Tag: NCAA Gymnastics

6 best leotards from the 2023 NCAA women’s gymnastics championship

Who was the best-dressed at the 2023 NCAA women’s gymnastics championship?

The University of Oklahoma Sooners pulled away in the last rotation of the 2023 NCAA women’s gymnastics championship to grab their 6th NCAA national championship in program history. Each team throughout the competition dazzled with big skills, perfect execution, and unparalleled sportsmanship.

However, there was another eye-catching aspect of the competition: the leotards. From blinged-out bodices to faux mesh cutouts, the athletes did not come to look understated. They wanted to stand out just like their high-flying skills and did not disappoint.

Previously, we ranked the best leotards from the practice sessions, but there is something special about competition leotards. They are on a whole other level.

Here are the best leotards from the entire competition.

LSU’s plane gets stuck turning onto the runway

Yet, despite the injuries, the plane difficulties, and the lack of sleep, LSU went out and earned the highest score in Session 1, securing a spot in the finals.

The Tigers have had a season full of injuries and even the private jet got in on the action. While taxing to the runway, LSU’s jet cut the turn a bit close and got stuck in the mud.

LSU’s head coach Jay Clark said, in the press conference after Session 1, that after a few days of rain in Louisiana, the last thing you want to do is get a tire in the mud. Yet, the plane got stuck on the way to Fort Worth for Nationals and the team had to disembark and walk back to the terminal. Clark said the pilot tried to accelerate a bit to try to unstick the tire but ended up getting stuck even more. If you have ever seen My Cousin Vinny, then you understand.

Subsequently, they ended up missing the banquet and grabbed Torchy’s Tacos instead. Yet, despite the injuries, the plane difficulties, and the lack of sleep, LSU went out and earned the highest score in Session 1, securing a spot in the finals.

They will battle it out with Florida and the top two highest-scoring teams from Session Two. They will be looking to grab their first National title in program history.

One thing is clear, you can’t count the Tigers out.

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Teams advancing to Final Four from Session 1 of NCAA gymnastics championships

These two teams had the highest team scores from Session 1 and will advance to the Final Four.

Two teams have punched their tickets to the NCAA Final Four and National Championships after Session 1 of the semifinals 2023 NCAA women’s gymnastics championships. LSU (197.475) and Florida (197.4) are advancing and will compete against the two top teams from Session 2.

LSU and Florida will compete against the top two highest-scoring teams from Session 2 in the Final Four for a National Championship. The four teams that competed in Session 1 were the University of Denver, the University of Florida, California, and LSU.

After the first rotation, the Gators were in the lead with the Golden Bears close behind, but after two rotations Florida had dropped to fourth in the standings with the Golden Bears moving up to first.

However, the third rotation proved difficult for all the teams with multiple falls and mistakes on each event. Denver sat in last place with Florida and LSU in first and second, respectively, with only one-tenth of a point separating them.

Each team came back with a vengeance in the fourth and final rotation. Trinity Thomas who has been injured and was not expected to compete put up an impressive 9.9 on vault.

At the end, LSU pulled out the highest score in Session 1 with Florida chomping at their heels.

Session 2 teams are Kentucky, Utah, UCLA, and Oklahoma and are competing for the final two spots in the finals.

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Day 1: Sights and Sounds from 2023 NCAA womenโ€™s gymnastics championship

Guess which Olympic special guest attended the first day of NCAA womenโ€™s gymnastics championships.

The day started with Olympic champion and USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame gymnast Carly Patterson leading the Readers Become Leaders ceremony with local ISDs.

Then the gymnasts started practicing with two practice sessions being held throughout the day. Both teams and individuals practiced together and rotated through the four events.

The music was pumping and routines were being stuck left and right. Chalk was in the air and the sound of supportive teammates and coaches cheering on their teammates echoed inside Dickies Arena. A sense of camaraderie was also present not only within teams, but especially the teams supporting the individual competitors. It can be tough to be the only one from your school at an event like this, but everyone seemed at ease.

The womenโ€™s gymnastics championships consist of eight teams, four all-around competitors, and 16 event specialists who were not members of a qualifying team.

The eight teams competing are the California Golden Bears,ย Oklahoma Sooners, Utah Utes, UCLA Bruins, Denver Pioneers, Kentucky Wildcats,ย Florida Gators, andย LSU Tigers. The Golden Bears finished the regular season at the top of the rankings amongst all schools with a 198.075 regional final score.

LSU looked especially crisp in warmups on vault and bars, while Florida was showcasing their artistry on the floor.

The schedule for the semifinals breaks the individual and team competitors up into two sessions:

Semifinal I – 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 13 on ESPN2

Teams: No. 2 Florida, No. 7 California, No. 6 LSU, and No. 14 Denver

Individuals: Courtney Blackson (Boise State), Elexis Edwards (Ohio State), Delanie Harkness (Michigan State), Payton Harris (Ohio State), Emily Lopez (Boise State), Ava Piedrahita (Penn State), Cassidy Rushlow (Penn State), Alisa Sheremeta (Missouri), Gabrielle Stephen (Michigan State), Chloe Widner (Stanford)

Semifinal II – 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 13

Teams: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 5 Utah, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 9 Kentucky

Individuals: Luisa Blanco (Alabama), Sierra Brooks (Michigan), Jade Carey (Oregon State), Norah Flatley (Arkansas), Derrian Gobourne (Auburn), Abby Heiskell (Michigan), Naomi Morrison (Michigan), Hannah Scharf (Arizona State), Lauren Williams (Arkansas), Natalie Wojcik (Michigan)

The top two teams from each semifinal will advance to the final at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 15, on ABC.

Michigan gymnast wins most prestigious award in collegiate gymnastics

Brooks is the fourth Michigan women’s gymnast to earn the honor.

Everyone knows about the Heisman Trophy in college football, but have you heard of the collegiate gymnastics equivalent? The University of Michigan sure has, since they have had four gymnasts receive the award over its 31-year history.

On April 11, the University of Michigan women’s gymnastics senior Sierra Brooks was named the 2023 AAI Award winner. The award is given annually to the nation’s top senior women’s gymnast.

Brooks is the fourth Michigan women’s gymnast to earn the honor. Natalie Wojcik won the award in 2022, Kylee Botterman received the award in 2011, and Beth Wymer received the honor in 1995.

While the University of Michigan’s season ended with a tiebreaker against LSU, Brooks qualified for nationals individually. She will compete on April 13 in Fort Worth, Texas as an individual vault specialist.

Here is everything you need to know about the 2023 NCAA women’s gymnastics championships.

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2023 NCAA womenโ€™s gymnastics championships: Everything you need to know

See which eight teams are fighting for the 2023 NCAA womenโ€™s gymnastics championship

The 2023 NCAA women’s gymnastics championships will be held at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, from Apr. 13-15. The womenโ€™s gymnastics championships consist of eight teams, four all-around competitors, and 16 event specialists who were not members of a qualifying team.

The eight teams competing are the California Golden Bears, Oklahoma Sooners, Utah Utes, UCLA Bruins, Denver Pioneers, Kentucky Wildcats, Florida Gators, and LSU Tigers. The Golden Bears finished the regular season at the top of the rankings amongst all schools with a 198.075 regional final score.

Denver is the lowest-ranked seed at No. 14 while the Sooners are the highest-ranked at No. 1. LSU advanced via a tiebreaker against Michigan, after a season full of injuries. Oklahoma is looking to defend its 2022 title and win its sixth national title in women’s gymnastics.

Team semifinal and individual competition will be conducted in two sessions on April 13 at 2 and 8 p.m. CT. The top two teams from each semifinal advance to the championship on April 15 at 3 p.m. CT. The semifinals will be broadcast live on ESPN 2 and the championship final will be live on ABC.

Women’s History Month Spotlight: Fisk University women’s gymnastics head coach Corrinne Tarver

Continuing our series on spotlighting women in sports, we have Corrinne Tarver of Fisk University.

This Women’s History Month, I will be spotlighting women athletes and their achievements in college, after college, and beyond. Athletes are humans first and while I want to highlight their athletic ability and achievements, I also want to point a spotlight on what they are doing off their field of play.

Fisk University Women’s Gymnastics team made history in 2023 as the first-ever HBCU gymnastics team to compete at the NCAA level. Head coach Corrinne Tarver knew she wanted to make history again and went about it just 14 months before the team competed in their first meet.

Tarver understands what it is like to be the first and make history. In 1989, she became the first Black gymnast to win an NCAA all-around championship when she did so for the University of Georgia. She is just as impressive off of the mat. She has a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School and was named the Athletic Director of Fisk University in July of 2022.

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If you have followed gymnastics for a while you also remember the name, Dominique Dawes. Dawes was the first black gymnast to win an individual medal in Olympic gymnastics. As per Dawes’ LinkedIn, she recently went to meet the Fisk gymnasts, the next generation of gymnastics history-makers.

“Talk about a rewarding weekend! Speaking to The Fisk Univ. Gymnastics Team, and hearing about my impact on them, in front of my own children, made my athletic/Olympic journey come full circle.

As Black History Month comes to an end and as we enter into Womenโ€™s History Month, letโ€™s realize the impact that we make on others, is essential to living a life of fulfillment. This is why Iโ€™ve started my own academies, empowering the next generation.
#Dawesgymnasticsacademy

Iโ€™m proud of the courage and poise these young women displayed on and off the gym floor. Trailblazers are what they are!”

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The past and future of the sport of gymnastics are coming together to create an even stronger foundation for generations to come.

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Iowa women’s gymnastics headed to NCAA Raleigh Regional

After a third-place finish at the Big Ten championships, Iowa women’s gymnastics earned a spot in the NCAA Raleigh Regional.

Iowa women’s gymnastics is set to head east as part of the NCAA Raleigh Regional at host site North Carolina State. The Hawkeyes earned their 14th straight regional appearance as a team.

Iowa earned its postseason berth after registering one of the top-36 regional qualifying scores. Iowa’s regional qualifying score of 196.585 ranked 22nd in the latest Road to Nationals poll.

The Hawkeyes will take part in session two beginning at noon on Thursday, March 31 from Valvano Arena at Reynolds Coliseum against No. 6 LSU, No. 11 Missouri and North Carolina State. The third session features No. 3 Michigan, No. 14 UCLA and Maryland.

Towson recorded a regional qualifying score of 196.265 to rank 33rd, while North Carolina finished with a RQS of 196.225 to rank 35th. Those two teams will compete in a dual on Wednesday to enter the third session.

Each of the top two teams in Thursday’s sessions will advance to the regional final on April 2. From there, the top two teams will advance to the NCAA Championships on April 14-16 in Fort Worth, Texas. The top all-around competitors and the top event specialist on each event will also receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships if they are not on an advancing team.

Iowa enters the NCAA Raleigh Regional after an impressive showing at the Big Ten Championships. The Hawkeyes posted a team score of 196.950, which represented the third-best score in program history. Senior Lauren Guerin shared the floor title for a second consecutive season after posting a score of 9.950. As a team, Iowa posted its second-highest floor score of the season and the program’s fourth-best score all-time with a 49.525.

Iowa also posted a 49.075 on bars, scored a 49.100 on beam and ended their final rotation with a 49.250 on vault at the Big Ten Championships.

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Auburn gymnast Meredith Sylvia receives Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award

On Monday, Auburn University announced that senior gymnast Meredith Sylvia is a recipient of this year’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.ย 

On Monday Auburn University announced that senior gymnast Meredith Sylvia is a recipient of this year’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.

Each year Auburn University honors two senior students with the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. The award is named after notable New York attorney and humanitarian Algernon Sydney Sullivan who founded the New York Southern Society (now Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation) with the mission to promote,

“The welfare of mankind and to continue, carry out and further the philanthropies and philanthropic aims of the late Algernon Sydney Sullivan and Mary Mildred Hammond Sullivan, and more particularly to contribute funds for the support, education, maintenance, care and training of children of any age and circumstance.”

The award honors students who demonstrate exceptional character and integrity as well as a commitment to serve others.

Sylvia is set to graduate this spring with a degree in conservation biology. She plans to earn her Masters in Arts in education and become a middle school science teacher.

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As a gymnast Sylvia was one of the Tigers most reliable specialists on the beam. The consistent SEC Academic Honor Roll recipient was also reliable within the Auburn community with service dedicated to the Lee County Humane Society, Our House, and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Since the start of the COVID19 pandemic Sylvia has assisted the Lee County Humane Society by providing care for more than 20 animals. Sylvia provided great relief to local overflowing animal shelters by becoming a foster home.

Through Our House Sylvia tutored and mentored local elementary and middle school students by assisting them with classwork. Our House is a non-profit organization that supplies resources to underprivileged families.

For several years now Sylvia and the Auburn gymnastics team have participated in the annual Downtown Trick or Treat event through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The festive Halloween activity allows athletes to greet fans and pass out candy to kids. Individually she has visited several local elementary schools to encourage the importance of exercise and display her gymnastics abilities. Sylvia has taken part in several Habitat for Humanity service projects through Auburn SAAC by serving as a volunteer in 2017 and service project coordinator in 2019.

Auburn gymnastics out of NCAA Regional Championship

Auburn gymnastics’ season is over due to positive COVID-19 test results and contract tracing within the program.

Auburn gymnastics’ season is over due to positive COVID-19 test results and contract tracing within the program. The Tigers were scheduled to compete as the nation’s No.15 seed at the 2021 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional Championships this upcoming weekend.

The team as well as individual specialists were hoping to prove themselves worthy of a qualifying spot in the national championship events scheduled to take place April 16-April 17.

The announcement was made Wednesday afternoon. Auburn University said that the decision is in compliance with COVID-19 management protocols established by the NCAA and the SEC.