Lexington, KY: The NCAA Gymnastics Lexington Regional will conclude on Sunday, with four teams vying for two spots in the national championship.
The field, which began with nine teams, has been narrowed down to four. No. 9 Arkansas (197.175) and No. 8 Missouri (196.875) had the top two scores from the first semifinal session, while No. 1 Oklahoma (197.875) and Ohio State (196.550) advanced out of the second session of competition.
Central Michigan lost in a dual meet on Thursday against Rutgers, while the Scarlet Knights, alongside North Carolina State, Maryland and host team Kentucky were all eliminated the following day.
“We want to represent ourselves and our program better, especially on our home floor,” Kentucky Head Coach Tim Garrison said.
After a stunning bars rotation where they fed off of their home crowd’s energy, the Wildcats were in good standing to finish the meet among the top two. However, after recording falls in every following event, Kentucky finished last in the session.
“In a moment like this, when you’re in a qualifier and there’s a mistake, I think it amplifies the tension,” Garrison said about the pressure his team faced competing in front of a home crowd.
While it was a disappointing outcome for many in Historic Memorial Coliseum, four teams’ nationals aspirations are still alive.
See you soon(er) – top-seeded Oklahoma moves on
In an elimination contest, the pressure was on for everyone. That included even a top-ranked Oklahoma team that advanced to its 16th consecutive regional final.
“Very excited about qualifying on. We never take for granted how difficult this part of the process is,” Oklahoma Head Coach KJ Kindler said.
Oklahoma finished with the top score, 197.875, among all regional competitors, easily advancing. The score was accumulated through four really strong rotations, including a 49.525 on bars.
Lily Pederson began the rotation by tying a season-high 9.950. Ella Murphy followed that routine by posting the same score.
“I’m so proud of myself when I can go out there and do my best gymnastics, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what the score is as long as I’m happy with my gymnastics and I was today,” Pederson said, who earned three scores of 9.900 or higher in as many events.
While the team’s outing featured minimal mistakes, it posted its lowest score since Jan. 30, ironically also at Kentucky.
Kindler believes her team left some of it out there on Friday and that they will have an even stronger outing come Sunday.
“I could see a little bit of nerves in the warmup today,” Kindler said. “We want them to loosen up a little bit more for Sunday, be a little more free when they’re competing.”
A first-place finish on Sunday would be Oklahoma’s 16th straight regional championship in as many seasons, despite surrendering the SEC title to Florida this year.
The Sooners also took second place at last year’s SEC Championships, a season in which they went on to win the national championship.
“A lot of people made parallels between last year and this year, but I always say this is a totally different team,” Kindler said about the differences between this year and last year’s season.
While the end-of-season goal may be the same as last year’s, the way in which Oklahoma goes about it will be very different.
“We always say we’re not defending a national championship because this isn’t the same team doing it,” Kindler said.
According to the team, the best is yet to come, a scary statement for their three opponents.
Arkansas takes first in afternoon session
Taking first place in Friday’s afternoon session were the Arkansas Razorbacks, who also racked up four individual event titles.
Joscelyn Roberson and Morgan Price were at their best, helping Arkansas secure the first of four regional final bids.
Roberson finished in a three-way tie for first place on floor with a 9.925 and earned an outright beam title with her eighth 9.950 of the year. Price posted a 9.950 on vault, one of four gymnasts to do so, and earned two 9.900s to secure the all-around title.
Arkansas ended its first rotation with a 49.400 on floor, which Head Coach Jordyn Wieber believes set the standard for a strong meet.
“What I loved about what the team did tonight is, we had a really great start. I think that really set the tone and carried us through all four events,” Wieber said.
Issues on the beam were present for every team, and Arkansas was no exception. While it was the only group to score above 49 on the event in the first session, the Razorbacks still recorded their second-lowest score of the season.
“We know what kind of beam team we are. We’re one of the best in the country. Definitely some areas we can sharpen up just a little bit…,” Wieber said.
While Arkansas struggled on the apparatus, Missouri’s high scores on both floor and vault mounted a near-comeback for first place. Roberson’s 9.950, the anchoring routine, prevented the Razorbacks from surrendering their lead.
As Roberson didn’t know the stakes of her routine before going, her focus remained on the opportunity to finish off the event for her team.
“I hold a special place for the entire beam team in my heart,” Roberson said. “I had no idea that was the difference for first and second, but that’s never my goal. My goal is to go up there and do the best gymnastics I can every single time.”
As for Price, an all-around title at an NCAA regional is a strong leap from where her career began at Fisk University, a school with just over 1,000 students.
“Being in the NCAA versus NAIA, it’s very different, but I knew what I was getting myself into…I wanted to challenge myself and just be a part of this team for my last and final year,” Price said.
A trip to nationals would be a monumental achievement for an athlete who has already made history twice before. In 2025, Price earned the first perfect ten in HBCU history. This season, she became the first Arkansas gymnast to earn a perfect ten.
“She has made the team better in so many different ways,” Wieber said.
With Oklahoma likely to earn the top score, Arkansas will look to overtake Missouri after dropping its first two matchups this year.
Missouri looking for fourth ever nationals appearance
After a pair of tough rotations to start out its session, Missouri went 196.875, putting the Tigers well ahead of Maryland and North Carolina State for the second spot in the regional final.
On bars, Maiya Terry’s 9.900 and Hannah Horton’s 9.925 highlighted the event, but the rotation as a whole posted 49.200, its second lowest on the year.
“Clearly, (the judges) were putting a precedent on landings today, and we were two for six,” Welker said.
“We just need to be a little more aggressive to open up the meet and we’ll be fine,” he added.
Although counting two scores of 9.800 and one 9.775 brought down the team average, the back half of the lineup had some promising moments.
Maiya Terry scored the first 9.900 of the session, her fifth score of that number or higher out of nine routines.
“Being able to do that week after week has been such a confidence booster,” Terry said about staying consistent.
The freshman, who earned All-SEC honors on bars, competed in her first NCAA regional on Friday.
“Most people told me to trust my training and that they trust me to do what we do every single day,” Terry said about her teammates’ advice headed into the session.
On their beam rotation, the Tigers counted three scores below 9.800, totaling 48.950 for the event. The sub-49 total was the team’s lowest since facing off against Iowa State on Jan. 4.
When asked about the first two event scores, Welker had a simple, but promising, outlook.
“At the end of the day, it’s survive and advance…You don’t always have to be perfect, as we just showed,” Welker said.
Missouri not only survived, but mounted a comeback that fell just short after Roberson’s title-winning routine.
Kaia Tanskanen, Kennedy Griffin and Hannah Horton all earned scores of 9.900 or higher for the second straight competition, totaling 49.450. Horton’s 9.925 placed her in a three-way tie for first.
“It’s just amazing going out there to be able to have fun and also perform that routine. I feel like this routine actually brought me out of my shell,” said Horton, who also went 9.900 on vault.
“We’re excited to advance to our (sixth) regional final in a row, one of only seven teams in the country to do that,” Welker said.
The Buckeyes are back!
As the only non-SEC team in the final, the Buckeyes shocked the gym world by earning the final regionals spot, one that many expected to go to Kentucky.
“Shout out to my conference. I love the Big Ten. It’s such an amazing conference and I love all of the head coaches that are my colleagues,” Head Coach Meredith Paulicivic said about representing the Big Ten on Sunday.
After going sub-49 on beam while Kentucky had one of their best bar rotations of the season, the regional final was shaping up to be an all-SEC affair.
However, two 9.900s on floor during the next rotation gave the Buckeyes the momentum they needed to make a run for second place in the evening session.
JJ Coleman, who has a perfect ten this season and a 9.950 at the Big Ten Championships, only scored 9.850 on the event.
“(I hope to) redeem myself a little bit. It wasn’t my favorite floor routine today…hoping to bring another 9.900 plus score to my name and do it for the team,” Coleman said.
While Coleman’s floor routine didn’t meet her own expectations, her performance in the back half of the meet helped shift momentum towards Ohio State.
Things really started shaping up in the third rotation, where the Buckeyes earned a whopping 49.500 on vault, their highest of the year by two-tenths. Cameron Smith, Natalie Martin and Tory Vetter all scored 9.950, and Coleman anchored the rotation with a 9.900.
“We’ve been playing all sorts of sticking games in the gym and it paid off,” Paulicivic said.
“They always say sticks can be contagious, and we just went out there and wanted to have fun, and we put it down,” Coleman said.
Going into the final rotation, Ohio State and Rutgers had a running total of 147.700 and 147.500, respectively. With both teams headed to their lowest-scoring events, it truly was a toss-up.
Ohio State had their fair share of issues, including an 8.450 which forced it to keep two 9.700s. However, the Scarlet Knights weren’t able to do enough on beam to make up for the two-tenths they were down by heading into the event.
As the final performer for her team, Coleman stuck her dismount to seal the deal.
“I just really wanted to do it for my team. We worked really hard, and I knew I needed to hit,” an emotional Coleman said.
“Really excited for Ohio State. I saw how elated they were,” Kindler during Oklahoma’s press conference said.
This is the third time in the last four years that the Buckeyes have advanced to their respective regional final. A first or second place finish on Sunday would mark their first nationals appearance since 2023.
The NCAA Gymnastics Lexington Regional Final will take place inside Historic Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, April 4 at 4 pm CST.