UNC Gymnastics 2025-2026
- Thread starter CosmicHeel
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Watched on a 35-minute delay. As soon as Seabrooks slipped off the beam I paused the feed. Just had a really bad feeling. Went and made dinner and sat back down. Skipped ahead until we were done with beam and checked the scores. Catastrophic. Had to stare at the graphic for a while because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
We have to assume Fink was pulled from beam and floor for a reason. She's had consistency issues the past couple seasons, but so has Stippich. Maybe injury management?
Unfortunately being in the afternoon session of ACCs will make the job of a good score next week much harder. I think we can kiss top 16 goodbye (was always a long shot). Let's hope we draw LSU and not Kentucky for regionals.
This program does have an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Unfortunately being in the afternoon session of ACCs will make the job of a good score next week much harder. I think we can kiss top 16 goodbye (was always a long shot). Let's hope we draw LSU and not Kentucky for regionals.
This program does have an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that toward the end of Galvin's tenure, I worried his bars coaching would get someone paralyzed or killed. So in that sense, we are much better off.
I do have some questions about the assistants, but I don't think they're going anywhere. Unfortunately, at a program of our stature the mark of a great assistant coach is that they don't stick around very long.
The head coach is as much an administrator as a coach, and while it's hard to judge Durante's coaching from the outside she seems to be excellent at the administrative side of the job. That said, I still want to know what happened with Caquatto, and I'm still side-eyeing the Sami hire.
I do have some questions about the assistants, but I don't think they're going anywhere. Unfortunately, at a program of our stature the mark of a great assistant coach is that they don't stick around very long.
The head coach is as much an administrator as a coach, and while it's hard to judge Durante's coaching from the outside she seems to be excellent at the administrative side of the job. That said, I still want to know what happened with Caquatto, and I'm still side-eyeing the Sami hire.
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Very meh outing at ACCs. I had to leave for an appointment after the vault rotation but it seems like everyone is beat up and out of gas. Not super optimistic about the direction this program is headed but I’m sure the athletic department doesn’t care a bit because [gestures at the football/basketball dumpster fire]
Fifth at ACCs, but look at the bright side: we'll always be better than Pitt! Right?
...right?
...right?
I think we're going to have much worse results next year unless we hit the portal hard in the offseason or get some late recruits. Right now we have a freshman class of three replacing a senior class of five. More urgently, all five of our seniors competed bars at one point or another, and only one of our incoming freshmen is a realistic prospect to compete bars in college. We're going to lose depth on all events and right now are projected to have only 15 on the roster next year. That 15 includes a one-event specialist, a gymnast who has been sidelined for two years whose status is completely unknown, and a walk-on whose Level 10 scores topped out in the 9.2-9.3 range. The roster has gotten smaller every year that Durante has been HC, and I'm not sure whether that is a reflection of her preference or the budget getting tightened.
Meanwhile, Iowa State's best gymnast just committed to Clemson. So yeah, I'm concerned.
Meanwhile, Iowa State's best gymnast just committed to Clemson. So yeah, I'm concerned.
I understand the concerns about the future of the roster, you're clearly more tied in than I, but are the results the last year 2 not the best in the the last 20? I can get sustainability concerns but it certainly seems like overall the team is clearly in a better spot than it was.
Sure, but the bar was in hell lol. We are absolutely not performing to the talent level of our roster and while that’s a culture Durante inherited, she hasn’t rectified it as much as gymnastics watchers hoped.
My biggest concern, more than the results, is that the regression we’ve seen with some of our athletes may be a reflection of their bodies starting to break down from the wear and tear of their training. I’d argue that in gymnastics more than any other sport, there’s a linear relationship between coaching quality and athlete health/safety.
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I not too familiar with Gymnastics but I thought the program was a lot better under Durante and staff than in the past. I was under the impression that we had some good freshmen coming in next year. Durante and company will need to hit the portal hard this offseason. How did Clemson get Iowa State's best player to come to them? Was it NIL money? There has got to be some other gymnast from that team that are good that we can go after.
So, a few things here.
1. Yes, the program is a lot better under Durante than under Galvin’s final years. But like I said, from about 2016-2020 the bar was in hell. Our uneven bars rotations in particular were terrifying to watch because the falls were so scary. I don’t think we had a single clean bars rotation in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The delta between “what this roster is achieving” and “what this roster SHOULD be achieving” has shrunk substantially under Durante but this is still a program that underachieves relative to its talent.
2. Our incoming freshmen are quite good but there are two problems. First, there are only three of them and asking them to replace the output of five people is not a fair expectation. Second, their strengths aren’t an ideal match for the holes being left by our departing seniors. We’ve had as many as four seniors in our bars lineup this year. We may only be getting one replacement bars routine.
3. Clemson has three big things going for them. First, the Howells are incredibly successful, well-respected coaches. What they were able to achieve at Cal with virtually no resources was nothing short of miraculous. Second, Clemson’s facilities are ridiculously nice, on par with the top SEC programs. And third, Clemson and its fans really support and embrace Olympic sports in a way most of the ACC does not, IMO. Clemson routinely sells out Littlejohn and the only time we managed that was when Suni Lee came to town. Clemson is more like an SEC school in that regard. So while there may be NIL involved, I think it’s more that Clemson has invested tons of money in the program and they’re seeing quick returns.
1. Yes, the program is a lot better under Durante than under Galvin’s final years. But like I said, from about 2016-2020 the bar was in hell. Our uneven bars rotations in particular were terrifying to watch because the falls were so scary. I don’t think we had a single clean bars rotation in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The delta between “what this roster is achieving” and “what this roster SHOULD be achieving” has shrunk substantially under Durante but this is still a program that underachieves relative to its talent.
2. Our incoming freshmen are quite good but there are two problems. First, there are only three of them and asking them to replace the output of five people is not a fair expectation. Second, their strengths aren’t an ideal match for the holes being left by our departing seniors. We’ve had as many as four seniors in our bars lineup this year. We may only be getting one replacement bars routine.
3. Clemson has three big things going for them. First, the Howells are incredibly successful, well-respected coaches. What they were able to achieve at Cal with virtually no resources was nothing short of miraculous. Second, Clemson’s facilities are ridiculously nice, on par with the top SEC programs. And third, Clemson and its fans really support and embrace Olympic sports in a way most of the ACC does not, IMO. Clemson routinely sells out Littlejohn and the only time we managed that was when Suni Lee came to town. Clemson is more like an SEC school in that regard. So while there may be NIL involved, I think it’s more that Clemson has invested tons of money in the program and they’re seeing quick returns.
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We're IN:
www.sportingnews.com
NCAA gymnastics regionals 2026 bracket, schedule for women's college championships | Sporting News
The top college gymnasts in the country will compete at four regionals for a shot to make it to championship weekend. Here's everything you need to know to watch.
www.sportingnews.com
Baton Rouge Regional
Session 1- No. 7 Stanford
- No. 10 Michigan
- North Carolina
- Utah State
- No. 2 LSU
- No. 15 Clemson
- Auburn
- Air Force
- Nebraska
Injury has to be in first half of season, has to be season-ending and have to have competed in less than 30%.
so my interpretation is McBride is foregoing a redshirt because this violates the season ending rule.
But it is possible that there are some nuances in the rul beyond the summary in that article and I am wrong.
For example, maybe the “rest of the season” does not include post-season competion. For example, I think in football they carved out an exception for bowl games not counting against eligibility? Maybe that now applies to all sports.
NCAA rules postseason contests no longer count against four-game max for redshirt eligibility
The new rule exempts conference title, bowl and CFP games from counting against four-game maximum for redshirting players
www.cbssports.com
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The comparative lack of transparency in non-revenue sports doesn't help either. We know she missed the tail end of last season, but was that due to an injury or was she just not one of our top 6 on beam on that point based on practice? This isn't basketball where we get constant updates -- unless someone has a visible indicator of injury (boot, crutches), or the athlete themselves posts about it, we have no idea whether they're injured or why they're out. Maybe the injury will be acknowledged when an athlete comes back, but they don't always come back and if that happens it's a mystery forever. I don't believe CGN reported on her labrum tear until last summer. And of course she may have suffered an additional, unrelated injury since then because gymnastics.
Sydney Seabrooks: 2nd Team All-american! awarded for floor.
Full team here:
Full team here:
Congratulations Sidney. Now, we need to continue to build on our recruitment. Who do we have coming in next year for our gymnastics team. If we can get at least one top caliber gymnast to come every year like Sidney then I think we are on our way to something really special. Go Heels!
CGN’s recruit rating system has a lot of flaws but is helpful to this conversation. Sydney was a five-star recruit in CGN’s system, and about 20 five-stars get designated in each class. As you can imagine, the lion’s share of them go to the traditional powerhouses. CGN started this system with the high school class of 2021 and we’ve had three five-stars come to UNC: Seabrooks, Fink, and Dekanoidze. The latter two committed to UNC before the recruiting rules changed — I think they were both in eighth/ninth grade when they committed and the full trajectory of their development was not known (they’d been committed for years when they got the rating). So Sydney is arguably the only five-star we’ve recruited. None of our five commits/signees are five-star recruits and us getting one per year isn’t a realistic expectation unless/until our results get better.
it’s a bit of chicken and egg because you need top recruits to get better but you need to get better to land top recruits. This is where our academics give us an edge. There aren’t many schools at our level or better academically that have gymnastics teams and award scholarships.
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Lineups for the regional semifinal (2 pm ESPN+!)
Bars: Stippich, Neve King, Stanley, Prejean, Fink, Rueda
Beam: Seabrooks, Stippich, Rueda, Fink, Naranjo, Valahovic
Floor: Naranjo, Stippich, Fink, Forbes, Seabrooks, Rueda
Vault: Prejean, Neve King, Fink, Seabrooks, Valahovic, Forbes
I had a minor heart attack last night when UNC Gymnastics posted a team photo from the arena and Naranjo was conspicuously absent, so relieved to see her in the lineup today.
Bars: Stippich, Neve King, Stanley, Prejean, Fink, Rueda
Beam: Seabrooks, Stippich, Rueda, Fink, Naranjo, Valahovic
Floor: Naranjo, Stippich, Fink, Forbes, Seabrooks, Rueda
Vault: Prejean, Neve King, Fink, Seabrooks, Valahovic, Forbes
I had a minor heart attack last night when UNC Gymnastics posted a team photo from the arena and Naranjo was conspicuously absent, so relieved to see her in the lineup today.
So a few of the key decisions:
Bars: Neve King over Seabrooks
Beam: Rueda and Stippich in despite falling in their last meet and not going at ACCs, no Aoki
Floor: Fink in for Aoki
Vault: As expected
Streaming:
www.espn.com
Live stats:
At the risk of stating the obvious, we have to do our thing then hope that either Mich or Stanford has to card a fall or two.
Looks like we are starting on bars, so we might be competing from behind today, looking to gain ground in later rounds
NCAA WGYM: Baton Rouge Regional (Semifinal I) (4/2/26) - Live Stream - Watch ESPN
Watch the NCAA WGYM: Baton Rouge Regional (Semifinal I) live from ESPN+ on Watch ESPN. Live stream on Thursday, April 2, 2026.
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Live stats:
At the risk of stating the obvious, we have to do our thing then hope that either Mich or Stanford has to card a fall or two.
Looks like we are starting on bars, so we might be competing from behind today, looking to gain ground in later rounds
Maybe I was on to something after all. Lineups are updated with Aoki in for Naranjo on beam and floor. Second consecutive year that Naranjo has missed regionals.
Stippich gets a somewhat charitable 9.825 on our first beam routine, great score to build upon. season high score
King fights for a stick and follows with another 9.825. career high score
Freshman Stanley delivers a 9.800 on a small hop just short of her season average.
Prejean, yet another nice routine with good handstands 9.800 below her average but nice recovery from ACC championships fall.
Fink with a great routine ending with a confident stick. 9.850 was probably a little low considering earlier scores from UNC. Announcers opined it might be a 9.0
Rueda set up with no pressure, just icing on the cake.
Rueda really went for the handstands hitting first two, but lost a little angular momentum, small hop. 9.750
Heels tied with Stanford and Ut St after round one, but close as can be for all 4 teams.
49.100 UNC, #7 Stanford & Utah St
49.075 #10 Mich
UNC has one of their toughest rotations out of the way.
King fights for a stick and follows with another 9.825. career high score
Freshman Stanley delivers a 9.800 on a small hop just short of her season average.
Prejean, yet another nice routine with good handstands 9.800 below her average but nice recovery from ACC championships fall.
Fink with a great routine ending with a confident stick. 9.850 was probably a little low considering earlier scores from UNC. Announcers opined it might be a 9.0
Rueda set up with no pressure, just icing on the cake.
Rueda really went for the handstands hitting first two, but lost a little angular momentum, small hop. 9.750
Heels tied with Stanford and Ut St after round one, but close as can be for all 4 teams.
49.100 UNC, #7 Stanford & Utah St
49.075 #10 Mich
UNC has one of their toughest rotations out of the way.
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Stanford survived their worst event. This was Michigan’s best event (keep an eye on that). Debatable what our worst is — bars has the lowest ceiling, beam has the lowest floor.
well no favors to UNC; we get beam next, lol. If we survive here I like our chances.
Seabrooks up first, immediate bobble on a turn. Settles, delivers a great second combination and a stuck landing. 9.750. Her previous two bar routines were her worst of the year, so solid rebound.
Stippich with some balance checks on her first combination, small step on her dismount. her last bean performance was a fall so again a solid recovery 9.725
Aoki with a major balance check on the first pass, small balance check on the combination, nails the final combo pass, steps on the landing. 9.625 has to be dropped for us to compete
Some nerves on the first three, we are now in 4th place, 0.300 back
Fink falls, that may be it for UNC. 9.125
It's going g to take a lot to come back, will need some help from other teams. If Rueda or Valahovic fall it is over.
Rueda with a great routine, sticks the landing. Judges not feeling charitable with just a 9.800
Valahovic with an immediate bobble, but nails the back handspring, and sticks the landing. 9.900 is our best score of the day.
we avoided counting a fall , but the early bobbles by 4 gymnasts put us way, way behind.
Mich 98.450
Stan 98.425
UT St 98.100
UNC 97.900
Stippich with some balance checks on her first combination, small step on her dismount. her last bean performance was a fall so again a solid recovery 9.725
Aoki with a major balance check on the first pass, small balance check on the combination, nails the final combo pass, steps on the landing. 9.625 has to be dropped for us to compete
Some nerves on the first three, we are now in 4th place, 0.300 back
Fink falls, that may be it for UNC. 9.125
It's going g to take a lot to come back, will need some help from other teams. If Rueda or Valahovic fall it is over.
Rueda with a great routine, sticks the landing. Judges not feeling charitable with just a 9.800
Valahovic with an immediate bobble, but nails the back handspring, and sticks the landing. 9.900 is our best score of the day.
we avoided counting a fall , but the early bobbles by 4 gymnasts put us way, way behind.
Mich 98.450
Stan 98.425
UT St 98.100
UNC 97.900
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Floor:
Stippich over rotates her 1st pass, lifting her front foot, but clean the rest of the way 9.750
Fink's second pass a little shaky on the landing, but otherwise solid 9.800
Aoki stepped out of her landing in the 2nd pass, 9.675 mans we are counting Stippich
Team energy is also lacking, everyone looks stressed or pensive.
At this point we are hoping for major mistakes from Mich or Stan but so far they are solid this rotation.
Forbes takes flight on floor, here altitude is impressive. she has a small deduction on the random tumbling between, but all three passes are epic. 9.850 coulda been a 9.900 without the bobble.
Utah St has opened the door a little with some mediocre bars, and Stanford has a fall on beam with two more to go.
Seabrooks doing Seabrooks things on floor, so much fun to watch. first pass has a little too much energy and she almost drags the lunge. Second pass is perfection. 9.925!
Rueda perfect first pass, her leap split compulsory was a little short? 2nd pass great. 9.900!
Stanford has a bobble on bobble the penultimate beam, need a fall from their anchor... no such luck and the needle does not move in our favor
Stan 147.625
Mich 147.450
UNC 147.125
Utah St 147.025
Stippich over rotates her 1st pass, lifting her front foot, but clean the rest of the way 9.750
Fink's second pass a little shaky on the landing, but otherwise solid 9.800
Aoki stepped out of her landing in the 2nd pass, 9.675 mans we are counting Stippich
Team energy is also lacking, everyone looks stressed or pensive.
At this point we are hoping for major mistakes from Mich or Stan but so far they are solid this rotation.
Forbes takes flight on floor, here altitude is impressive. she has a small deduction on the random tumbling between, but all three passes are epic. 9.850 coulda been a 9.900 without the bobble.
Utah St has opened the door a little with some mediocre bars, and Stanford has a fall on beam with two more to go.
Seabrooks doing Seabrooks things on floor, so much fun to watch. first pass has a little too much energy and she almost drags the lunge. Second pass is perfection. 9.925!
Rueda perfect first pass, her leap split compulsory was a little short? 2nd pass great. 9.900!
Stanford has a bobble on bobble the penultimate beam, need a fall from their anchor... no such luck and the needle does not move in our favor
Stan 147.625
Mich 147.450
UNC 147.125
Utah St 147.025
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0.325 behind Michigan with us on vault and them on beam...unlikely but not out of the question.
Edit: Just checked the numbers, our best vault of the season is 49.325 week 1, Michigan's worst is 49.000 the week before B1Gs. So, likely too big an ask
Edit: Just checked the numbers, our best vault of the season is 49.325 week 1, Michigan's worst is 49.000 the week before B1Gs. So, likely too big an ask