(GYM) Gymnastics 2024 - 2025

We'll start the thread for the 2024-25 year with the last two posts from the 2023-24 thread.

When the 2025 official roster is posted, I'll add it here in post #1.

Thanks to all for coming over to the 2025 season thread. I think the Gators have a shot at a special season.

 

The 2025 UF roster according to College Gym News. CGN added Victoria Nguyen and still has Sloane Blakely on the roster:

2025

1. Sloane Blakely
2. Bri Edwards
3. Morgan Hurd
4. Ellie Lazzari**
5. Riley McCusker
6. Victoria Nguyen**
7. Leanne Wong
8. Lori Brubach
9. Selena Harris***
10. Alyssa Arana
11. Kaylee Bluffstone
12. Kayla DiCello
13. Gabby Disidore
14. Skylar Draser
15. Danie Ferris
16. Anya Pilgrim
17. Skye Blakely*
18. Lily Bruce
19. Taylor Clark

*Deferred for Olympics
**COVID Year
***Transfer from UCLA

Even though Skye Blakely and Kayla Dicello are likely to miss 2025 on medical ships, I think this is a national championship finals roster without them. With Skye and Kayla, I would have predicted the 2025 national championship for UF.

 

washdcgator comments on the 2025 roster:

washdcgator
Junior
Apr 3, 2007

My take on the roster:

1. Even without the Blakelys and DiCello, there are 9 vaults with 10 start values.

2. The bars lineup could be superb. Draser really shined here in post season. Ending with Harris / Wong / McCusker doesn’t get better. How will Pilgrim / Disidore / Lazzari / Nguyen / Bruce fit in? Huge potential here.

3. Starting beam with Draser is money. End with Harris / Wong /Lazzari/ McCusker is very strong. Squeeze in Pilgrim / Nguyen / Bruce / Arana / Hurd and maybe even Ferris? potential for 49.7 here.

4. I would like to see six E passes on floor. Lazzari / Nguyen / Bluffstone / Ferris / Wong / Harris. Sprinkle in Brubach / Hurd / Bruce / Draser. 10 deep maybe more.

Sloane will be missed most on beam. DiCello on bars and beam. Not sure on Skye. We have solid depth. Who will be the Bridget / Trinity alpha dog? I’m hoping this is the X factor that Harris will bring bc everyone else seems too nice!!!

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I think Sloane is still with the team. In the head shots video posted on the UF X account, I'm pretty sure Sloane is shown briefly right after Kayla DiCello.

(2) Gators Gymnastics on X: "New school year New headshot! #GoGators | ‍♀️ https://t.co/IlZm0mFk2k" / X (twitter.com)

College Gym News whose job it is to stay on top of roster lineups posted Victoria coming back for her 5th year plus left Sloane in the roster lineup.

The only way to know for sure is when we see pictures of the whole team together at a bonding retreat or when UF releases the 2025 official roster.

 

Wishful thinking? I'm hoping Skye and Kayla will be able to be ready for bars and beam for the season. Early last week I watched a video of them doing a press off on the low beam. Skylar won 7-6. It was funny watching them do the press off wearing their boots and then hobbling around laughing. Other than being injured, they pass the looks test of being top 5 world class gymnasts.

 

Not so friendly to UF Tiger Droppings Gymnastics thinks it is us followed by LSU very closely. They are watching her visits, even posted a picture of Hezley hanging with Leanne.

I think the ties with UF have already been formed and I don't think a flawed football team/game will have anything to do with her decision.

Simply put, UF is the best school for gymnastics and academics. Gator.

 

Hezly's first official visit is in the books:

Hezly Rivera | first official visit! i had such a great time visiting the university of florida this weekend! thank you to everyone for making me feel... | Instagram

Gymnastics recruiting allows unlimited official visits, so I have no idea how many she is planning on taking. If she comes back to UF again, it'll be on her dime. Hopefully, Hezly & family saw enough to make UF home for her college career.

 

New NCAA Gymnastics Rules & Modifications for the 2025 season:

New NCAA Gymnastics Rules, Modifications, and What They All Mean for the 2025 Season - College Gym News

I particularly like the judges conference required when in two judge meets on scores of 9.8+ that there can't be more than .1 difference between the judges. I wish I had a dime for every time I have said I don't see what the two judges saw so differently in their scoring. Hopefully, this scoring change will reduce the scoring differences, at least on 9.8+ scores.

General

Recently, USA Gymnastics changed its policy, allowing athletes to compete wearing shorts or tights over or under their leotard. This year, the NCAA has also explicitly stated that shorts, tights, or leggings are allowed during the competition.

The half-tenth deduction for the failure to hold a “finishing position,” introduced last year, is further clarified in this year’s edition, following several clarifications during clinics, calls, and judging newsletters. A gymnast must stand with their legs straight and arms up for one second, facing the direction of their landing. Gymnasts are not allowed to move during the finishing position, so no more fist pumps, waves, or signs of school spirit during the one-second hold.

I am very excited to tell you all that the judges have updated the allowable range of scores. If a score average is above a 9.8, a two-judge panel must be within a one-tenth range. This rule does not apply to the postseason with four- and six-judge panels. Presumably, any egregious errors in scoring would be dropped in the final calculation, so the risk of a 9.75/9.95 or a 9.85/10.0 split is much less. This season, a 9.85/10.0 split would warrant a judging conference and would hopefully result in a more accurate score overall.

In the event that an athlete is injured or elects not to complete their routine, the judges are still required to come up with their score and start value, which is much more difficult with incomplete routines. If the scores are out of range, rather than conferencing immediately, the judges essentially table the conference for later. The rest of the lineup can compete, preventing the athletes from waiting too long. The judges would complete their conference during the transition period and then finalize the score.

Much to the disappointment of some college gymnastics fans, the names of the judges will be removed from publicly available scoresheets. While I’m sure there will still be plenty of controversy over scores this season, judges will no longer be personally harassed for their errors from those who may take their frustrations too far. With the new SCORE board and judging accountability system being implemented this year, judges’ performances will be peer reviewed and ranked, theoretically rewarding the best judges with postseason assignments and giving valuable feedback to those who are underperforming.

Vault

There were not any exciting updates this year but rather further instructions on how to place the direction lines on the vault landing mats. I would have loved to see some clarification on how to apply the up-to-three-tenth deduction based on where the athlete lands in relationship to the lines, but for now, it will still be subjectively up to the judges’ discretion.

Bars

Bars has two changes to the special requirements. The first is that rather than requiring a C dismount, gymnasts are now required to do a “C dismount preceded by a minimum of a C element OR a D/E dismount.” While this is a change, most athletes currently fulfill this requirement. Failure to do so under the 2024 rules incurred a one-tenth “up to the level” composition deduction. By making this a special requirement rather than a compositional requirement, it’s now a tw- tenth deduction instead of one.

The second change increases the required difficulty of the two required release elements. Release requirements have been upgraded from two C releases (or a D and a B release) to requiring a minimum of a D and a C release.

Get ready to see fewer Maloney to Pak saltos! The NCAA has upgraded the non toe-on entry low-to-high bar releases in a clear hip (Shaposhnikova) and Stalder (Chow) position from a D difficulty value to an E. This gives gymnasts electing to do these releases an extra tenth in difficulty bonus, compared to those who perform a Maloney. Additionally, they devalued the Maloney to Pak Salto and Maloney to overshoot handstand connection from two tenths in bonus to one. For example, an athlete choosing to to a Shaposhnikova (E) + Pak salto (D) would get a total of five tenths in bonus, where a Maloney (D) to Pak salto (D) would now only receive three tenths total bonus (one tenth connective, two tenths difficulty) instead of four tenths as it did in 2024. Hopefully we’ll see more variety on bars with these changes.

Beam

Beam does not have any major changes, but there is an important clarification regarding acro series connections now included. The new update emphasizes that a broken acro series due to “a balance error, extra steps, or a stop in the connection of elements” would cause the athlete not to get any connective bonus or credit for the required acro series. This has always been the rule, but hopefully with it spelled out in black and white, judges will be more likely to take these deductions. I’ll believe it when I see it.

After Leanne Wong inadvertently knocked the beam cap off during her dismount during one of her routines in 2024, she was allowed to repeat her dismount without penalty, as the judges ruled that the beam cap falling off was considered “equipment failure.” If you watch the video, you can tell that Leanne’s foot was beyond the end of the beam, which is why the cap fell off. The new rules clearly specify that if a beam cap falls off, it is not considered equipment failure, and any and all penalties (falls, execution errors, incomplete dismounts) would be applicable. I am happy to see this is clarified so it is no longer up to the discretion of the individual judge.

Floor

Floor added a new special requirement (there are now five), requiring athletes to perform at least two acro passes on two different diagonals. As a judge, I don’t love this rule because I now have to figure out a way to track not just what they did and their deductions, but their floor pattern as well. As a former gymnast, I also dislike this rule because a lot of us have a favorite corner for a reason, and I don’t think it detracts from the athleticism or artistic quality of the routines to only tumble on one diagonal. They already have a half-tenth “insufficient use of the floor area,” so they could have just made that a larger deduction and clarified it regarding the tumbling passes. Honestly, I think I’m just salty because they could have included a C turn special requirement and they chose this instead.

I am very happy about the changes to the double-back-as-a-last-pass bonus. Now, a gymnast with a two-pass routine ending with a double back will have to include a second salto in the pass for the one-tenth additional bonus. For example, a front tuck step out through to a double back, or a round-off whip back to double back would receive the additional bonus. For a three-pass routine, gymnasts will still receive the one-tenth additional bonus for a double flipping salto or for an E acro element. I believe the original intent of this rule was to reward gymnasts with endurance, but the coaches and athletes found a loophole. Hopefully with this update we will see higher overall difficulty in tumbling on floor.

 

Yes.

 

Hezly Rivera has moved to Plano, Texas to train. Plano is in the Dallas/Ft. Wirth area:

Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera does incredible flip to throw the first pitch at the Rangers game (msn.com)

She threw out the first pitch at a Rangers game:

Originally a New Jersey native, she relocated to Plano, Texas, to train at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

Rivera helped the women’s gymnastics team qualify for the Paris Olympics. While at the Rangers and Yankees game, Rivera proudly wore the gold medal she, along with Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey, received after winning the team final.

Following her fun pitch, the Rangers also posted photos from the event on their Instagram, writing, “A perfect for Olympic gold medalist, @hezrivera!”

 

Your input was missed last year. Hope you participate this year.