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FORT WORTH, Texas — After a surprising day of semifinal action on Thursday, which saw the shocking exit of two-time defending champions Oklahoma, the NCAA gymnastics national championship (4 p.m. ET on ABC) is upon us.
While it might not have all of the teams we expected, it’s a monumental opportunity for the four teams who are competing. For Utah and Florida, the two teams who defeated Oklahoma, it’s the chance to return to the sport’s pinnacle. Nine-time champions Utah haven’t won since 1995, and Florida looks for its fourth title and its first since 2015. (More on this below.)
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Maile O’Keefe dazzles with the end of her floor routine
Utah’s Maile O’Keefe dazzles with a spectacular finish to her floor routine earning her a 9.95.
California will be making its debut in Saturday’s championship final round after a record-setting season and several years of steadily climbing the ranks. And for LSU, who had the highest qualifying score in the semifinals, it’s the chance to win its first NCAA team title after coming so-very-close on several occasions.
We’ll have live updates on all the action right here:
Farewell to the Pac-12
It’s a bittersweet day for the Pac-12 conference and its fans. Utah, who won last month’s conference championship, and California, the regular-season champions, are both competing for a national title in what is effectively the Pac-12’s final day as a gymnastics conference because it is disbanding following the conclusion of the school year.
The Stanford gymnastics team account perhaps summed it up best on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday as it wished both Utah and Cal good luck as they used the #BackThePac hashtag one last time. — D’Arcy Maine
We knew this day would come… we get to #BackThePac for the very last time!
To @UtahGymnastics and @CalWGym— today is YOUR day. One you both have worked incredibly hard for. We are in awe of your skill and dedication and can not wait to watch it on the biggest stage!
Thanks… pic.twitter.com/z7bs6AMY71
— Stanford Gymnastics (@StanfordWGym) April 20, 2024
LSU’s mentality
With Oklahoma out, No. 2-ranked LSU is now the favorite to win, but the meet is expected to be extremely close. Senior Haleigh Bryant, who won the all-around title on Thursday, said the team knows what the stakes are heading into the final round, but she didn’t want to focus on that.
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Haleigh Bryant turns in stellar 9.95 performance on beam
Haleigh Bryant of LSU nails her beam performance at the NCAA gymnastics semifinals with an impressive score of 9.95.
“I think everybody is so capable of such amazing gymnastics, so I think our mindset’s going to stay the exact same [as it has been throughout the season],” Bryant said Thursday. “Nothing more, nothing less. Normal is enough and we don’t need to make it more than it has to be. Obviously we know we’re going to be competing for a national championship on Saturday, but we don’t want that to be in the forefront of our mind. We just want to go one skill at a time, one minute at a time.” — D’Arcy Maine
Championship history
Georgia has won the most national titles overall, with 10, and had a streak of five titles in a row from 2005 to 2009. But the Bulldogs haven’t won since 2009, and they did not qualify to compete in Fort Worth this year.
Utah dominated from the 1980s to the mid-1990s and has nine titles overall, with the last one coming in 1995. Recently, Oklahoma has been the team to beat, with six national titles since the Sooners first won in 2014 (a tie for the title with Florida — the only tie in history.) Oklahoma was ranked No. 1 every week this season, making their third-place finish on Thursday all the more surprising. — Amy Van Deusen
The full breakdown of national titles:
Georgia: 10 (1987, 1989, 1993, 1998-99, 2005-09)
Utah: 9 (1982-86, 1990, 1992, 1994-95)
UCLA: 7 (1997, 2000-01, 2003-2004, 2010, 2018)
Alabama: 6 (1988, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2011-12)
Oklahoma: 6 (2014 [tied], 2016-17, 2019, 2022, 2023)
Florida: 3 (2013, 2014 [tied], 2015)
Michigan: 1 (2021)