Oklahoma comes out on top again at NCAA championships — Watch its seniors give an emotional press conference

Oklahoma was determined not to crumple in this meet as it did in last year’s national semifinal. The gymnasts showed up to practice in tank tops that read, “Better is still a deduction.” From the first rotation, the Sooners were in control of the meet, and they rarely relinquished it.

Landings were a sticking point (get it?) throughout the national semifinals and into the final, and Oklahoma had its fair share of steps and hops. But the other teams gave away more and were less consistent.

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Utah faltered from the beginning and never seemed to be at full strength, despite strong performances along the way. Team stalwart Grace McCallum had a fall on beam and an out-of-bounds on floor. 

The Cinderella story was Missouri, which rose to the occasion and finished third (after a beam inquiry on Amy Weir’s start value). It was the Tigers’ first-ever appearance in the national final and the highest performance ever for the program. 

UCLA was visibly not pleased with its national runner-up finish, but the Bruins should take that momentum with them into next season. No one would have predicted they’d make it so far, in one piece, after seeing their first meet of the season in January. They have come back from years of struggle and inconsistency, bad team culture, and the ability to lose an entire rotation to a single mistake to finish second to a high-flying dynasty at nationals. They are losing some real ones in their senior class, but Olympian Jordan Chiles’ return to lineups along with a strong freshman class should keep their power building in 2026. I hope the team can channel the work it did this season and carry it forward.

Oklahoma went out sooner than expected last year and carried that burden with it until nationals this year. But rather than over-focus on sticking, which can often doom a team (see: LSU in the 2025 semifinals), this year’s Sooners doubled down on consistency when it counted. Tenths were given, but tenths were also taken, and in the end, it was more than any other team could make up.

Congratulations to the best team out there this year.

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Other gym news

The Balance Beam Situation liveblogged the national championship. 

So did College Gym News. It also has all the data on the first semifinal, second semifinal and final; a Judge’s Inquiry on all the postseason 10s; and, to ease your NCAA gymnastics withdrawals, way-too-early power rankings for the 2026 season. And of course, the leo rankings from both the NCAA championship and the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics National Invitational Championship. 

I have a book review on CGN for Aimee Boorman’s “The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles.” 

Rutgers announced that head coach Umme Salim-Beasley had been fired in the wake of an investigation into alleged abuse and an affair with Rutgers’ former athletic director. Acting head coach Anastasia Candia was named the permanent head coach. Candia is a former Rutgers gymnast and led the team to its first regionals appearance in a decade this year. 

With the end of the NCAA season comes the opening of the transfer portal. High-profile entrants this year include Cal’s eMjae Frazier, UCLA’s Paige Anastasi and Georgia’s Naya Howard. Emma Wehry announced she would transfer from West Virginia to Auburn, and Western Michigan gained two transfers in Kate Parks from Ohio State and Aliyah Kelly from Northern Illinois. 

Missouri’s coaches are the coaches of the year, named by the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA).

Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo, who will graduate this year from LSU and UCLA, respectively, will compete at the Southeast Asian Games this fall, the Olympic Channel reported. The same article notes that Skye Blakeley and Konnor McClain both have big elite dreams to fulfill and will aim to do so starting this year.

Jordan Chiles will be back at UCLA for her senior year. 

Joscelyn Roberson may be taking some time away from NCAA to try for the worlds team, if we’re reading into this post correctly. 

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A post shared by Joscelyn Roberson (@josc_roberson)

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Five at The IX: Oklahoma Sooners, national champions

Oklahoma’s seniors (Jordan Bowers, Audrey Davis, Danae Fletcher and Danielle Sievers) gave a press conference with head coach KJ Kindler after winning the program’s seventh national championship last week.

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