The gymnastics season is dead, long live the gymnastics season!
The world championship ended four days ago, which is like four months, which is like 50 years. It was forever ago, and it’s high time that we move on and start looking at an NCAA season that is a mere 85 days away, which is like two days, which is like a second.
It’s happening!
Preparations for the NCAA season begin with the schedule. At this point, enough schools except Alabama and the Iowas have released their full slates that we can now put together a fairly complete picture of the season to come.
I have added the link to the full 2018 schedule featuring all the teams and all the meets (that we know of so far) to the top of the site where it will sit for the whole season, but below is a quick schedule-at-a-glance rundown of the higher-profile meets in the upcoming season for all your mental-note and calendar-planning needs. Meets featuring two or more nationals-qualifying teams from last season are in bold.
(Re: the full schedule, keep in mind that some schools don’t understand how time zones work or are laboring under the misapprehension that they’re attending meets that don’t actually exist, so expect changes as we go.)
| MEET WEEK 1 – January 1-7 |
| Friday, January 5 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Alabama @ Michigan |
| TBA – Arkansas @ LSU |
| Monday, January 8 |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Cal, UC Davis, Sacramento State, San Jose State @ Stanford |
| MEET WEEK 2 – January 8-14 |
| Friday, January 12 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – LSU @ Florida |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Arkansas @ Kentucky |
| TBA – Georgia @ Alabama |
| TBA – Missouri @ Auburn |
| Saturday, January 13 |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Nebraska @ Penn State |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Ohio State @ Michigan |
| Sunday, January 14 |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT – UCLA, Utah, Washington, Stanford (@ Reno, NV) |
| MEET WEEK 3 – January 15-21 |
| Monday, January 15 |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Oklahoma @ Georgia |
| Friday, January 19 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Auburn @ Georgia |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Florida @ Kentucky |
| TBA – Alabama @ LSU |
| TBA – Arkansas @ Missouri |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Oregon State @ Utah |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Michigan @ Illinois |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Denver, Illinois-Chicago, Seattle Pacific @ Boise State |
| Saturday, January 20 |
| 3:30 ET/12:30 PT – Cal @ Washington |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT – UCLA @ Arizona |
| MEET WEEK 4 – January 22-28 |
| Friday, January 26 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Oklahoma @ Florida |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Utah @ Arizona |
| TBA – Kentucky @ Auburn |
| TBA – Missouri @ Alabama |
| TBA – Georgia @ Arkansas |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Boise State @ Southern Utah |
| Saturday, January 27 |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – Michigan @ Nebraska |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Illinois @ Penn State |
| 5:30 ET/2:30 PT – Stanford @ Oregon State |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Metroplex Challenge (LSU, UCLA, Washington, NC State) |
| MEET WEEK 5 – January 29-February 4 |
| Friday, February 2 |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT – Arizona @ Cal |
| TBA – Florida @ Auburn |
| TBA – Kentucky @ LSU |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Iowa @ Illinois |
| TBA – Arkansas @ Alabama |
| Saturday, February 3 |
| 3:30 ET/12:30 PT – Washington @ Utah |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Missouri @ Georgia |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Minnesota @ Nebraska |
| Sunday, February 4 |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Oklahoma @ UCLA |
| MEET WEEK 6 – February 5-11 |
| Friday, February 9 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Alabama @ Florida |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Georgia @ Kentucky |
| TBA – LSU @ Missouri |
| TBA – Auburn @ Arkansas |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Illinois @ Minnesota |
| Saturday, February 10 |
| 2:30 ET/11:30 PT – UCLA @ Cal |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Michigan State @ Michigan |
| 4:30 ET/1:30 PT – Oregon State @ Washington |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT – Nebraska @ Iowa |
| Sunday, February 11 |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Stanford @ Arizona |
| MEET WEEK 7 – February 12-18 |
| Friday, February 16 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Florida @ Georgia |
| TBA – GymQuarters Session 2 (LSU, Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota) |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Oklahoma v. Nebraska (@ Oklahoma City, OK) |
| TBA – Kentucky @ Alabama |
| Saturday, February 17 |
| 3:30 ET/12:30 PT – Arizona @ Oregon State |
| 10:30 ET/7:30 PT – Cal @ Stanford |
| Sunday, February 18 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Utah @ UCLA |
| MEET WEEK 8 – February 19-25 |
| Friday, February 23 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – LSU @ Georgia |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Arkansas @ Florida |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Michigan, Denver, Utah State, Bowling Green (@ Toledo, OH) |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Missouri @ Kentucky |
| TBA – Alabama @ Auburn |
| Saturday, February 24 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Stanford @ Washington |
| Sunday, February 25 |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Utah @ Cal |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT – Missouri @ Illinois |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT – Oregon State @ UCLA |
| MEET WEEK 9 – February 26-March 4 |
| Friday, March 2 |
| 7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Nebraska, Georgia, Illinois, Stanford (@ Augusta, GA) |
| TBA – Florida @ Missouri |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Arizona @ Arkansas |
| Saturday, March 3 |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – Washington @ Southern Utah |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT – Michigan @ Oklahoma |
| Sunday, March 4 |
| TBA – Auburn @ LSU |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – UCLA, Iowa State, Kent State @ Nebraska |
| MEET WEEK 10 – March 5-11 |
| Monday, March 5 |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Southern Utah @ Denver |
| Friday, March 9 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Nebraska @ Florida |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Alabama v. Auburn (@ Huntsville, AL) |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Denver, Arkansas, Arizona State @ Oklahoma |
| Saturday, March 10 |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Utah @ Michigan |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Boise State @ Georgia |
| Sunday, March 11 |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT – UCLA @ Stanford |
| MEET WEEK 11 – March 12-18 |
| Thursday, March 15 |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Boise State, BYU @ Washington |
| Friday, March 16 |
| 7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Oklahoma @ Alabama |
| 9:30 ET/6:30 PT – Georgia @ Utah |
| Saturday, March 17 |
| TBA – Arizona @ LSU |
| TBA – Big Five – Nebraska, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio State @ Michigan State |
| TBA – Big Five – Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State @ Rutgers |
| MEET WEEK 12 – March 19-25 |
| Friday, March 23 |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT – DIII Team Final |
| Saturday, March 24 |
| 12:00 ET/9:00 PT – ECAC Championship (Philadelphia, PA) |
| 1:00 ET/10:00 PT – Big 10 Championship Session 1 (Champaign, IL) |
| TBA – SEC Championship Session 1 (St. Louis, MO) |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – EAGL Championship (Towson, MD) |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – MAC Champsionship (Mount Pleasant, MI) |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Pac-12 Championship Session 1 (Tucson, AZ) |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – DIII Event Finals |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT – Big 12 Championship (Ames, IA) |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT – Big 10 Championship Session 2 (Champaign, IL) |
| TBA – SEC Championship Session 2 (St. Louis, MO) |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – MIC Championship (St. Charles, MO) |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Mountain Rim Championship (Cedar City, UT) |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Mountain Pacific Championship (Colorado Springs, CO) |
| TBA – Pac-12 Championship Session 2 (Tucson, AZ) |
| MEET WEEK 14 – April 2-8 |
| Saturday, April 7 |
| TBA – Penn State Regional |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – NC State Regional |
| TBA – Alabama Regional |
| TBA – Minnesota Regional |
| 6:00 ET/3:00 PT – Utah Regional |
| TBA – Ohio State Regional |
| MEET WEEK 15 – April 9-15 |
| Friday, April 13 |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – USAG Championship Semifinal 1 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – USAG Championship Semifinal 2 |
| Saturday, April 14 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – USAG Championship Team Final |
| Sunday, April 15 |
| TBA – USAG Championship Event Finals |
| MEET WEEK 16 – April 16-22 |
| Friday, April 20 |
| TBA – National Semifinal 1 |
| TBA – National Semifinal 2 |
| Saturday, April 21 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Super Six |
You’ll note that the first weekend of the season is not super packed, but we will have Alabama/Michigan getting us underway as the very first meet of the year, which is a solid introduction.
You’ll also note that there’s a refreshing lack of overlap among the big meets this season. Few of the clashes we really care about are sharing a day, and even those that are, like Oklahoma/Alabama and Georgia/Utah on March 16th, or LSU/Florida and Georgia/Alabama on January 12th, look like they’re going to be spaced out well enough that they won’t conflict. It’s a far cry from last season when every single meet was at the exact same time.
Elevate the Stage, which used to be the annual Alabama/Auburn podium meet, has expanded to become four NCAA meets this season in Reno, Toledo, Augusta, and Huntsville. The complaint about that Alabama/Auburn meet has been the lack of TV coverage, so let’s hope something happens this year because those would be four exciting meets to miss out on. Many of the cool kids are going, particularly those Pac-12 teams that don’t typically have as many opportunities to compete on podium pre-nationals.
The UCLA/Oklahoma meet on February 4th will be live on big ESPN, which is a coup.
Did I see an event finals day for nationals?!
lol, nope, never mind
DAMNNNN to that ESPN berth though, thats no joke. I guess having 4 world champs, 2 of whom are also Olympic champs + the reigning team and several individual NCAA champs helps. But seriously damnnn way to go to whoever made that happen.
I’ve just stumbled on the wonderfulness that is NCAA gymnastics. I’m in Canada but wondered which cable network carries the meets in the US?
Most are on ESPN(some number…3, 16, etc) available to stream etc
SEC network, PAC 12 network, Big 10 network, and ESPN 3 are the main ones. Occasionally there will be a meet on another ESPN channel as well.
Thanks everyone! Looks like my cable package carries big ten. Hopefully we get the same US feed.
There’s a wonderful NastiaFan on YouTube who is really awesome about helping Canadians see meets sometimes within hours of airing.
They are one the many gymternet heroes!
When does fantasy gymnastics open?
Does anyone have any insight into how easy/hard it is to get tickets to NCAA championships? I want to book my flight now but this would be my first time at NCAAs so I’m curious about ticket availability
There were plenty of tickets available day of last year. From what I’ve heard, that’s normal.
That is the norm, yes, except for the years that Nationals is at a popular school like Utah or Alabama. However, if you care about where your seats are, you will probably want to get them by January. If you are not aware already, by “event” standards, these tickets are quite inexpensive.
Thank you both!
“The UCLA/Oklahoma meet on February 4th will be live on big ESPN, which is a coup.”
Thanks you – Kyla, Madison, Breanna, Maggie and to the other former elites like Nia.
Unfortunately Madison Kocian won’t be participating due to her recent labrum surgery, but hopefully UCLA can step it up and make it a closer dual meet than last year’s:
OK 198.025, UCLA 196.825 .
How do you know this though? it seems they are gonna wait to the last minute to decide to have her redshirt or not, esp since they announced she had surgery but no definitive plans on her participation for 2018. She would be an asset even if she could only do beam honestly. She didnt fall all season and could easily handle a hands free routine if that was necessary….
You would probably rather have her completely healthy for a full 5th year, than partial for 1 of 6. However, since they haven’t announced they may be waiting to see how rehab goes and use her at the end of the season if needed/worth it.
And I am confused about Event Finals for Nationals listed on Sunday. Is that a thing again?
I was just going to say a similar thing. If she isn’t fully recovered and would only be able to do a hands free beam routine, it would seem like a waste of a year of eligibility to have her use up one of her years and just do beam.
Welcome to NCAA GYM, new person! If you are interested in attending nationals, you are usually able to get tickets, even day of (if all you’re looking for is an upper bowl seat). We gym fans are intense, but we love our sport as much as anybody.