We may have only seen 20 teams compete (plus a couple of intrasquads) in the first weekend of the 2026 NCAA gymnastics season, but we weren’t short-changed on excitement. Here’s what surprised, intrigued, and worried me in week one.
Question: How quickly will Utah declare itself?
A lot went right for the Utes in week one. This is a relatively healthy team that got some great routines from freshmen and didn’t make any major mistakes, which is all that you can really ask for. But some early-season jitters make it a bit tough to see how Utah will match up against the early frontrunners.
Luckily for us, and maybe slightly less luckily for Utah, this upcoming weekend is a double, and both are big-arena quads. It’s a big opportunity, but also a little bit of pressure to get a large number onto the board early. The landings are going to have to improve rapidly, the lineups might get a bit of a shuffle, but the fundamentals are all there.
Bonus Questions:
How high can Oshkosh go? A 192 in the first week of the season from an NCGA team is astounding. Oshkosh has been pushing the boundaries of Division III gymnastics for some time now, and this is the best start yet.
Why can’t Wilberforce fill lineups? I haven’t been able to find any information about why the Bulldogs are so shorthanded right now, but I hope everything is OK there.
Comment: Missouri looks really, really dangerous.
Missouri always had the talent to replace last year’s monster senior class, but replacing that experience level and competitive focus overnight is a big ask. I figured there would likely be a recovery year before the Tigers could start seriously pushing toward nationals again. The team we saw this week doesn’t look like it’s rebuilding. That 196.850, coming in just a tenth behind the best team score of the first weekend, included a counted beam fall!
I had wondered if injuries to Grace Anne Davis and Lauren Macpherson last year would turn out to be a blessing in disguise, forming an important generational bridge from last year’s top-heavy roster. While we haven’t seen Davis yet, Macpherson looked phenomenal. Kennedy Griffin and Hannah Horton look the part of flashy upperclassman floor stars, and freshman Kimarra Echols is exactly as good as we thought she’d be.
We’ll see how the Tigers’ ceiling develops through this month and whether they can keep up when the top teams start pushing north of 197.500 or thereabouts, but for now, I think enough of the pieces are in place to consider this team a major nationals contender.
Bonus Comments:
It’s always hilarious to me to see unfamiliar audiences experiencing Hec Ed judging. Everyone getting walloped on vault only to get silly gifts on beam is just how Washington meets go. I can’t explain it, but it’s not new. (A bonus comment on the bonus comment: Getting a program first sell-out in week one is AMAZING.)
Shout out to Cal for being a real gymnastics team. I wasn’t sure where the depth situation was heading this year, but the Golden Bears looked extremely credible.
Concern: Will I ever understand Rutgers lineups?
At this point, it’s on me to think I can figure this team out. Its roster is so large, and its lineups are always so opaque. Gymnasts go missing there with no clear explanation, like at almost no other team in the country. I’d be happier if I just stopped having expectations. Oh, you wanted to see the top freshman? You idiot. You buffoon. Why would you even think that? Were you excited for Valentina Lorente-Garcia to be back since all preseason indicators were that she’s healthy now, too? Oh, the top-rated recruit since the beginning of our rating system isn’t in any lineups, and you think you should get some kind of explanation? You should know better.
Rutgers was always a black box this way, but it’s much funnier now that the team is actually good. There’s a very strong possibility of this team making it back to regionals this year; it’s just going to defy my expectations for how to get there continuously.
Bonus Concerns:
Is this just what Iowa State is now? There’s been a lot of chaos and a lot of inconsistency in Ames over the last few years, but this meet was another step down. Is it a coaching issue? It’s not like the talent isn’t there.
Bummer of a first weekend on the injury front. The beginning of the season always brings a cluster of injury news, but mostly they’re not-so-new injuries that we are just now finding out about. Ondine Achampong and Emma Malewski getting hurt back-to-back genuinely sucks.
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Article by Rebecca Scally
