What to watch as the 2026 season begins

What to watch as the 2026 season begins

After an offseason filled with transfers, coaching changes and rule alterations, NCAA gymnastics officially makes its triumphant return. And, of course, there are so many questions and storylines heading into the 2026 season. Will Oklahoma continue its dominance and win the national championship yet again? Can LSU, Florida, UCLA, Utah or anyone else challenge the…

After an offseason filled with transfers, coaching changes and rule alterations, NCAA gymnastics officially makes its triumphant return.

And, of course, there are so many questions and storylines heading into the 2026 season. Will Oklahoma continue its dominance and win the national championship yet again? Can LSU, Florida, UCLA, Utah or anyone else challenge the Sooners in April? What rule changes will be felt the most? Who are the freshmen who could make an immediate impact? And will Jordan Chiles use any of her iconic “Dancing With the Stars” choreography in her floor routine this season?

The season officially gets underway Friday as Utah hosts Iowa and Minnesota, with a slate of other meets happening throughout the weekend, including a quad featuring former conference foes California, Oregon State, UCLA and Washington. Things quickly get even more interesting next weekend as eight of the nation’s top teams travel to West Valley City, Utah, for the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad comprising two meets on Jan. 10. The season concludes April 18 in Fort Worth, Texas, with the crowning of a national champion.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the new season.

Repeat bid for Oklahoma?

Debates about dynasties are frequent in sports, as few teams are truly a consensus choice. But Oklahoma is not your typical team, and there really is no debate — the Sooners are undoubtedly the dynasty in college gymnastics of the past 12 years.

Since winning its first NCAA team title in 2014, Oklahoma has earned six more. Yes, that’s seven titles in 11 eligible seasons (the competition was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic). After suffering an uncharacteristic early exit during the semifinals in 2024 that denied them a three-peat, the Sooners used their “underdog” status as a rallying cry and triumphed yet again last April.

The team graduated reigning all-around champion Jordan Bowers and 2024 NCAA bars and beam champ Audrey Davis, and saw the early retirement of graduate student Danae Fletcher due to injury. But senior Faith Torrez — who finished third in the 2025 all-around competition as well as second on floor and third on beam — remains, as does a trio of talented sophomores in Lily Pederson, Addison Fatta and Elle Mueller. And the Sooners are bringing in the top-ranked recruiting class in the country with Mackenzie Estep, Ella Murphy, Kamila Pawlak and Blakely Roten.

Ranked No. 1 in the preseason coaches’ poll, the Sooners will have their hands full in their second season in the SEC but certainly have what it takes to win their first conference trophy and then earn even more hardware in 2026.

The rest of the SEC

Per usual, the SEC is stacked with talent, stars and, let’s just say, passionate fan bases. But how strong is the conference this season? Seven of the teams are ranked in the top 10 of the preseason coaches’ poll — and all nine teams in the conference are in the top 12.

Ranked No. 2, LSU is the defending SEC champion and won the 2024 NCAA title. With former NCAA all-around champion Haleigh Bryant now an assistant coach, the team is led by junior Konnor McClain, who is expected to compete in all four events after an Achilles rupture limited her in 2025, and sophomore Kailin Chio, who was the SEC Freshman of the Year and claimed the NCAA vault title. The Tigers are a young team, filled with many new faces, but some things simply haven’t changed.

“I would say the goal with the team stays the same,” McClain told ESPN in November. “Obviously, we want to win a national championship.”

Florida is ranked No. 3 and has a mind-blowing amount of star power. Although Leanne Wong has graduated (and won the all-around silver medal in October’s world championships), there is no shortage of big names. Skye Blakely, a fellow member of the United States’ world team, returns for her sophomore year, and Kayla DiCello, a 2024 Olympic alternate and the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year, is back after two seasons away. Riley McCusker, another former national team member and bars standout, is back for a fifth year, and Anya Pilgrim, a four-time All-American, looks to make even more of an impact during her junior campaign. Senior Selena Harris-Miranda, who earned the conference vault title after transferring from UCLA, will look to close out her decorated collegiate career in style, as will California transfer eMjae Frazier, a 10-time All-American.

Just how deep is this team? Florida has 11 gymnasts who can compete at vault with a 10.0 start value and, per associate head coach Owen Field, all 18 gymnasts on the roster are training at beam routines with a 10.0 start value. On paper, the Gators might just be the team to beat — but will they find a way to put it all together and win their first NCAA title since 2015?

Of course, No. 7-ranked Missouri will still be riding the momentum of its program-best third-place finish at nationals in 2025, and No. 8 Alabama, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 10 Arkansas are capable of momentous seasons. The Razorbacks return sophomore Joscelyn Roberson, who won the world bronze medal on vault in the fall, and added senior transfer Morgan Price, who had a historic career at Fisk University and won six WCGNIC titles. She joins older sister Frankie Price, also a senior, on the team.

Jordan Chiles and UCLA

After Chiles reached the finale on “Dancing With the Stars” and went mega-viral for her “Bow Down” freestyle, the 24-year-old returns to UCLA as the clear face of college gymnastics.

The 2024 Olympic gold medalist was already no stranger to attention, or big results, and now she’ll look to wrap up her collegiate career with just about the one thing she hasn’t achieved: the NCAA team title. Chiles, a three-time NCAA individual champion including on bars in 2025, helped lift the Bruins to a surprise runner-up finish last season and will try to take it one step further in her final year.

Chiles is buoyed this year by a number of accomplished freshmen, most notably former national team members Tiana Sumanasekera, Nola Matthews and Ashlee Sullivan. After a “Meet the Bruins” event in December, Chiles couldn’t hide her excitement about the season and the team.

“2026 is about to be a very fun year,” Chiles told reporters about the No. 4-ranked Bruins. “All these girls are very special, and our freshmen definitely dominated today. I think just being able to build a team from the top to the bottom is the best thing.”

Added Sullivan, who was seated next to Chiles: “Everyone wants it so bad this year.”

New faces

It’s not just UCLA and Oklahoma that have added exciting freshmen to their squad. There are a number of first-year gymnasts around the country who could quickly become fan favorites.

Ana Barbosu might be one of the most familiar names joining the NCAA ranks this year. The Stanford freshman has had a stellar international elite career representing her native Romania and is perhaps best known for her controversial bronze medal at the 2024 Olympic Games on floor exercise. Also the reigning European champion on floor, Barbosu impressed during Stanford’s open practice in December — and should be an immediate factor for the Cardinal.

Fellow international elite Charlotte Booth, who was an alternate for the British Olympic team in 2024 and is a former member of the U.S. junior national team, is slated to make her debut for Auburn. She ruptured an Achilles earlier but is expected to be ready, in some capacity, to compete at the start of the season and could be a major contributor on bars from Week 1.

And finally, Scarlett Sonnenberg, who claimed the all-around title at USAG’s level 10 nationals in May, is the first five-star recruit in BYU’s history and could be a game changer for the program. Also a national champion on beam, Sonnenberg is capable of high scores in all four events.

Major changes to the national qualifying score

Though there are rule changes every year, 2026 will see a few differences that could have huge implications. Most notably, the formula in determining the national qualifying score has been radically altered and limitations have been set on neutral site meets.

Before this year, the national qualifying score was calculated using the scores from exactly six meets. But going forward, it will be calculated with a minimum of nine meets — and essentially the entire season will be counted. In this calculation, a maximum of five home meets can be used for the NQS and if a team has more than that, the five lowest scores will be counted. A minimum of five away meets must be factored in as well. Once those meets have been determined, the highest score and the lowest score will be dropped and the NQS will be based on the average of the remaining scores. That final NQS will then be used for postseason placement and qualifications.

The NCAA said the change was “made with the goal of providing a more accurate reflection of team performance throughout the season by incorporating more meets into the NQS, ensuring a more complete and fair representation of each team’s success over the course of the full season.” In simple terms, this change should help negate the benefit some teams have at home and put more emphasis on road competitions and overall consistency.

In a helpful explainer from College Gym News, the organization determined that multiple teams would have been affected by this rule change had it been implemented in 2025: Oklahoma would have replaced LSU for the top ranking, and West Virginia and UC Davis would not have qualified for regionals. (With George Washington and Washington instead taking those spots).

Also new this year, a team can count only one meet on a neutral site that is within 30 miles of the school’s campus as one of the “away” meets in the overall NQS score. Anything additional will be considered a home meet.

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