Category Archives: NCAA News

National Signing Day 2022-2023

It’s NLI day! (Not to be confused with NIL—Name, Image, and Likeness—because everything is so helpful and good.)

To review:
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. The NLI is accompanied by the athletic aid (scholarship) agreement. Gymnasts can’t sign NLIs if they are not receiving athletic aid.

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 programs for the 2023 competitive season (and some for the upcoming 2022 season). The large majority will be unsurprising since most of these gymnasts have been verbally committed to these schools since the womb, but there are always a few pieces of interest (usually regarding who doesn’t sign rather than who does). So, let’s see what we see.

NOTE: 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 press release for (at least what appears to be) the whole class.

NLIs 2022-2023

MICHIGAN

Kaylen Morgan
Farah Lipetz

Kaylen Morgan competed as a senior elite this year, finishing 21st at nationals and a little more than a point out of the Olympic Trials places. We were also allegedly supposed to see a couple more signings in this class, including Lily Clapper (sister of Leah Clapper), but nothing on that front.

OKLAHOMA

Faith Torrez
Ava Siegfeldt

Oklahoma is one of the few top teams that actually lost quite a few important routines from the 2021 season and started to fall behind in the "ELITES ARE MIIIIINE" race to Florida, UCLA, and Utah in terms of the 2022 newcomers. With two of the best elite-to-NCAA gymnasts in this class, Oklahoma is restocking well. 

UTAH

Makenna Smith

After a couple classes of loading up on elites, Utah has a small class with one L10 star for the 2023 season. Expect small-ish classes to be the norm this year for a bunch of teams as they have to start paring down from the super-sized rosters of 2022.

FLORIDA

Kayla DiCello

It's another huge get for Florida on a roster that's alreay full of them, signing the top elite in this entire class in DiCello. Although, much of the interest comes in who is not in this release, at least thus far. Sophia Butler and JaFree Scott had also verbaled to be part of this class—and another signing period has gone by with no mention of Shilese Jones.

ALABAMA

Karis German
Zoe Gravier
Lauren Little
Gabby Gladieux
Lillian Lewis
Rachel Rybicki

This is Alabama's largest and most recognizable class in a good long while, with German who nearly advanced to trials, Little who has been an elite for 915 years, and Gravier who was an MG Elite refugee who ended up at First State to do L10.

LSU

Lilly Lippeatt
Annie Beard
Bryce Wilson

Some big names in this LSU class, with Lippeatt as one of the more recognizable elites of this year's class along with Beard, who competed as a Texas Dreams elite for a while. Wilson joins them as one of the top L10 vaulting recruits of the year.

CAL

eMjae Frazier
Casey Brown
Miki Adrenito

Frazier is the name of the group and will be a major addition as Cal becomes more accustomed to recruiting top athletes now given the last couple classes. This class was also supposed to include British elite Ondine Achampong, so keep an eye on whether she signs at a later date or not.

MINNESOTA

Brooklyn Rowray
Seria Johnson
Sarah Moraw

Moraw was just a Senior A last spring when she won the title at L10s. At the same competition, Rowray had strong finishes on BB/FX as did Johnson on VT.

ARIZONA STATE

Kimmy Smith

DENVER

Ava Mabanta
Mila Brusch
Cecilia Cooley
Kiley Rorich

Sister alert in this class with the younger sisters of Isabel Mabanta and Aria Brusch signing.

KENTUCKY

UCLA

Ciena Alipio
Selena Harris

UCLA has tweeted about these two—the two who had already verbaled—both of whom should be major contributors. Harris is one of the best options from the junior-elite-to-NCAA-star pipeline in this class. But they've delayed on putting out a comprehensive release, leaving the door open for the announcement of some secret international elite we didn't know about, or something. Or, they're just being all UCLA about it and the official release will come when Fran gets around to it.

ARKANSAS

Cally Swaney
Jaime Pratt
Lauren Williams
Reese Drotar

MISSOURI

Addison Lawrence

NC STATE

Meg Adler
Kailee Adomaites

OHIO STATE

Payton Harris
Mallory Gregory
Ella Robbins
Kaylyn Mintz

IOWA

GEORGIA

Ariel Posen
Jacquie Moran
Naya Howard

Ariel Posen is another MG Elite refugee landing in college in this class. 

BYU

Morgan Trevor
Kylie Eaquinto
Maddie Patton

ILLINOIS

IOWA STATE

OREGON STATE

Francesca Caso
Jennifer McMillan
Savannah Miller
Ellison Weaver

SOUTHERN UTAH

Olivia Orlando
Kennedi McClain
Kayla Pardue
Trista Goodman
Kauri Hunsaker
Ellie Thompson
Camry Miller

BOISE STATE

Sydney Kho
Kylee Hamby
Riley Shaffer

Both of Kho's sisters are on the Southern Utah team.

UTAH STATE

CENTRAL MICHIGAN

ARIZONA

Gianna Lenczer
Jordan Schultz
Sophia Stephens
Emma Strom

WEST VIRGINIA

Brooke Irwin
Carlee Nelson
Miranda Smith
Emma Wehry

TOWSON

MARYLAND

Madeline Komorski
Taylor Rech

KENT STATE

EASTERN MICHIGAN

PENN STATE

Ava Peidrahita
Amani Herring

Piedrahita is a Hill's gymnast who finished 2nd AA at L10 nationals this year.

WESTERN MICHIGAN

Makenna King

AUBURN

Olivia Greaves
Hannah Hagle
Hailey John

TEMPLE

Charlie Behner
Reese DeHaan
Ashley Glynn

BALL STATE

Kenna Geibel
Aislyn LaBadie
Zoe Middleton
Olivia Rickle
Alauna Simms
Karah Vargo

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Leah Moreno
Sam Nokes

NEBRASKA

Csenge Bacskay
Emalee Frost
Lauren Homecillo

Bacskay will be very familiar to viewers of Challenge Cup events, opening the Hungarian pipeline to college gymnastics.

RUTGERS

NORTH CAROLINA

Gwen Fink
Kaya Forbes
Paige Prejean
Amy Wozniak

WASHINGTON

ILLINOIS STATE

Joy Ziegenfelder
Nirel Bart-Williams
Berta Pujadas-Rusiñol

LINDENWOOD

NORTHERN ILLINOIS

GEORGE WASHINGTON

SEMO

Taylor Inge
Sydney Crouch

TWU

Brooke Ferrari
Rubylyn Goad
Allison Landry
Kamille Zarlengo

PITTSBURGH

Natalia Pawlak
Carla Ferzoco
Lucia Jakab

BOWLING GREEN

SAN JOSE STATE

Kyra Cato

STANFORD

Taralyn Nguyen
Claire Dean
Ashley Carter
Anna Roberts

It's a very strong class of L10s for Stanford this year. Dean was a junior elite in 2018, and returned to L10 in 2019 to place 2nd AA at 2019 L10s, while Roberts won the L10 AA title in her age group in 2021. Two UB/BBers and two VT/FXers in this class. 

LIU

MICHIGAN STATE

Stephanie Lebster
Nikki Smith
Sage Kellerman
Olivia Zsarmani
Elle Beaufait

WILLIAM & MARY

UC DAVIS

SACRAMENTO STATE

BRIDGEPORT

2021 L10 Nationals

The full and complete scores may be found here, but I’ll be tracking the major results throughout the weekend and including them here as they come in, along with what you need to know for future NCAA purposes. (Verbally committed seniors are noted with their school and the year of their first competition season, not year of academic entry, because we don’t care about that book-lerning nunsense.)

SENIOR F – Top 10 AA & Notables

Sunday, May 16 – 6:45pm ET

Rk Name NCAA VT UB BB FX Total
1 Sloane Blakely Florida
2022
9.875
(1)
9.800
(1)
9.625
(1)
9.900
(1)
39.200
Blakely achieved the rare sweep, winning all four events en route to the title. She’s in the Florida class with Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker, and Leanne Wong that justifiably has Florida as the odds-on favorite to win next season, and her significance as the “I’ve stepped back from elite” of the group will be extreme. 
2 Alex Theodorou Arizona State 2022 9.750
(5)
9.625
(14)
9.550
(2)
9.825
(2)
38.750
Theodorou has enjoyed a big year at L10, following up a 2nd-place performance at the Nastia Cup with another 2nd-place performance at nationals, improving her total by two tenths thanks to vault and floor.
3 Moorea Linker Oklahoma 2022 9.850
(2)
9.700
(9)
9.400
(16)
9.775
(3)
38.725
Nice to see a big floor result for the future Sooner as floor proved to be the event last season that strained the most to be competitive amidst the injuries.
4 Lilly Hudson Alabama 2022 9.600
(20)
9.650
(12)
9.525
(6)
9.750
(5)
38.525
An even all-around performance here that should provide multiple options for Alabama in a new class that isn’t quite as deep or NAME-filled as some of the teams Alabama will expect to score with.
5 Gabi Stephen Michigan State 2022 9.725
(7)
9.575
(18)
9.500
(9)
9.650
(9)
38.450
Queitly a very nice weekend for multiple Michigan State recruits, which should prvoke some excitment for next season’s potential.
6 Alexis Jeffrey UCLA 2022 9.700
(9)
9.650
(12)
9.375
(21)
9.700
(8)
38.425
The former GAGE athlete is heading to UCLA next season in a similar position to Sloane Blakely at Florida as “the one who doesn’t do elite anymore,” which I expect to be a vital status among the Jordan Chiles, Brooklyn Moors, Ana Padurariu, Emma Malabuyo, Emily Lee festival of athletes currently trying to make an intense elite push.
7 Ella Chemotti Eastern Michigan 2022 9.700
(9)
9.725
(7)
9.475
(11)
9.500
(26)
38.400
A get for Eastern Michigan, someone who has really come on in the last year and looks like she should be an easy AA contributor for them.
7 Hannah Loyim Iowa State 2022 9.675
(13)
9.750
(3)
9.525
(6)
9.450
(29)
38.400
9 Emma Loyim Boise State 2022 9.725
(7)
9.750
(3)
9.500
(9)
9.325
(38)
38.300
A double-Loyim moment here as they nearly came up with the same AA score, though Hannah got it with the floor number. The Loyim twins are not heading to the same school, with Hannah going to Iowa State and Emma bringing that bars talent to Boise State. Expect to see a lot of both of them.
10 Kaitlyn Grimes Ohio State 2022 9.625
(16)
9.725
(7)
9.350
(22)
9.550
(18)
38.250
Ohio State’s 2022 class fully nailed this competition with Grimes and Hlavach here in this session and Vetter placing well in the all-around in Senior E. Lots of complementary strengths here and what looks like a whole barrel of lineup routines.
12 Anna Leigh West Virginia 2022 9.150
(46)
9.750
(3)
9.425
(15)
9.750
(5)
38.075
Currently working under the possible theory that this is Anna Li’s fake identity.
13 Jenna Hlavach Ohio State 2022 9.750
(5)
9.500
(22)
9.050
(38)
9.750
(5)
38.050
14 Isabel Song Penn 2022 9.775
(4)
9.700
(9)
9.225
(32)
9.300
(40)
38.000
Nice to see Penn snatch one.
17 Sarah Hubbard Auburn 2022 9.800
(3)
9.025
(41)
9.475
(11)
9.650
(9)
37.950
17 Katherine Klugman Illinois
2022
9.325
(41)
9.500
(22)
9.550
(2)
9.575
(16)
37.950
20 Rylie Bright ??? 9.700
(9)
9.000
(44)
9.550
(2)
9.650
(9)
37.900
21 Deiah-Marie Moody ??? 9.400
(39)
9.775
(2)
9.350
(22)
9.275
(41)
37.800
25 Makenzie Sedlacek Arkansas 2022 8.900
(54)
9.700
(3)
9.275
(29)
9.775
(3)
37.700
35 Kathryn Weilbacher Bowling Green 2022 9.700
(9)
9.025
(41)
9.550
(2)
8.950
(49)
37.225

 

Continue reading 2021 L10 Nationals

National Signing Day 2021-2022

It’s NLI day!

To review:
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. The NLI is accompanied by the athletic aid (scholarship) agreement. Gymnasts can’t sign NLIs if they are not receiving athletic aid.

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 programs for the 2022 competitive season. The large majority will be unsurprising since most of these gymnasts have been verbally committed to these schools since the womb, but there are always a few pieces of interest (usually regarding who doesn’t sign rather than who does).

So, let’s see what we see. If nothing else, this year will be a little different because typically these signing athletes would be tasked with replacing the routines contributed by seniors during the 2021 season, but with everyone being granted an extra year, that’s not necessarily the case this time. There will be more adding, without as much subtracting (potentially).

Many of the US Olympic hopefuls are planning to start college in the 2022 competitive season, but since a number of them have already signed with their schools during a previous period then deferred to pursue the Olympics, they won’t show up in these announcements. But, we are expecting to hear about McCallum, Eaker, Bowers, Suni Lee, Emily Lee, Aleah Finnegan, and Sloane Blakely among others in this week’s announcements. Continue reading National Signing Day 2021-2022

The 10s of Week 10

This week, 17 more routines received a 10.000 from at least one judge.

The 10s

Maggie Nichols – Vault – Oklahoma


Kim Tessen – Vault – Utah


Rachel Gowey – Beam – Florida


Trinity Thomas – Floor – Florida


Ona Loper – Vault – Minnesota


Kyla Ross – Vault – UCLA

Continue reading The 10s of Week 10