On September 11th, 2001, Mari-Rae Sopper was on her way to California, ready to start her job as Head Coach of the women's team at UC Santa Barbara. Sopper, a former standout at Iowa State, was known as "ISUFan" on the fromer College Gymnastics Board. She had given up her job as a Navy JAG Corp lawyer to pursue her dream, and to help save the cancelled program at UCSB. She lost her life during the events of that fateful day, as the plane she was on was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon. We pause on this 25th Anniversary of the attacks to remember her spirit and dedication to the sport, and her inspiring effort to pursue her dreams, as well as the others who lost their lives that fateful day.
Kaylee Sath, a senior elite from WOGA, has committed to Florida, starting in 2028-2029. Earlier this season, she competed at the 2026 Winter Cup, placing 13th AA. Asw a junior elite in 2025, she placed 4th AA and tied for 4th on FX in the junior division at the Xfinity US Championships.
Link: Insta
EMU has hired Keira Boetel as an assistant coach. She has spent the last two seasons at SEMO, as an assistant coach. She also competed at UW-La Crosse before retiring due to an injury. She was also a student coach there.
Link: Release
Cailyn Waibel, a L10 from Bay Valley, has committed to a full ride athletic scholarship offer at MSU, starting in 2028-2029. This past season, she placed 30th AA at the 2026 Women's Development Program (WDP) L10 Nationals. She also placed 25th AA at the WDP L10 Nationals in 2025.
Link: Insta
Tessa Trail, a L10 from Bold, has committed to a full athletic scholarship offer at BYU, starting in 2028-2029. This past season, she placed 5th on UB and BB and 8th AA at the 2026 Region 1 L10 Regionals. She also placed 1st on UB and 7th AA at the 2025 Women's Development Program Level 9 Western Nationals.
Link: Insta
Flora Sherman, a L10 at Desert Lights, has become the latest MSU commit to switch her commit to Nebraska. She has committed a full athletic scholarship offer with the Huskers, starting in 2027-2028. This past season, she placed 2nd on FX, 10th on BB and 10th AA at the Women's Development Program (WDP) L10 Nationals. She also tied for 5th on FX and 8th on BB while placed 6th AA at the 2025 WDP L10 Nationals.
Link: Insta
Isabella Cox, a L10 from AIM Athletics, became the first commit of the 2028-2029 class. September 8th is the longest we've waited for our first commit in quite some time. She announced that she has committed to a full athletic scholarship offer at Arkansas, starting in 2028-2029. This past season, Cox placed 2nd on VT the Women's Development Program Level 10 Nationals, in the All Stars division. At the 2026 Region 3 L10 Regionals, she won VT with a 10 while competing on three events (no UB). In 2025, she placed 2nd on VT, 3rd on BB and 3r(t) on FX at the Texas Level 10 State Championships. (Note: There are two recruits named Isabella Cox in the Class of 2028)
Link: Insta
Seiko Mallon, a L10 from Silvia's, has committed to a full scholarship offer at Missouri, starting in 2027-2028. This past season, she placed 3rd on BB and 17th AA at the 2026 Women's Development Program L10 Nationals. She was also 2nd on FX and 8th AA at the 2025 Region 7 L10 Regionals.
Link: Insta
Samarah Loreat, a L10 from Orlando Metro, has committed to a full athletic scholarship at Temple, starting 2027-2028. This past season, she placed 4th AA and 3rd on VT at the 2026 FL State L10 Meet. She was also the 2025 Florida State L10 VT, BB and AA champion.
Link: Insta
Kelsey Thomas, a L10 from SGA Gymnastics, has committed to a full ride athletic scholarship offer at EMU, starting in 2027-2028. This past season, she placed 11th AA at the Region 8 L10 Regionals. She missed the 2025 season and the latter half of the 2024 season.
Link: Insta
Arizona has hired Kendra Combs as their third assistant coach. She comes to Tuscon after three years as an assistant at Illinois State. As a collegian, she competed for WVU.
Link: Release
Kate DeSimone, a L10 from Precision NJ, has committed to continue her academic and athletic career at W&M, starting in 2027-2028. In 2026, she place d8th AA at the Region 7 L10 Regionals. She's a two-time L10 Regional qualifier.
Link: Insta
Bri Bodo, a L10 from Azarian, has committed to a full athletic scholarship offer at UC Davis, starting in 2027-2028. This past season, she placed 48th AA at the 2026 Women's Development Program (WDP) L10 Nationals. She also placed 4th AA at the 2025 SoCal L10 Meet.
Link: Insta
The NCAA has released the 2026-2027 Rules Modifications for NCAA women's gymnastics, and the NCAA has made some key changes that will impact routine construction and potentially, scoring in the coming season. The key changes reduce the base "Start Value" (SV) on UB, BB and FX from 9.4 to 9.2, and add a combination of 0.8 in new "Composition Credits" and bonus. However, the net effect of the reduction in start value is largely on face value, not in greatly increased requirements for most gymnasts. The reduction in SV for many athletes will be a mathematical exercise that shifts former content or composition deductions into credits, versus being subtractive from the final score. The changes will mostly impact UB and FX, with a de-emphasis of key release combination(s) in the former and slightly higher tumbling requirements in the latter. BB sees some changes in minimum dance content while vault in nearly untouched. (Note article was updated on 9/4)
Paityn Adams, a L10 from Metroplex, has flipped her commit from Denver to Missouri She accepted an offer of a full ride athletic scholarship with the Tigers. This past season, she tied for 3rd on the UB and placed 35th AA at the 2026 Women's Development Program L10 Nationals.
Link: Insta
GWU has hired veteran assistant Don Houlton as an new assistant coach. He has coached previously at WMU, CMU, Yale, Cal and Arkansas. He also has extensive club experience, including as an owner.
Link: Release