Oklahoma, Utah, UCLA, And Missouri To Battle For NCAA Gymnastics Championship

Only four teams remain in the race for the coveted NCAA women’s gymnastics crown. After a rousing day of semifinal competition, the stage is set for the season finale. No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA, and No. 7 Missouri will face off in the ‘Four on the Floor’ NCAA National Championship on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on ABC.

The lineup is as shocking as it is historic. Defending champion No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Florida are glaringly absent from the final four, with both powerhouse programs falling to rising “underdogs.” But don’t call them underdogs.

Shock At The Semifinals

The No. 7 Missouri Tigers’ qualification marks their first NCAA Championship appearance in program history. Their berth also guarantees Coach Shannon Welker’s squad the strongest final ranking in history.

The team’s previous best finish was 5th overall in 2022, just one ranking short of a Final Four appearance. The Tigers’ title run came down to the final routine. Locked in an all-out battle with title-favorite No. 3 Florida from start to finish, Missouri needed a near-perfect routine from senior Helen Hu to knock off the Gators.

With ice in her veins, Hu posted a staggering 9.9875 to clinch the win for the Tigers – and eventually win outright ownership of the individual beam title. With her win, Hu became the first individual champion in the Missouri program’s history.

Before Thursday’s competition, the Tigers rejected the notion of being “underdogs.” Instead, they wanted to be “undeniable.” When I asked him about that tagline on Thursday at the winner’s press conference, he responded concisely: “Well, we’re sitting right here,” he laughs.

Instead, he stands by a different line. “One of our mottos is ‘out heart, out work, out team.” Welker feels that this message led his team to the Elite Eight and now to the Final Four. “I think (that motto) is worth a couple of tenths.”

Missouri’s triumph spelled heartbreak for a talented Florida Gators squad, which still seeks its first title since 2015. Gators star, Olympic alternate and World Champion Leanne Wong saw her storied NCAA career come to a close.

On the other side of Dickies Arena, the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners tumbled to redemption in session one. With a meet-winning score of 197.550, the Sooners return to the Final Four after notoriously missing the final due to a fluke vault rotation in 2024.

The team averted a crisis on beam, with junior Jordan Bowers delivering a stellar routine after a fall from the prior athlete. When asked about her mindset going into the high stakes exercise, Bowers laughed, telling media she “leaves the arena before beam.”

Bowers wasn’t just strong on beam. She led the way for Coach K.J. Kindler’s squad, collecting her first NCAA all-around crown. If the Sooners clinch the title on Saturday, it will mark their seventh title in a little over a decade.

Kindler spoke to the media following the competition. The storied coach delivered a clear message: she’s done with hearing about 2024’s mistakes.

“It’s been a long 364 days,” she said, referencing the 2024 semifinal. “And I don’t ever want to see TV footage of Oklahoma falling over and over again on vault. That dragon is slayed and we’re past it.”

Later in the second session, over 250,000 online viewers tuned in to watch the star-studded matchup between No. 1 LSU, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 UCLA, and No. 8 Michigan State (ESPNPR). The competition did not disappoint.

Heading into the final rotation, all four teams were separated by under two-tenths of a point, with UCLA holding a minuscule lead over the field. With such a razor-thin margin for error, one large step could make or break a team’s season.

For the Utah Red Rocks, steps were no longer in play. The squad was on fire, sticking nearly every landing on bars and concluding their rotation with a silver medal-winning score from Olympian Grace McCallum.

It was official. The illustrious program would send a squad to the Final Four for the fifth straight season. Could this be the year that they nab their first title in 30 years?

Despite their program’s unprecedented streak of appearances at the NCAA Championships, Head Coach Carly Dockendorf says she and her team “definitely don’t take it for granted.”

“It takes a lot to be here and to be a part of this program and to stand in front of 15,000 fans week after week and carry on the tradition of qualifying to every single national championship,” she continued. “They have embraced it and have done it with such pride and bravery, and I’m just so proud of them.”

ForbesJade Carey Wins The AAI Award, ‘Gymnastics’ Heisman Trophy’By Caroline Price

While the Utes nailed bars, the Michigan State Spartans lost ground on the floor after a shaky rotation on the previous event. The Spartans finished fourth in the session, but secured a No. 6 final ranking, their highest in program history.

It would be between No. 1 LSU and No. 5 UCLA. The defending national champion Tigers finished on vault, an event where they are ranked No. 1 in the nation. However, the team struggled to deliver championship-worthy landings. Though freshman phenom Kailin Chio nailed her Yurchenko full for a 9.975 and the NCAA vault title, all five teammates bounded out of theirs.

While LSU struggled to find its groove on vault, the UCLA Bruins brought fans to their feet on beam. After a shaky leadoff routine, the squad dominated the event. Needing just under a 9.8 to secure a Final Four berth for her team, Philippines Olympian Emma Malabuyo was near perfect, nailing her dismount to a 9.975 and immediate tears.

The Bruins posted a 197.737 to knock out the defending champion LSU. The Bruins also collected individual hardware, with Olympians Jordan Chiles and Brooklyn Moors winning the bars and floor titles, respectively.

With their second-place finish, Coach Janelle McDonald’s team will compete for its first title since 2018, just a month after winning its first Big Ten title. McDonald told the media that she understood her team’s potential.

“I told the team yesterday that if we put four events together, we’re going to be the team to beat and that we can absolutely vie for this national championship,” McDonald said.

Though newly minted individual champions Chiles and Moors were thrilled with their wins, they remain focused on the end result: a team national title.

Moors and Chiles shared when they “knew this team was special.” While Moors cited a team bonding trip from the summer, the Chiles said she knew ‘it’ last fall.

After an hour spent watching her team practice in late fall 2024, Chiles approached Coach McDonald. “I said, this is the team,” she told her coach. This is the team “that’s going to take it all the way…and I have no doubt.”

How To Watch

The 2025 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship, held in Fort Worth, Texas’ Dickies Arena, will be broadcast live on ABC on Saturday, April 19 at 4 p.m. ET. Information regarding the event is accessible here.