NCAA gymnastics semis set

The NCAA women’s gymnastics title chase moves to Fort Worth on Thursday, with eight teams split across two semifinals at Dickies Arena. (ncaa.com) Semifinal I starts at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on April 16 with Louisiana State, Florida, Georgia and Stanford. Semifinal II follows at 9 p.m. Eastern with Oklahoma, Arkansas, University of California, Los Angeles and Minnesota. (ncaa.com) The top two teams from each four-team session advance to the national championship on Saturday, April 18, at 4 p.m. Eastern. Thursday’s meet also decides the individual national champions in the all-around and on vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. (gymnastics-now.com) The field came out of four regional finals held April 4 and April 5. Louisiana State and Stanford advanced from Baton Rouge, Florida and Georgia from Tempe, Oklahoma and Arkansas from Lexington, and University of California, Los Angeles and Minnesota from Corvallis. (ncaa.com) That first semifinal groups three Southeastern Conference programs with Stanford, which is why it has drawn so much attention in the lead-up to nationals. College Gym News wrote this week that the national title race in Fort Worth is “fiercely contested,” and International Gymnast said Georgia and Stanford both have upset potential against Louisiana State and Florida. (collegegymnews.com, intlgymnast.com) The regional scores show how little separation there was on the way in. Florida posted a 198.050 in the Tempe final, Louisiana State a 197.825 in Baton Rouge, Georgia a 197.750 in Tempe, and Stanford a 197.225 in Baton Rouge. (ncaa.com) The second semifinal has the defending champion and the highest regional-final score. Oklahoma, which won the 2025 national title, reached Fort Worth with a 198.350 in the Lexington regional final, while University of California, Los Angeles scored 197.725, Minnesota 197.625 and Arkansas 197.450 in their regional finals. (ncaa.com) Rotation order is already set. In the early session, Louisiana State opens on vault, Georgia on uneven bars, Florida on balance beam and Stanford on floor, while Oklahoma opens the late session on vault, University of California, Los Angeles on uneven bars, Minnesota on balance beam and Arkansas on floor. (gymnastics-now.com) Fort Worth will also include four all-around qualifiers and 16 event specialists who are not on advancing teams. The all-around field is Maggie Slife of Air Force, Avery Neff of Utah, Tory Vetter of Ohio State and Nikki Smith of Michigan State. (ncaa.com) Both semifinals will air on ESPN2 and ESPN+, and Saturday’s final will air on ABC and ESPN+. By the end of Thursday night, the bracket in Fort Worth will be down to four teams. (gymnastics-now.com, ncaa.com)