Intrasquads give us a taste of the 2025 NCAA season — Sabrina Mar talks ’80s gymnastics, both good and bad

(Editor’s note: This is the last Gymnastics Saturday of 2024. The IX is off next week, and will return with Golf Thursday on Jan. 2, 2025.)

This week has been full of college intrasquads, which preview team dynamics, possible lineups, and the strength of individual routines before the season officially begins and these things count. 

In no particular order, here are a few of my favorite routines from intrasquads. 

Avery Neff’s 1.5 Yurchenko vault at Utah’s Red Rocks Preview:

Riley McCusker is back, and she showed off some sweet beam and bars at Florida’s Hype Night:

Ondine Achampong is also back from an injury that kept her out of the Paris Olympics and looking great on beam for Cal: 

Konnor McClain is coming back from an Achilles tear that kept her out of the running for Paris, and we saw some beautiful beam from her at LSU’s Gym 101:

Gator transfer Selena Harris also looked strong on beam:

Joscelyn Roberson’s floor at Arkansas:

And Jordan Chiles did her Olympic floor routine at UCLA’s Meet the Bruins:

As a reminder, I’ll be off next week, and Gym Saturday will return on January 3. Happy holidays!

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Other gym news

If you want to read liveblogs of some of those intrasquads, College Gym News has you. You can read about:

• Clemson
• Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, and Michigan
• Utah
• UCLA
• LSU
• Auburn

CGN is gearing up for leotard reviews with a few looks back at leotards past:

• 10 Leotards That Were One-Hit Wonders
• 7 Leotard Designs We Wish Teams Would Bring Back
• Who Wore It Best? Leotard Designs That Were Popular Across Multiple Teams
• 10 Wild Leotard Designs from the Past 20 Years

CGN also gave us a look at the new judging standards and a roundtable from the editors about the meets everyone is looking forward to in the upcoming season.

The Gymternet has the list of all the 2024 national champions from around the world and the list of every female gymnast turning senior in 2025.

Jordyn Wieber and her husband/assistant coach, Chris Brooks, are expecting a baby! The announcement was adorable.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jordyn Wieber Brooks (@jordyn_wieber)

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Five at The IX

1985 U.S. National Champion (and the very first Asian-American national champion) and USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame member Sabrina Mar gave a two-part interview this week to the podcast Hahnacity.

She talks about her memories of practice and competing back in the day, as well as some frank discussion (CW: abuse) of the abuse that was pervasive in the sport at the time, which led her to advocate for gymnasts’ safety. She’s an Emmy-winning documentary television producer and a woodworker in her spare time! Super cool.

Part One:

Part Two:

Mondays: Soccer

By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer

Tuesdays: Tennis

By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer

Wednesdays: Basketball

By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next

Thursdays: Golf

By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX

Fridays: Hockey

By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden

Saturdays: Gymnastics

By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer