We’ve finally reached the end of the 2026 season, and, somehow, we’re already knee-deep in what’s shaping up to be a fairly chaotic offseason, with coaching changes, transfer rumors, and an intriguing recruiting class just around the corner. Before we dive into all of that, though, we can spend a few more moments reviewing an incredibly dramatic and compelling championship meet.
Question: Is anyone in the world happier than Faith Torrez right now?
This couldn’t have gone any better for her. An all-around title in her senior season AA debut, and then getting to clinch the national title for her team on the event she debuted two days ago and wasn’t sure she’d ever get back? You couldn’t script it.
I love that she got to end her career like this. It’s such a glorious victory lap after such an impactful career and a senior season that looked in doubt for a while. In December, we really weren’t sure where this was heading. (Where was she drafted in your fantasy league?) There was a real talking point that if she wasn’t going to be healthy enough for the leg events, it might be optimal for her to just redshirt and have a full season in 2027. It must be so satisfying to watch everything come together.
Bonus Questions:
Where does Minnesota go from here? Losing a bunch of talent on the transfer market after a historic run is definitely what would happen in a revenue sport. It might be a bit hard for gymnastics fans to swallow. On the other hand, I imagine Minnesota will gain some appeal as a transfer and recruiting destination. At the very least, I’m hoping for a strong class of 2028 recruiting summer.
What’s Utah’s offseason angle? I do, honestly, think this year was a fluke. I may be wrong. But Carly Dockendorf, after being renewed after all of that, has to appear to be doing something. A bunch of transfers? An assistant coach change? Not sure yet.
Comment: I’ll remember this Florida bars team for a long time.
It wasn’t enough against The Vault Problems™. It was still remarkable. That type of top-to-bottom talent and quality doesn’t come around too often. This bars team was one of the most impactful parts of the 2026 season to me.
I absolutely love national champion Riley McCusker, too. She’s come a long way on the consistency front and was one of this lineup’s defining routines all year. It’s great on an individual level to have this crowning achievement that exemplifies the journey her college career took her on and the growth we saw in her through her five years.
Bonus Comments:
I really believed in Georgia upsetting LSU for a minute there. It’s honestly very impressive that LSU turned things around and brought the best version of itself to the final, because it looked so very vulnerable in the semis.
Well done, Aurélie Tran. Scoring well as an individual qualifier at nationals is really, really hard. You have to go above and beyond to earn recognition without any momentum from your teammates. 9.9750 is very impressive.
Concern: What’s the postmortem for UCLA?
Minnesota was a more than deserving Final Four participant this year. I’m not quite sure what went wrong for UCLA, in a concrete sense, but it wasn’t necessarily surprising.
Vault falling off a cliff wasn’t great, but the vaults that failed in semifinals were vaults that had clearly recognizable technical shortcomings all year. I worry that this team hasn’t yet found an identity outside of Jordan Chiles under Janelle McDonald’s leadership. None of the very talented underclasswomen seem ready to lead a team back to the national final. I hope that will change, but this team isn’t particularly coherent to me right now.
Bonus Concerns:
How much are these coaching changes going to change Georgia’s trajectory? I’m not sure that replacing every coach except Cécile is going to be an upgrade, yet.
Is Auburn going to face an athlete exodus in light of the coaching change? Firing the coach with an anticipated signing class this extraordinary is a gamble. Something had to change, clearly, but losing talent is on the table.
READ THIS NEXT: Judge’s Inquiry: Routines Where Judges Earned Their Salaries
Article by Rebecca Scally
