It’s NLI day! (Not to be confused with NIL—Name, Image, and Likeness—because everything is so helpful and good.)
NLI = National Letter of Intent
The National Letter of Intent is a document signed by future college athletes confirming their intent to attend and compete for a particular school. Signing the NLI signals the end of the recruiting process—i.e., all other schools must immediately cease recruiting that gymnast.
Wednesday marks the beginning of this year’s signing period, during which schools will finally reveal to us which gymnasts have signed on to join their teams for the 2025 competitive season (and some for the upcoming 2024 season). Many teams 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 note them here once the schools post their official release for (at least what appears to be) the whole class.
| NLIs 2024-2025 | ||
| Oklahoma | Release | Elle Mueller Lily Pederson Kelsey Slade Lizzy Blessey |
| Oklahoma adds Mueller, one of the top elites in this year’s class, and Pederson, who finished 2nd to Utah’s Neff in Senior A this year. This is also the class Addison Fatta will join after deferring for 2024. | ||
| Florida | Release | Lily Bruce Taylor Clark |
| These two are joined by Skye Blakely, who signed previously and is deferring. The news here is that yet another signing day has come and gone with no announcement of Shilese Jones for Florida. | ||
| Utah | Release | Clara Raposo Avery Neff Zoe Johnson |
| Utah jumped at the opportunity to say “LOOK OVER HERE AT THIS OTHER THING” early Wednesday by announcing that it has retained all its verbal commitments, including favorite-Canadian-junior-elite Clara Raposo, and Avery Neff, who won Senior A this year. | ||
| LSU | Release | Zoe Miller Kaliya Lincoln Lexi Zeiss Kailin Chio |
| It’s not much of a contest that LSU has the winning class here, making them the (very) early frontrunners in 2025. | ||
| UCLA | Release | Sasha Fujisaka Macy McGowan Camryn Richardson |
| Richardson is the one we will have seen in elite competition before, regularly scoring very well for her DTY. McGowan also placed well on vault in senior A this year. We did not see Mika Webster-Longin, this year’s Senior B champion, in this signing group. | ||
| Kentucky | Release | Chesney Bennett Carly Busch Ryan Noonan Abby Bednar |
| Cal | Release | Ondine Achampong Mya Wiley CJ Keuneke |
| Achampong has been verbally committed to Cal for several decades but deferred for the 2024 Olympics so is finally making it official today. Meanwhile, Wiley was top-3 on vault in Junior F this year. | ||
| Denver | Release | Sophie Hampp |
| Michigan | Release | Sophie Parenti Jahzara Ranger Lucie Kirchner Amy Fukami |
| This will be the class tasked with filling the roster void left by Brooks and Wilson after this season, so they’ll have to do…some work. Parenti will be the most familiar name from her elite days, but Ranger also had a big result in Senior A this year that will excite Michigan. | ||
| Alabama | Release | Kylee Kvamme Love Birt Paityn Walker Ryan Fuller Brooke Dennis |
| Many of the names will be familiar here, with Kvamme competing for the Philippines this year, Love Birt having been an elite with a standout name in the junior days, and Walker competing elite last year. Fuller also finished 2nd AA in Senior B this year. | ||
| Michigan State | Release | Amy Doyle Cady Duplissis |
| Duplissis scored 9.800 on vault at Senior C this year, and Doyle was 2nd AA at Region 2s. | ||
| Oregon State | Release | Giulianna Fiorillo Sophia Kaloudis |
| Ohio State | Cameron Smith Janiya Coleman Rylee Guevara | |
| Missouri | Release | Olivia Kelly Kaia Tanskanen Lisa Szeibert Railey Jackson |
| Missouri has Team Worlds this year, with Olivia Kelly (Barbados) and Kaia Tanskanen (Finland) in the class. | ||
| Arizona State | Release | Jenna Timmons Tiara Platkin Nina Laurito |
| Washington | Release | Jessie Reith |
| Arkansas | Release | Josc Roberson Grace Drexler Julianna Weeks Ja’Leigh Lang Sadie Smith |
| With Shilese Jones not signing, Arkansas can now claim the title of having snatched the world-medal-iest fish in the class in Roberson. | ||
| Minnesota | Morgan Walsh Lilly Timmerman Mccauley Harrington | |
| Stanford | Release | Levi Jung-Ruivivar Ui Soma Jaime Dugan Kendra Chang |
| In addition to Jung-Ruivivar, Stanford will also have Ui Soma in this class. Soma was right in the mix for the Japanese Olympic team before an injury at NHK in 2021. | ||
| Georgia | Release | Harley Tomlin Nyla Aquino Brooke Bleichowski |
| Arizona | Release | Olivia Childs Jessa Janicke Aubrey Krohnfeldt Amelia Rock Jillian Silvers Teagan White |
| Southern Utah | Release | Mia Hampton Mya North Sage Paladino Emily Countryman |
| Maryland | Release | Sarah Saville Rayna Engelmayer Nicollette Crochet |
| Auburn | Katelyn Jong Marissa Neal Olivia Ahern Sophia Bell | |
| A couple of the major current elites in this group for Auburn. | ||
| Penn State | Release | Ellie Monahan Dani Latronica Elizabeth Leary Allison Kaempfer Bella Misiura |
| Iowa | Release | Cassie Lee Aurelie Tran Sophie Turner |
| Iowa said “One Canadian worlds team, please and thank you” | ||
| Western Michigan | ||
| Boise State | Release | Noelle Ball Bridget Kemp Kristina Shchennikova |
| Illinois | Release | Kennedy Brown Eden King |
| West Virginia | Release | Karleigh DiCello Eden Webster Riley Maness Sophia Rice |
| Nebraska | Release | Molly Peterson Lauren Hollifield Reese Baker |
| NC State | Release | Caroline Volk Ava Myers Jenna Rusk |
| BYU | Release | Taeva Greenberg Chiara Andrew Deborah Silva |
| Towson | ||
| Ball State | ||
| North Carolina | Taelyn Canty Regan McBride Jojo Vlahovic | |
| Clemson | Release | Danika Nielsen Hannah Clark Trinity Webb |
| San Jose State | Release | Madison Gustitus Samantha Macasu |
| Central Michigan | ||
| UC Davis | ||
| George Washington | ||
| Kent State | ||
| Rutgers | ||
| Utah State | Release | Kaylie Medrano Olivia Orengo Reagan Terry Lundyn Vandertoolen |
| Iowa State | ||
| Pitt | ||
| New Hampshire | ||
| LIU | ||
| Northern Illinois | ||
| Temple | Release | Robyn Dunne Breanna Varano Harmony Haro |
| Bowling Green | ||
| Lindenwood | ||
| Illinois State | Release | Abbey Harris Caitlin Caserta Savannah Ray |
| Eastern Michigan | ||
| SEMO | ||
| Sacramento State | ||