No. 3 Florida gymnastics punched its ticket to the 2026 NCAA Championships with one goal in mind: to bring a national title back to Gainesville.
Jenny Rowland and Co. closed out their wildly successful week in Tempe with 198.050 points in their win in the 2026 NCAA Regional Final, en route to competing for their fourth-ever national championship.
Despite facing an uncharacteristic early deficit, the Gators found their footing following their vault rotation.
No. 6 Georgia added three scores of a 9.900 or better on bars, cementing a 0.150-point lead ahead of the competition.
The Gators posted a modest 49.375 on vault, their weakest event, after struggling to generate much success down the line. Florida posted just two 9.900s and watched as three upperclassmen earned a 9.850.
UF was forced into uncharted territory, looking up as a different program’s name was in the No. 1 spot on the leaderboard. Despite trailing after the first rotation, its uneven bars routine came to play once again.
Florida regained the lead at the halfway point of Saturday’s meet, nabbing the first-place position and maintaining its lead for the remainder of the night. The Gators led UGA by 0.175 after holding 98.950 points after the second go-around.
Florida entered the night as the No. 1 program in the country in both beam and uneven bars, and proved why Saturday. It put together a 49.575 routine on the latter, led by Anya Pilgrim’s and Riley McCusker’s 9.925 scores.
The sixth-seeded Bulldogs were near-perfect right out of the gate. Autumn Reingold tied her career high on the uneven bars, notching a 9.975 as anchor of Georgia’s opening lineup. Reingold, a member of the 2026 All-SEC team, was an integral part of her team’s early lead.
However, the GymDogs, who posted a slim 48.825-point beam total in their last time out, failed to capitalize on the event once again. UGA came out of its routine with 49.250 points, which sat at the bottom of the competing programs.
No. 14 California, while the lowest-seeded squad in the Tempe Regional, struggled to find its footing throughout the opening rotation. Tonya Paulsson, Cal’s freshman all-around competitor, led her club with a 9.850 on vault.
The Golden Bears made up for their lackluster beam lineup by improving their 49.025 score by a large margin. Cal earned a 49.425 after the second rotation and was slotted in last ahead of its vault lineup.
The group from out west closed out the Regional Final meet in the final spot with a score of 196.975 and were sent back to California.
The Gators maintained their 0.175-point edge heading into the final rotation of the night, thanks to back-to-back 9.925s from Kayla DiCello and Selena Harris-Miranda. The former posted three performances of 9.850 or better and added a solid follow-up to her 29.725-point night on three events.
Georgia will join the Gators in nationals after posting 197.750 points to close out its week in Tempe.
Harris-Miranda continued to excel on floor just two days removed from her 9.925-point routine in the second round. She posted a 9.975 on her final outing in regional play and 39.700 points in her all-around night. eMjae Frazier, Harris-Miranda’s senior counterpart, racked up 39.550 points in her all-around outing.
No. 11 Michigan State remained consistent throughout the meet, but its steady scores didn’t stand a chance against the elevated competition. The Spartans failed to lock up the No. 2 spot and will return to East Lansing.
Florida surpassed the 198-point mark for the fifth consecutive time and will enter Fort Worth with plenty of momentum. Florida’s NCAA Championship appearance marks its fifth in six years. Rowland’s club missed out on the 2025 and 2019 title runs after qualifying for the tournament every season since 2012.
Now, the Gators eye the regional champions from the other locations across the nation. No. 2 Louisiana State University and No. 7 Stanford emerged out of Baton Rouge and will face Florida and Georgia in Fort Worth.
On the other end of the bracket, the top two scorers out of Lexington and Corvallis will advance. Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Ohio State will square off in Kentucky Sunday at 5 p.m., while Utah, UCLA, Alabama and Minnesota compete in Oregon at 8 p.m.
The Gators will hit the road for the final time this season as the tournament ramps up, and the NCAA Championship trophy sits at the end of the tunnel.
Contact Riley Orovitz at rorovitz@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @rileyorovitz.
Riley is a sophomore sports journalism student in her second semester at The Alligator. She is the beat reporter for Gators Gymnastics and Swim & Dive while also contributing to the Gators Football Beat. She previously served in the same role in her first semester with the newspaper. Riley is an avid South Florida sports fan and enjoys playing/following all sports in her free time.
