(GYM) Gymnastics 2024 - 2025

and she came from, drum roll, UCLA. More of our gymnasts should lighten up and have fun on floor. Floor has an entertainment element that the other 3 events don't have.

 

Post meet at bama coverage:

No. 4 Florida Gymnastics Wins at No. 14 Alabama - Florida Gators

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 4 Florida gymnastics used the nation's seventh-highest team total of 2025 to take a rare dual-meet win Friday in Coleman Coliseum.

The Gators used a 198.025 – 197.45 win over No. 14 Alabama to claim its fourth consecutive dual meet victory in Coleman Coliseum - and the fifth in program history.

It's not a site of many Gator victories. Florida is now 5-17 in dual meet action at Alabama, with those wins coming in 1979, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025.

The meet was tied at the midway point, but the Gators took a 0.525 lead into the final rotation after a solid performance on floor exercise. A six-for-six balance beam set pushed the Gators' winning margin out to 0.575.

Two Gators claimed four of the evening's five event titles Friday. Senior All-American Leanne Wong matched the evening's high mark of 9.975 to win vault. Junior All-American Selena Harris-Miranda won uneven bars (9.95) and then used that same mark to share the balance beam title with Wong. Alabama's Lily Hudson took the floor exercise win at 9.975.

Excuse me for being a bit ticked off about both UF's and bama's floor scores last night:

Luisa Blanco, a bama legend who worked color for the meet, repeated this statement for 4 of UF's gymnasts: The UF gymnasts aren't giving the judges any reason to pick up their pencils for deductions. The 4 UF gymnasts:

Victoria Nguyen 9.900
Taylor Clark 9.900
Leanne Wong 9.925
Selena Harris-Miranda 9.925

When each of these gymnasts performed, I found myself asking what the judges could find with the routines, so I was in agreement with Luisa Blanco.

I found 3 bama scores out of line compared to the scores UF received. The bama gymnasts whose scores I questioned:

Jamison Sears 9.800 should have been 9.700
Lily Hudson 9.975 was no better than any of UF's scores
Gabby Gladieux 9.950 = same as Hudson

Gladieux after her routine immediately slammed the floor multiple times as if to say how dare you not give me a 10 after giving Hudson a 9.975. Holy crapola, just who do these gymnasts think they are to behave this way. Celebrating is fine, the team celebrating calling for a 10 is fine, but this is an attempt to put pressure on the judges by the performing gymnast. I'm glad the judges didn't give her what she apparently was demanding as neither Hudson nor Gladieux outperformed our 4 gymnasts listed above even though senior night home cooking judges gave the bama gymnasts bumps in their scores.

There must be something about bama and LSU training their gymnasts to slam the floor after routines the gymnasts think they did well on. I noticed an LSU gymnast do the same thing two weeks ago, the gymnast who leads off LSU's beam team slammed the floor after her floor routine.

 

Presuming I did the math right, UF will move up to #3 in the NQS after week 10. The top 3 NQS scores:

1. Oklahoma 197.965
2. LSU 197.825
3. Florida 197.760

UCLA (4) and Utah (5) can't move ahead of UF this week, again presuming I did the math right.

Next week at home against Kentucky, UF will be looking to drop 197.625.

Mentioning senior night home cooking judges in the above post, get a load of these final home meet of the season scores:

LSU 198.575 - Freshman Cailin Chio scored AA 39.800
Oklahoma 198.200
Kentucky 197.925

Dadgumit! UF had better get senior night last home meet of the season cooking from the judges too.

 

Flat out said CJR was screwed by the SEC last season. The SEC COY of the year was awarded for what was accomplished through the regular season. CJR directed the youngest team in the nation to the regular season championship yet the SEC COY was shared by the HCs at LSU and UK.

This year, CJR has done a terrific job again. I'm just don't think this year merits COY. With the bungling of the floor team which almost cost a loss in the opening season meet and certainly ended up putting UF in the hole early compared to other teams to the bad losses at Arkansas and Oklahoma, I can't see the SEC going with CJR this season. The biggest reason while UF has done well through losses, this is still a loaded roster which has underperformed at times.

My inclination is to give COY to KJ Kindler. You know I dislike Oklahoma, but the Sooners are going to win a share of the SEC regular season championship plus have the highest AA NQS in the nation. KJ Kindler is a hard driver of her gymnasts. Kindler has added freshmen to the equation which means she is getting more out of less in the SEC and the nation with a not so typical inexperienced OU team. I think credit should go to where credit is due, same as last season with CJR who got more out of less in 2024.

 

Women's college gymnastics is flexing its muscles today, Sunday, with 3 televised meets being:

Auburn at Missouri SEC Network 1 PM ET - If you can't get UF softball on SEC Network+ at the same time, this is a good alternative. AU is looking to avoid 9th place in the SEC which would leave them out of the SEC tourney.

Elevate the Stage Meet in Huntsville ACC Network 5 PM ET - Highlights 4 teams: Alabama, California, Michigan State, and North Carolina. Cal and MSU are ranked 6th and 8th coming into the meet. UNC comes in ranked #24. Alabama is fighting for every tenth so as to not be the SEC team left out of the SEC tourney.

Stanford at UCLA Big Ten Network 8:30 PM ET - UCLA is looking to stay ahead of Utah in the NQS. The Cardinal are in the ACC now, so this is just an old-fashioned rivalry meet. The Bruins will do another old-fashioned rivalry meet when they close the regular season at Utah next week.

 

Road to Nationals NQS Top 16 for seeding after week 10:

Standings

1. Oklahoma 197.965
2. LSU 197.825
3. Florida 197.760
4. UCLA 197.600
5. Utah 197.515
6. California 197.375
7. Missouri 197.345
8. Michigan State 197.290
9. Georgia 197.135
10. Kentucky 197.130
11. Oregon State 197.090
12. Alabama 197.085
13. Stanford 197.065
14. Auburn 197.040
15. Minnesota 197.030
16. Arkansas 197.010

Florida's NQS rankings by event:

Vault - 3
Bars - 2
Beam - 1
Floor - 4

All 9 SEC teams are in the current top 16 seeding:

Standings

However, only 8 SEC teams are being allowed into the SEC tourney.

Teams ranked 36 and 37 have a play in meet to participate in the NCAA tourney. Rather than excluding a top 16 ranked SEC team, I'd rather see a play in meet between the teams ranked 8 and 9. The play in meet scores wouldn't count in the NQS so no gain or loss by either team in the national seedings.

At the conclusion of week 10, Arkansas is out of the SEC tourney if it was held this week. The piggies have regular season home wins over both LSU and UF plus the difference in the bottom 3 team's NQS scores are less than a tenth at .075. I'd rather not see any team left out of the SEC tourney based on NQS scores alone. Top to bottom, the SEC is too competitive to snub any team.

 

All Around Gymnasts NQS Rankings:

Standings

The Top 10 All Arounders:

1. Jade Carey - 39.720 - Oregon State
2. Leanne Wong - 39.695 - Florida
3. Jordan Bowers - 39.675 - Oklahoma
4. Faith Torrez - 39.670 - Oklahoma
5. Kailin Chio - 39.665 - LSU
6. Mya Lauzon - 39.620 - California
7. Selena Harris-Miranda - 39.610 - Florida
8. Grace McCallum - 39.565 - Utah
9. Makenna Smith - 39.560 - Utah
10. Audrey Davis - 39.525 - Oklahoma

LSU's star freshman Kailin Chio is head and shoulders above all of the other freshmen. She scored a 39.800 last Friday which should give her Gymnast of the Week and Freshman of the Week in the SEC. While Haleigh Bryant missed so much of the season, Chio is the reason LSU hasn't missed a beat.

Jade Carey has been spectacular in her final season with Oregon State. Her OSU team has done better than the previous couple of seasons currently #11 ranked in the team NQS. I don't think OSU can make it to the NCAA Finals, but I do hope Jade will get the opportunity and will choose to perform as an individual with UF again.

Two notable gymnasts for LSU are Haleigh Bryant and Aleah Finnegan. Bryant was injured for most of the season and is now working all around. Finnegan is ranked at #20 which surprised me that she is that far down the list.

UCLA's Jordan Chiles is a bit of a surprise too landing at #17 on the list.

 

The TikTok Queen is done due to a long-term injury. She is listed on LSU's rather lengthy injury list:

Injury Updates - College Gym News

LSU Zoe Miller Long term Torn left labrum 09/25/24

Bryce Wilson Unknown Neck brace 12/17/24

Annie Beard Left team Retirement 01/06/25

Chase Brock Long term Right Achilles injury, out “indefinitely” 02/16/25

Victoria Roberts Unknown Boot (side unknown) 02/16/25

Olivia Dunne Long term Knee stress reaction (side unknown) 02/18/25

KJ Johnson Unknown Crutches 02/24/25

 

Friday Decisions, Decisions, Decisions:

Gymnastics vs. UK on SEC Network+ at 7 PM ET
Baseball at UTn on SEC Network+ at 7 PM ET
Basketball on SEC Network at 7 PM ET

I'll be watching gymnastics while I record the basketball game. Gymnastics will be the final home meet and senior night for gymnastics, so I don't want to miss the meet. UK is a darn good opponent too ranked #10 in NQS.

The gymnastics meet will run around 1/2 the time as baseball so I can get right to the basketball game after the meet. Using fast forward to get through commercials and halftime is a good thing, no need to listen to the blowhard announcers rooting against UF and for Alabama and Tennessee like what happened in the last broadcast against Ole Miss when one of the announcers was rooting for the Tide to be moved ahead of the Gators based on the strength of their winning in OT at Auburn. I wanted to reach into the screen to hit him with the Gators won by 9 at Auburn, no OT required.

Baseball? There is tonight at #5 FSU if you can get ACCNX and Saturday and Sunday at #2 Tennessee.