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.

[wptb id=71489]

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