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Q1: Where are regionals and nationals being held?
A1: The Women's national/regionals sites:
Women's Schedule: 2026-2029
| Meet | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 |
| Nationals | Dallas-Fort Worth (TWU) | Dallas-Fort Worth (TWU) | Dallas-Fort Worth (TWU) |
| Regionals |
LSU Oregon State Kentucky ASU |
Arkansas Denver Georgia NC State |
Auburn Florida Michigan Utah |
Men
2026: Illinois
2027: Oklahoma
2028: Penn State
Q2: How do Women's teams qualify for Nationals?
A2: The Top 36 teams ranked by their National Qualifying Score (NQS) will qualify to the Regionals. See Q3 below for an explanation of the NQS. 9 teams will be selected into each of the four Regionals. The first day, the two lowest rated squads in the Regional will have a "play-in" dual meet to qualify to the Regional semi-final. Two sessions of four teams will compete on the second day, with two advancing from each session. Finally, at the Regional Final, the top two (of four) will advance.
The 8 teams will qualify to the National Semi-Finals. Four teams will compete in each session, with two from each to advance to the "Four on the Floor" final.
Q3: What is the Women's NQS?
A3: The National Qualifying Score (NQS) is determined by taking a teams lowest five home scores, combining them with their away scores, tossing out the high and low, and averaging the rest. Home scores in excess of 5 are ignored, and only the five lowest are used. Neutral site meets are counted as away meets, unless a team is within 30 miles of their home site, then only one is counted as an away score.
Q4: How are Conference meets treated in the NQS?
A4: The host team must count the Conference Meet as a home meet. For the rest, it is an away meet.
Q5: How are the Women's teams seeded?
A5: The Women are seeded by criteria established by the NCAA Committee. The Top 16 teams by NQS will be seeded into each of the four Regions. Quartets of teams will be formed, with teams 1-16-8-9, 2-15-7-10, 3-14-6-11. and 4-13-5-12. Regional hosts are assured of staying at home. Thus, if there is a Regional host in the Top 16, they will anchor the quartet to that location. If two or more hosts are in the same quartet, it will be broken up with the highest ranked host getting the original quartet, but the other host will be exchanged with another non-hosting seed with two places of their rank. The other teams will be seeded into their closest host Region, with those with 400 miles of a location having precedence. Generally, teams 29 to 36 will be seeded into a play-in round. However, if there is a conflict due to geographic proximity or other reason, a higher ranked seed may be given a play-in round instead. The committee will also try to avoid conference rematches and over representation in a single region, but geographical proximity is the primary criteria.
Q6: How do individuals qualify to Women's Nationals?
A5: The women can qualify to Nationals as All-Arounders or Event Specialists. The top AAers in each Regional, NOT on a qualifying team advance to Nationals. The top event placer not on an advancing team on each individual event will also qualify.
Please read the policy statement and disclaimer before reading the answers on this page.
If you have a question or correction you would like added to the FAQ, please contact the webmaster using the "Contact" menu.
Q1: Why was this site created?
A1: This site was originally created to promote the sport of gymnastics at the collegiate level in the United States and to address the lack of information related to the sport. It has evolved to be the primary online news and information resource for Collegiate Gymnastics in the US.
Q2: How is the information on the "Commits" section obtained and verified?
A2: The information on the list comes from public sources, through our news services, from the Web and from direct submissions to this site. Due to NCAA rules, we are unable to verify the information by contacting either the school or the athlete. The athlete, however, is free to contact us, issue a statement or otherwise publicize a decision. Thus, the source of the information frequently comes from these types of announcements, made through other media outlets, at their club, or directly by the athlete's family. However, because of the nature of these submissions, the information shall remain a "rumor" unless otherwise verified through a confirmed press release or written statement, or is reported directly from another source.
Q3: Who was "ISUFan"?
A3: ISUFan was Mari-Rae Sopper, a regular poster to the OOBNess Collegiate Gymnastics Forum. Mari-Rae lost her life on September 11th, 2001 when her flight was hijacked and redirected in an attack on America. Her family has set up a memorial web site for her. You can go there and read more about her remarkable life. Mari-Rae was a star gymnast in high school and at Iowa State. She was an outstanding coach and choreographer at several colleges and clubs, and was about to start her new job as Head Coach at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Q4: What are common skills competed by the female athletes?
A4: For an idea of skills competed by various gymnasts, please consult the site archives. However, in general, here are some common skills competed by the top 36 teams:
Vaults:
handspring pike front
handspring tuck front 1/2 and pike front 1/2;
Yurchenko layout, layout 1/2 and layout full;
Tsukahara layout 1/2, layout full and tuck 1 1/2 (or layout Kasamatsu)
Round-off 1/2 to front pike (Omelianchik)
Round-off 1/2 to front tuck or pike with a 1/2 twist;
The most common vault is a Yurchenko layout full. With a change in the rules, we are now starting to see more Yurchenko layout/tuck 1 1/2 twists and even layout double twists. The front pike 1/2, Omelianchik, and layout Kasamatsu are also growing in popularity
UB:
Circling skills include Stalders, free/clear hip, toe-on handstands.
Giant swings front and back, blind changes, giant-full pirouettes, Healy turns and more rarely, elgrip/eagle giants
Single bar release: Jaeger straddle and pike, Gienger, Tkachev, Markelov, Hindorff, Ray, Church, Ricna, Downie.
Transition releases: Shaposhnikova, Maloney, Van Leeuwen, Pak, overshoot to handstand, Bharwaj, Ezhova, straddle back to handstand
Dismounts include a giant full to double tuck/pike flyaway, double layout flyaway, full-in double flyaways, flyaway 1/2 twist to double tuck (Fontaine), double front, double front 1/2s, double twisting layout flyaway, front flyaway with 1 1/2 twists, and a toe-on pike front 1/2 dismount.
A typical routine might include a giant blind to pike Jaeger to immediate overshoot, and a double layout or full-twisting double tuck flyaway. Another common routine might feature a Maloney to bail (overshoot) to handstand, and giant-full to double tuck dismount.
BB:
Acro: back handspring (bhs) to back layout; front aerial or kickover to bhs; side aerial to bhs; triple element series with bhs, roundoffs, back layouts in combination, bhs or back walkover to onodi. Stand alone D/E acro skills include the front aerial, side aeriel, front tuck, kick over front tuck/pike, side somi, back layout, gainer layout, bhs full twist to swingdown, full twisting bhs, Onodi, Arabian.
Mounts include front tuck, flyspring, back layout, press handstand, jump to splits. Most often, a simple, low risk mount is used.
Various leaps in combinations: 1/2, 3/4 and 1/1 jumps in Tuck, Wolf, Split and Straddle; switch sides; switch split, switch split 1/2, sheep jumps, ring leaps, switch ring
Dismounts include back layout double fulls and 1 1/2s, front layout fulls, gainer layout full from the side, gainer pike or tuck full off the end, front gainer full off the end, double backs/pikes.
A typical moderate difficulty level routine would include a bhs-layout series, a side aerial to beat jump, and a switch split-straddle jump 3/4 combo. It might end with a round-off to back layout 1 1/2 or gainer layout full dismount.
Floor:
Tumbling: Double tuck, pike and layout; full-in double back in tuck and pike; Arabian double front; back layout 5/2 twists; back layout 3/1 twists; Rudi; front double full; double front
A typical routine would include a double pike, back layout 1 1/2 twists to front layout, and end with a double tuck. A bonus combination or D dance skill is also required. A minimum two pass routine might include a Rudi to stag and a back layout 1 1/2 to punch front layout, plus two tenths in dance bonus (including a D dance skill).
Q1: Why was this site created?
A1: This site was originally created to promote the sport of gymnastics at the collegiate level in the United States and to address the lack of information related to the sport. It has evolved to be the primary online news and information resource for Collegiate Gymnastics in the US.
Q2: How is the information on the "Commits" section obtained and verified?
A2: The information on the list comes from public sources, through our news services, from the Web and from direct submissions to this site. Due to NCAA rules, we are unable to verify the information by contacting either the school or the athlete. The athlete, however, is free to contact us, issue a statement or otherwise publicize a decision. Thus, the source of the information frequently comes from these types of announcements, made through other media outlets, at their club, or directly by the athlete's family. However, because of the nature of these submissions, the information shall remain a "rumor" unless otherwise verified through a confirmed press release or written statement, or is reported directly from another source.
Q3: Who was "ISUFan"?
A3: ISUFan was Mari-Rae Sopper, a regular poster to the OOBNess Collegiate Gymnastics Forum. Mari-Rae lost her life on September 11th, 2001 when her flight was hijacked and redirected in an attack on America. Her family has set up a memorial web site for her. You can go there and read more about her remarkable life. Mari-Rae was a star gymnast in high school and at Iowa State. She was an outstanding coach and choreographer at several colleges and clubs, and was about to start her new job as Head Coach at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Q4: What are common skills competed by the female athletes?
A4: For an idea of skills competed by various gymnasts, please consult the site archives. However, in general, here are some common skills competed by the top 36 teams:
Vault: handspring tuck front; pike front; pike front 1/2; Yurchenko 1/2 layouts; Yurchenko layout and layout full; 1/2 on 1/2 off front tuck, pike and layout; round-off 1/2 to front tuck, pike; round-off 1/2 to front tuck and pike with a 1/2. Typical vaults include a Yurchenko layout full and a handspring front pike.
UB: Swinging skills include Stalder, giant blind, giant full, Healy, elgrip giants. Releases include pike/straddle Jaeger, Gienger, Tkachev, Deltchev, Khorhina, Shoushunova, Overshoot 1/2 to Handstand, Shaposhnikova, Ray, Maloney, Pak and straddle back to handstand; Dismounts include double tuck/pike/layout flyaway, full-in double flyaways, double front, double front 1/2s, toe-on front 1/2. A typical moderate difficulty level routine might include a giant full to Gienger to overshoot, and a double layout or double pike flyaway.
BB: Acro: back handspring to back layout; triple element series with bhs, roundoffs, back layouts in combinations; front tucks, side somi, gainer layout, bhs 1/4 dive to handstand. Mounts include front tuck, back layout. Various leaps in combinations: 3/4 and 1/1 Jumps in Tuck, Wolf and Straddle; Switch Sides; Switch Splits; Straddle Jumps. Dismounts include double fulls, front layout full, gainer layout full, double backs. A typical moderate difficulty level routine would include a bhs-layout series, a front tuck salto, and a switch split-straddle-straddle jump combo. It might end with a gainer layout full to the side or a front layout full off the end.
FX: Double tuck, pike and layout; full-in double back; Arabian double front back layout 2/1 twists, 5/2 twists, 3/1 twists; front layout, front layout full; Rudi; front layout 2/1 twists. A typical moderate difficulty routine would include a double pike, front layout full twist immediate front tuck, and end with a Rudi (front layout 3/2 twist).
Please read the policy statement and disclaimer before reading the answers on this page.
If you have a question or correction you would like added to the FAQ, please contact the webmaster using the "Contact" menu.
Since 1994, NCAA Championship records have been recorded during any session of either the NCAA regional or national championships.
For a list of past women's winners, please see the NCAA Championships site. The men's list is also available.
For official NCAA Gymnastics Championships scoring records, please see this link.