Minnesota earns its 1st NCAA finals appearance in women's gymnastics, joins Oklahoma, Florida, LSU

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Minnesota clinched the program's first NCAA finals appearance in women's gymnastics on Thursday night, joining top three seeds Oklahoma, Florida and LSU to battle for the national title.

No. 13-seed Minnesota became the lowest seed to reach the final since the NCAA began seeding in 2014.

Defending champion Oklahoma led throughout the second semifinal and notched the highest-overall score of the day at 198.3000. The Sooners will go for their fourth NCAA championship in five years on Saturday.

Oklahoma took control in the first rotation, recording the second highest vault score in NCAA championship history at 49.7500. Kiera Wells put up a career-high 9.9750 to take the top spot, and Hannah Scheible and Lily Pederson both added a 9.9500 to give the Sooners the highest vault rotation in the NCAA this season.

The Sooners also had a strong showing on the uneven bars, highlighted by Caitlin Smith’s career-high 9.9125 on just her fourth bar performance of the season.

Oklahoma senior Faith Torrez won the all-around title after stepping in for Addison Fatta, who missed every event except the beam due to a hamstring strain. Prior to Thursday, Torrez had sat out on floor all season while only competing vault five times.

Wells won the individual title in vault, Florida's Riley McCusker took the bars, Minnesota's Brooklyn Rowray finished first on beam and three-time Olympic medalist Jordan Chiles the floor for UCLA.

Chiles, the 2023 and ’25 NCAA bars champion, had an uncharacteristic fall on bars in the Bruins' first rotation. The 9.3625 took her out of all-around contention at her final collegiate nationals.

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No. 3 seed Florida won the first semifinal for an opportunity to clinch the program's fifth national championship.

eMjae Frazier posted Florida’s highest score on floor as her team moved past LSU into first at the midway point. Frazier also led the way for the Gators in beam and vault.

The Gators finished at 197.7875 after closing the meet with four consecutive 9.9000s or better on bars, highlighted by McCusker’s 9.9875.

LSU reached the championship for the 11th time in program history — and the third under head coach Jay Clark.

The Tigers held the top spot in four of the five events. Kailin Chio had two of them to help LSU edge out Georgia in the final rotation. She tied teammate Kailia Lincoln for the top spot on vault, both putting up a 9.9625.

The Bulldogs were making their 36th appearance in the national championship and the first since 2019.

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