’s hypothetical addition of new events throughout her career, and her consistent high-scoring potential on the two events she anchors for the Spartans provides the argument as to why. Kellerman exhibitioned on beam last season on multiple occasions, earning a high score of 9.825, but was unable to make her way into the competitive lineup. Kellerman, who is one of Michigan State’s team captains this year, has the potential to serve as a grounding presence in an event lineup that lost four high-scoring routines from last year’s graduating seniors. Her debut and hypothetical lineup recurrence on this event will be a matter of establishing consistency. Still, as proven throughout her previous three seasons of competition, Kellerman has what it takes to contribute significantly to any lineup in which she competes.
Jessica Johanson – Beam (Penn State)
While this would not be a completely new debut – Johanson competed beam for the Nittany Lions consistently in 2023 – it would be a return to a lineup in which Johanson has not competed for nearly three years. Johanson had a NQS of 9.785 in 2023, which serves as the fourth-highest returning NQS for Penn State when factored within last season’s competitors. Johanson is returning from injury this season and will likely find herself immediately back in the vault, bars, and floor lineups (provided she is at full health) due to her reliability. While Penn State maintained a strong presence on beam last year — even with the multiple injuries to several key athletes, including Johanson, impacting the team significantly — her ability to provide impactful scores for her team should put Johanson in contention for a return to this lineup and to all-around competition.
Jayden Silvers – Floor (California)
In a season preceded by an array of significant changes to California’s team and coaching staff, the Golden Bears will be looking towards their senior class for leadership throughout the upcoming season. Silvers, who has only competed vault for California in years prior, has been featured heavily in California’s preseason training footage on multiple events, and looks poised to make an appearance in a new lineup. Floor stands to be the event that she is most likely to debut, given the opening up of four spots in the Golden Bears’ historically strong floor lineup and her own status as a former level 10 national champion on floor in the wild card division. California is not new to debuting seniors, with Abbey Scanlon’s standout beam debut from the 2025 season being a key example, and senior gymnasts like Silvers will likely be increasingly called upon for competition opportunities in this unique year.
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Article by Sarah Smith
