Hannah Aoki has committed to a scholarship offer at UNC, starting in 2025-2026. A L10 at Georgia Elite, she recently won the All-Star East session of the 2024 Women's Development Program (WDP) Level 10 Nationals. She placed 29th AA at the 2023 WDP Nationals.
Link: Insta
Simone Biles won the women's competition, despite a fall on her overrotated Yurchenko double pike. She also won every event, including UB. Her 119.75 combined total was 5.9 points ahead of Florida signee Skye Blakely, in second. Blakely stayed strong and consistent on Day 2, improving on FX but coming in a bit short on her new Cheng vault. Gator Kayla DiCello was 3.05 points back in 3rd (110.8), narrowly holding off Sunisa Lee (110.65), UCLA's Jordan Chiles (110.4) and new senior Hezly Rivera (110.35). Lee had problems on VT but improved on UB and BB, her critical events. Chiles was one of a few that improved on their Day 1 scores, despite a problem on BB.
The picture has become very unclear on the women's side, with Shilese Jones sitting out the Championships and several gymnasts counting misses. Blakely's new Cheng vault was literally what the selection committee ordered (to all the gymnasts), and her relatively consistent performance across two days bodes well for her. Suni Lee also did what she had to, showing a potential to add scores in the mid to high 14s on UB and BB. A lot will depend on the trials, and the ability of Jones to recover from her bicep injury in time.
Link: Results
Brody Malone capped off his comeback from a devastating knee injury to win his third US title. The former Stanford star and NCAA champ lead the rest of the field by over 2 points. In 2nd was Michigan star and 2023 NCAA AA/PB/HB Champ and 2023 World AA Bronze medalist Fred Richard of Michigan. In third, 0.7 behind, was 2024 NCAA Champ and Stanford star Khoi Young. Young won a silver on PH and VT at the 2023 World's. Rising to 4th with an excellent day was former OU star, NCAA Champ and Olympian Yul Modauer. He won the PB with the highest mark of the day. Malone was first on HB while Richard was 1st on FX. Former World Champion Stephen Nedoroscik, ex-PSU, won the PH. Another specialist, Alex Diab, a former Buckeye star, won R. In fifth AA for the day, with the same mark as Moldauer, was former Gopher standout and Olympian Shane Wiskus. However, his marks, when compared to the Top Four finishers, don't add to a potential team total.
The US men finished with a Bronze medal at last year's World Championships. With the addition of Malone and the improvements of the others, the US will look to put pressure on the Chinese and Japanese teams. The Olympic Trials will be critical in selecting the team. If the top 4 remain healthy and consistent, then just one spot remains. Based on this week's results, the Top four leave lineup gaps on PH, Rings, and High Bar. These three events were also the events where the US lagged the leaders at the last World Championships. Currently, the gymnast who adds the most to the top four is specialist Nedoroscik, but he competes only on PH. Not far away from that max potential but adding depth on more events is Paul Juda of Michigan, who finished 5th AA. If he can consistently hit FX, PH, VT and HB at the Trials, he will have a strong argument. R is another weak event but the gymnasts with the highest scores there don't quite add as many points overall, due to improvements made by the Top 4. Donnell Whittenburg, who as 7th AA is also in the mix, as is Asher Hong of Stanford, who finished 10th AA and has struggled this season. Whittenburg could also disrupt the Top 4 with a strong performance at Trials, and Juda is said to be holding back upgrades.
Link: Results
Nebraska (W) has hired Sam Scherwinski as an assistant. He has been an assistant at Lindenwood.
Ohio State (W) has hired Quest Hayden as an assistant. He has spent the last three seasons at Iowa. Previous to that he was at UNC and a volunteer assistant at PSU. He competed for PSU and was a US National Team member.
Link: Release
PSU assistant coach Lynnzee Brown, a former standout and NCAA champ at Brown, has been awarded a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Brown represents Haiti and received a universitality qualification from the Olympic Games Tripartie Commission. She will become the first Haitian gymnast to compete at the Olympics.
Link: PSU Release
Reese Baechle will transfer to NU for next season. She spent last season at Lindenwood, competing primarily on VT and FX, as well as UB.
Link: Release
Illinois will welcome Ashlyn Doyle and Marly Esteves for 2024-2025, according to a release. Both commits were covered previously.
Link: Illinois Release
Alabama has hired former Illinois assistant Ross Thompson as their new assistant. He was at Illinois for two years.
Link: Release
Former US and NCAA Champ and Olympian Brody Malone showed his progress in coming back from a knee injury suffered in March of 2023, by taking the lead on Day 1 of the US Championships. In 2nd was Michigan's Fred Richard. In 3rd was Donnell Whittenburg, who shared the same score with Stanford's Colt Walker. The rest of the top 10 are 1.25 points behind Whittenburg, after some big mistakes from some of the favorites. The Olympic team race is very much unsettled after Day 1 of the Championships.
Link: USAG Release
Arkansas has rehired Catelyn (nee Orel) Branson as an assistant. Branson has spent the last three seasons as Head Coach at Lindenwood.
Link: Release
Selena Harris, the former UCLA 12-time All-American and the 2024 Pac 12 AA, VT and UB champion, will transfer to UCLA for next season. Harris has career highs of 10 on VT and UB, 9.975 on BB and FX, and 39.9 in the AA. She entered the portal just before it closed after being dismissed from the UCLA program.
Link: Insta
UCLA's Emma Malabuyo, representing the Philippines, has qualified to the Paris Olympics by winning the bronze medal in the AA at the Asian Championships. She joins two other NCAA-related athletes who qualified for the Philippines: Aleah Finnegan of LSU and Stanford signee Levi Jung-Ruivivar. Malabuyo just missed qualifying through the World Cup circuit.
Link: Oympics.com
The NCAA and the Power 5 conferences have agreed to settle a number of landmark lawsuits, paving the way to direct payment to players at 69 schools. Under the agreement, up to $21M per school per year could be paid to players. The settlement also provides payment for former Division I players, back to 2016, spread over 10 years. 14,000 players are beneficiaries to the settlement. However, the terms still need to be approved by the plaintiffs and the judge(s), while a remaining lawsuit is still looming. It is also unclear how existing laws like Title IX, new NCAA rules, and future federal legislation will have on scholarships, payments and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) programs.
Many smaller schools are already worried about the loss of money from the NCAA, which is going to be withheld to pay for the settlement. It is also unclear what will happen to smaller programs at the 69 Power 5 schools, as budgets come under pressure by the need to fund the $20ish million per year. Another big change will be a switch from scholarship counts to roster sizes. This is causing concern that more sports programs will be cut. especially in smaller sports.
Link: ESPN
Link: AP "Who get's paid"
Link: CBS Sports: Impacts for Years to Come
Ellorie Cane, a L10 from Let It Shine, has committed to continue her athletic career at LIU, starting in 2024-2025. She's a four-time Level 10 Regional qualifier.
Link: Insta
Alex Irvine will transfer to Auburn next season, after spending her frosh year at UCLA. She appeared in lineups on VT (Yurchenko 3/4 on, pike off, 10.0 SV), UB and once on FX.
Link: Insta