Wednesday marks the beginning of NLI week, the annual period during which schools finally reveal to us which gymnasts have signed on to join their programs for the 2019 competition season. The large majority will not be surprises since most of these gymnasts have been verbally committed since the late 1860s, but there are always a few little pieces of interest (usually regarding who doesn’t sign rather than who does).
To review:
NLI = National Letter of Intent
When a gymnast signs an NLI, it signals the end of the recruiting process and confirms a gymnast’s intent to attend the school in question. At this point, all other schools must cease recruiting that gymnast.
The NLI is accompanied by the athletic aid (scholarship) agreement. Gymnasts can’t sign NLIs if they are not receiving athletic aid, though they can receive athletic aid without signing an NLI.
So, let’s see what we see.
Note: Lots of teams now will announce their classes one-by-one on social media, so if you’re desperate to know who has been signed by a particular school, keep an eye on that. I’ll put them here once they provide their official press release.
I have changed the organization to a table because it’s better.
NLIs 2018-2019 |
||
| OKLAHOMA | Release | Olivia Trautman Allie Stern |
| You’ll recall Trautman from her time competing as an elite from 2014-2016. Stern is a very interesting character in that she only became a Level 10 THIS YEAR and already got a scholarship to Oklahoma. | ||
| LSU | ||
| FLORIDA | Release | Leah Clapper Sydney Johnson-Scharpf Nya Reed Savannah Schoenherr |
| Clapper and Johnson-Scharpf we know (Clapper originally verballed to Penn State before her elite sojourn and then moved on up in the world). Reed was interestingly un-verballed as recently as JO nationals this year. We tend to think of these top-school spots as being locked 15 years in advance, but not always. | ||
| UCLA | Release | Margzetta Frazier Sekai Wright |
| UTAH | Release | Cristal Isa Adrienne Randall Hunter Dula Lauren Wong |
| For immediate purposes, the significant news is Lauren Wong joining early for the 2018 season. That should expand the options coming from the freshman class somewhat.
Cristal Isa joins Kari Lee as another gymnast who originally verballed to Arizona before switching to Utah. |
||
| ALABAMA | Release Release 2 Release 3 Release 4 |
Griffin James Asia DeWalt Shallon Olsen Emily Gaskins |
| I didn’t see that many NCAA coaches at worlds, but I did see Dana and Bryan there. This is why. | ||
| NEBRASKA | Release | Abigail Johnston Sarah Hargrove Megan Thompson Kaylee Quinn |
| WASHINGTON | Release | Talia Brovedani Madeline McLellan Meaghan Ruttan |
| DENVER | Release | Alexis Vasquez Maddie Quarles Alexandra Ruiz |
| MICHIGAN | Release | Abby Brenner Abby Heiskell Natalie Wojcik Maddie Mariani |
| This is a class of L10 stars that Michigan has been looking forward to for a while now. They’re all legit. | ||
| OREGON STATE | Release | Jade Carey Madison Dagen Leah Bivrell |
| Carey had verbally committed to Oregon State before she became a thing, and they have managed to hang onto her. | ||
| GEORGIA | Release | Rachel Lukacs Samantha Davis Mikayla Magee Megan Roberts |
| It’s more or less a Ninja Level 10 rebuild for Georgia in the next couple classes, highlighted by Lukacs this year, probably the top L10 in the 2018-2019 national recruiting class.
Magee was originally a verbal for Utah until this June, when she switched to Georgia. Note that the original signing release also included Abbey Ward, an L10 from Orlando Metro, who has since been quietly removed. OOPSIES! NO SCHOLARSHIP FOR YOU! |
||
| BOISE STATE | Release | Hope Masiado Alexis Stokes Sami Smith |
| KENTUCKY | Release | Josie Angeny Cally Nixon Arianna Patterson Ella Warren |
| AUBURN | Release | Derrian Gobourne |
| CAL | Release | Maya Bordas Milan Clausi Talitha Jones Abi Solari |
| MISSOURI | Release | Frances Bidwell Hannah McCrary Mya Mulligan |
| IOWA | Release | Alexandra Greenwald Lauren Guerin Bridget Killian Jax Kranitz Allie Gilchrist Mackenzie Vance |
| ARKANSAS | Release | Amanda Elswick Kennedy Hambrick |
| Amanda Elswick is the younger sister of Heather Elswick. Kennedy Hambrick is not related to Myia Hambrick. | ||
| WEST VIRGINIA | Release | Esperanza Abarca Mackenzie Black Kendra Combs Rachel Hornung |
| “Butts Inks Four Mountaineers.” I can’t be expected to work under these conditions. | ||
| ILLINOIS | Release | Mallory Mizuki Shaylah Scott Erin Weisel |
| SOUTHERN UTAH | Release | Caitlin Kho Karley McClain Shylen Murakami Rachel Smith |
| Basically trying to trick you into thinking they signed Mai Murakami, Ragan Smith, and Konnor McClain. | ||
| GEORGE WASHINGTON | Release | Deja Chambliss Simone Banen Olivia Raymond Paige Apperson |
| OHIO STATE | Release | Claire Gagliardi Kaitlyn Gilson Colby Miller Miriam Perez |
| CENTRAL MICHIGAN | Release | Alaina Kosto Morgan Tong Sierra DeMarinis |
| ARIZONA | Release | Kennedi Davis Asia DuVernay MacKinzie Kane Alivia Kendrick |
| EASTERN MICHIGAN | Release | Charlotte Reynolds Carly Kosanovich Brooke Hylek Karalyn Roberts |
| STANFORD | Release | Grace Waguespack Madison Burnette Morgan Hoang Wesley Stephenson Evelyn Micco |
| Correct. That is five new scholarship gymnasts for next year to replace one senior this year. | ||
| IOWA STATE | Release | Phoebe Turner |
| MINNESOTA | Release | Tiarre Sales Kaitlyn Higgins Abbie Nylin |
| PENN STATE | Release | Melissa Astarita Dymiana Cox |
| UTAH STATE | ||
| BYU | Release | Sadie Miner Lexi Griffith Rebekah Bean |
| KENT STATE | Cami Klein Alexsis Rubio Riley Danielson Maddie Iannuzzo Kendra Lindway |
|
| NEW HAMPSHIRE | Release | Hannah Baddick Hailey Luie Mariella Miele |
| NORTH CAROLINA | Release | Emery Summey Drew Aldridge |
| MARYLAND | ||
| WESTERN MICHIGAN | Release | Sterlyn Austin Carissa Ludwig Carleigh Stillwagon |
| NORTHERN ILLINOIS | ||
| MICHIGAN STATE | Release | Sydney Ewing |
| Unfortunately, this is not LSU’s Sydney Ewing attempting to sneak back into NCAA gymnastics while wearing a fake mustache because you know how much I would have enjoyed that. It’s an entirely different person with the same name. Like we can deal with that. | ||
| ARIZONA STATE | Release | Stephanie Tripodi |
| UC DAVIS | Release | Liah Bosworth Cortney Cunningham |
| BALL STATE | Release | Marinia Livelsberger Marissa Nychyk Julia Wiest Sandra Elsadek |
| NC STATE | Release | Katie Cox Meredith Robinson |
| Cox is joining for January 2018. | ||
| TOWSON | ||
| BOWLING GREEN | Release | Tess Muir |
| SACRAMENTO STATE | Release | Karissa Hoffman Amber Koeth Destiny Watley |
| SAN JOSE STATE | Release | Tia Gin Carli Orcutt |
| RUTGERS | ||
| TWU | Release | Ellie Ambs Sadie Bish Domi Bonzagni Isabel Goyco |
| PITTSBURGH | Release | Katie Chamberlain Caitlyne Kline Olivia Miller Kiley Robatin |
| TEMPLE | ||
| UIC | ||
| ILLINOIS STATE | ||
| WILLIAM & MARY | ||
| SEMO | Release | Anna Kazinska Emma LaPinta |
It looks like Lauren Wong is a walk-on
Does anyone know what is going on with Alexa al-Hameed (early commit to OU)?
Did Stern replace Al-Hameed?
What’s going on with Stanford? That’s two big Freshman classes in a row. Are they attracting walk-ons now?
It’s Stanford, perhaps some of the gymnasts are really smart and can achieve and academic scholarship… Or if they come in on an athletic scholarship as an underclass person and then receive an academic one as a junior/senior.
One of Stanford’s 2017-18 class juniors also medically retired, so they have that one to give out (Dare Maxwell). I’m sure one of the walk-ons received it for 2018 with the stipulation it’s just a one-year thing, and then it’s free to be used elsewhere in 2019.
Does Stanford give typical scholarships? I know if you go to an Ivy League school (Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, etc.) you receive financial aid based on your parents income/hardship status, but there are no athletic scholarships.
Stanford gives athletic scholarships, but the Ivy league schools don’t
I just meant in recent years it seems like Stanford’s team has been very small, so few if any walk-ons. I do wonder if the coaching change will make a difference there. But I guess it’s just a fluke they have so many scholarships to offer for those two classes.
Copied from https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeGymnastics/comments/7bnmxu/lsu_20182019_signing_class_lack_thereof/?st=j9rl2gba&sh=f9aaac5e
It seems very strange that LSU, the 2nd place team from last year, has no recruits for the coming school year. I know Christina Desiderio was originally in the 2018-2019 class but she started early.
It will be interesting to see if LSU poaches any verbal commits, recruits late-bloomers, encourages their 2019-2020 girls to start early, or takes transfer athletes to fill out this class. They will have at least two scholarships to work with from Erin Macadaeg and Myia Hambrick graduating. I don’t think the other seniors, Lauren Li and Kylie Moran, are on scholarship.
Any ideas of who they might recruit/who they are currently recruiting for this class?
Hmmm I wonder if flordia had some late spots open because of the alabama exodus of 2016 (ie gaskins in this same class?)
Probably. Gaskins and also Laurie Hernandez would have been in this class. I’m curious about the following class though seeing how there will only be one graduating senior in 2019 on scholarship (Boren) and 3 slated to join that fall…
these gymnasts will be freshmen when Boren is a senior so they are not taking scholarships from her class but rather the current seniors McMurtry, Baker, McLaughlin, Slocum.
Yeah, these gymnasts take from the current seniors, but the following class takes from Boren, and there’s supposed to be 3 of them. So that would make 14 scholarships.
McCusker and Hurd will likely defer for a year so it would be 12 scholarship gymnasts
True they will likely defer even if they end up not really having a shot/ going for it ala Kyla in 2016 (which isn’t a bad thing, she said it was great for her mentally pre college). But ALOT can happen in 2 years so we can never know.
Boren is the only one from her class on scholarship?
Yep, Peyton, Lacey, and Ashley all transferred, and Amanda is a walk on I believe.
No way McCusker is gonna make it to 2020, I don’t see her deferring.
WESLEY. I am dying, that is the oldest of old man names
“I have changed it to a table because it’s better”. Yes love the table. Also Spencer UCLA must have been reading your JO blog in the spring cause instagram showed they picked up the “vault” of Sekai Wright aka girl who can stick a DTY.
Glad to see Jade Carey sign with OSU! Whether she ends up going pro or not is a completely different story, but I was worried that she’d get poached by a “bigger” school. I like seeing the talent spread out!
I believe on her Instagram account Canada’s Shallon Olson announced her big secret – she signed an NLI with Alabama.
Wasn’t a secret anymore, really.
I don’t know when Trinity Thomas is going to college (with Chiles maybe?), but the girl was at a game at UCLA, with Flatley and Frazier last month, so she, at least, is considering it, the thing is that miss Val is out of scholarships for at least 20 years LMAO, poor girl. With the potential she has, any other decent college could give her a scholarship and take her.
For some reason, I feel like because she’s not committed anywhere and she signs next year (!) I think she’s hoping for Stanford.
I was thinking Stanford as well. She has said before that she’s planning on doing college gymnastics, so it’s weird that she hasn’t committed anywhere yet since I think she’s a HS junior, and I’m sure there are plenty of schools interested in her. I’m pretty sure she’d have to walk on at UCLA, though, because they definitely look full for at least the next 3-4 years haha.
Chiles has already committed to UCLA but they’re so full. Miss Val hands out scholarships like candy, she needs to start saving it for the girls that are truly exceptional instead of “can you do anything related to gymnastics at all? Scholarship!”
Scholarship athletes graduating from UCLA this year:
Sonya Meraz
Janay Honest
Pua Hall?
I think Peng is not on scholarship this year?
So… 3? And only one going to Frazier so far, so two remain for 2018-19
Anyone else wondering why Norah Flatley didn’t sign with UCLA?
She’s signing in April.
what’s the difference between signing now versus in april?
Signing now is early, while signing in April is late (or regular). 🙂
Seriously, I don’t think there’s much difference – perhaps there’s an injury situation and the gymnast/school want to wait until the doctor gives full clearance, or maybe there’s an academic issue where the gymnast needs a specific course she waited until the last possible minute to take (i.e.: Who wants to cut up frogs so let’s hold off taking biology until the very last semester of high school.. 😉 )