NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Week 6 Recap: Arkansas upsets No. 2 again, two 10s (but were they true 10s?)
Arkansas is the talk of the gymternet after Week 6 of NCAA women’s gymnastics. Plus, we’ve added two more 10s to the season tally – but were they really 10s?
Keep reading for a high-level recap of the weekend, including the top scores and other key storylines.
See the latest rankings here. For the master schedule and latest score updates, click here.
Top Scores of the Week
Team
Six weeks into the season and we’ve had five different teams own the top score in the country week-by-week. In Week 6, that team was none other than UCLA. (Previous weeks have seen LSU, Florida, Utah, and Oklahoma with the top mark.)
The Bruins scored a 197.950 in their win over Washington (196.125) – a season high. Besides UCLA’s 195.250 to open the season – a minor blemish that will soon not impact their ranking – the Bruins have rebounded big time from 2024. The return of Jordan Chiles certainly helps, but the rest of the team has stepped up as well. On Friday alone, six different Bruins share the individual titles, with Chae Campbell winning vault (9.925) and all-around (39.625), Frida Esparza winning bars (9.95), Ciena Alipio and Emma Malabuyo sharing the beam title (9.95), and Brooklyn Moors and Jordan Chiles sharing the floor title (9.95). The Bruins have depth and high-scoring consistency on their side at the moment – a lethal combination that should take them far in the postseason. This week, though, it moved them into the top 5 nationally, usurping Michigan State for the No. 5 spot.
Individual Leaders
These are the top individual gymnasts based on average after Week 6.
The only change is vault, where Haleigh Bryant (LSU) technically leads the nation. The caveat is Bryant just returned to LSU’s vault lineup last weekend and only has one score. Nikki Smith (Michigan State) and Bryant’s teammate Kailin Chio are tied for second and both have six vaults under their belts, with averages of 9.917. Bryant is likely to stick around the top of the vault rankings, but an important note nonetheless.
- All-Around: Jade Carey (Oregon) – 39.690
- Vault: Haleigh Bryant (LSU) – 9.925
- Uneven Bars: Audrey Davis (Oklahoma) – 9.950
- Balance Beam: Jade Carey (Oregon) – 9.960
- Floor Exercise: Brooklyn Moors (UCLA) – 9.937
Arkansas upsets No. 2 for the second time this season… but the Razorbacks have a situation
The Razorbacks are hot, then cold, then hot again – that’s the best way to describe Arkansas’ season. It’s mostly good, but six weeks into season and Arkansas is in a bit of a pickle.
First, let’s touch on the great – for the second time this season, Arkansas beat the No. 2 team in the country on Friday. The first time was knocking off LSU two weeks ago, and this time, the Razorbacks scored a season-high 197.175 to defeat Florida. Both wins were at home, but Arkansas isn’t know for questionable home-scoring like other programs (including the two they beat).
Still, despite the upset wins and being one of the most unpredictable teams in the country right now, Arkansas is last in the SEC standings. They’re not last by much – we’re talking tenths behind Alabama – but the Razorbacks must figure out how to be consistent on the road if they want to compete at the SEC championships in March.
If you’re not aware, SECs is no longer an “everyone competes” kind of situation. There are nine teams in the conference with the addition of Oklahoma this season, and the ninth place team (using National Qualifying Score) will miss out on the conference championship meet – no chance for individual accolades, no chance to use that toward NQS.
There are many opinions on the SECs situation, with some saying all nine teams should compete, others saying there should be a play-in meet between the eight and ninth seeds, and others saying the top eight should be determined by win-loss record instead of NQS. Since it’s a conference championship, the last idea would make a team’s performance within the conference matter more (for reference, the Big Ten uses win-loss).
As it stands, Arkansas is actually fifth out of nine based on win-loss, and Alabama, the only winless team left in SEC play, is ninth.
The Razorbacks need to perform well in their next five meets before SECs. If NQS were used today, they would have to count two scores in the 195s – both happened at away meets. But if the team can show improvement on the road and perform like they do at home, they still have a chance to knock Alabama or one of the other lower-ranked teams out of contention.
The unfortunate reality of competing in the SEC is all nine teams are ranked in the top 15, and all are separated by 1.221 points in the current rankings (based on average), with fourth through ninth separated by 0.45. It’s the most competitive conference in NCAA gymnastics. Question is: will Arkansas be the SECs casualty this year?
Avery Neff returns just three weeks after nearly catastrophic floor incident
There were murmurs of Utah freshman Avery Neff returning soon, but we never thought she’d be back competing three weeks after sustaining severe sprains to both ankles in a gruesome incident on floor (gruesome because it was very unpleasant to watch – we will not be sharing the video).
And yet there Neff was, competing bars with a “watered down” double layout dismount against Arizona on Friday night. For perspective, she usually competes a full-twisting double layout. The score didn’t really matter in the face of her triumph. After all, the general debate was about whether she’d be back for the regular season, postseason, or if she’d redshirt altogether and we wouldn’t see her until next year. But she’s back, and she scored a 9.8. Now we wait and see how long it takes her to add back the other events.
The 10s of the weekend
There were two perfect 10s scored over the weekend, bringing the grand total for the season to five (there were 32 by this time last year). They belonged to Cal’s Mya Lauzon on floor and Fisk’s Morgan Price on bars, with the latter being the first perfect 10 ever by a gymnast from an HBCU program.
See every perfect 10 this season with our perfect 10 tracker!
As with every 10, there is always discussion about whether it was a true perfect 10, and with both Lauzon and Price’s routines, there are some minor flaws – Lauzon’s first pass looked a bit uncontrolled, Price looked short on multiple handstands. But the score is the score, and a 10 is a 10. No doubt, both routines were great.
Jordan Chiles headlines Nike Super Bowl ad
To close the weekend, Jordan Chiles was front and center as one of the stars of Nike’s Super Bowl ad: “You can’t win. So win.” Watch it below.
There’s one guarantee in sport. You’ll be told you can’t do it. So do it anyway.
— Nike (@Nike) February 10, 2025
You can’t win. So Win.
🎤@officialdoechii pic.twitter.com/Fcu9VXQbnA
