I try to follow year round. Slow, but things happen, elites, recruiting, transfer portal, rules, and injuries
It will be interesting to see how many of our gymnasts and recruits decide to participate in the Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships. Will Kayla and Skye risk reinjury? Will a few of our recruits who compete internationally give it a go?: New Orleans to host 2025 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, National Congress and Trade Show · Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships The premier gymnastics event in the country will head to New Orleans in 2025. The U.S. Gymnastics Championships and the USA Gymnastics National Congress and Trade Show will be hosted in the Crescent City August 7-10. Held at the Smoothie King Center August 7-10, the Championships will feature the country’s best junior and senior men’s and women’s gymnasts as they compete for national titles and vie to make the U.S. National Team, from which the roster for the 2025 World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, ultimately will be selected. More than 2,500 attendees and exhibitors will take part in the accompanying National Congress and Trade Show from August 8-10 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. “We are excited to bring our championships and National Congress and Trade Show to New Orleans,” USA Gymnastics President and CEO Li Li Leung said. “The post-Olympic year is when athletes begin their build toward 2028, when the Summer Olympic Games return to the United States for the first time since 1996. With its history as a host of world-class sporting events, New Orleans is a great setting for our biggest annual event.”
It won't take long before we know where Skye Blakely stands with her comeback as she is attending national team camp. Hopefully, she will be competing in the all-around: Also attending the national team camp is Leanne Wong. Unfortunately, she has used up her collegiate eligibility. I do like that she is continuing her gymnasts while she physically can. After competing collegiate and elites, Leanne may find it easier to concentrate on elites only. What is missing and is larger to me is Kayla DiCello is not in the photo as a national camp attendee. At the end of the month, Kayla will be 1 year removed from her Achilles heel injury and 5 months away from her leg surgery. There may not be a chance to see where Kayla physically stands before Fall Term and before the 2026 season. At this point, I just hope Kayla is 100% so she can practice for and perform in the 2026 season. File Kayla under time will tell. EDIT - I did find this on Kayla's Instagram: Apparently, she returned to gym workouts 6 weeks ago. If this is correct and Kayla has no setbacks, I have no reason to think she won't be 100% for the 2026 season.
To me it’s a positive that Kayla is not training elite. I think it is very taxing to do both. I worry that Skye is back there and I hope she does not reinjure herself. It is a brutal level of gymnastics.
I'd rather Skye skips it altogether. Collegiate gymnastics values sticks over difficulty. We all know Skye can be a US National Olympics caliber gymnast. She will be risking reinjury when all she could give to UF 2 months ago was bars. I'd much rather her take the elite season off to make sure she is healed well enough to return to all-around while trying to develop her routines to score the highest possible with the collegiate gymnastics' judges. With the announcement that she is going to an elite camp, we know CJR has given the green light, probably per an agreement made when she came to UF and before she tore her Achilles heel. Leanne Wong participated in both, but she was injury free.
Something new from Dulcy Caylor as reposted by Dr. Sam. Dulcy is part of UF's outstanding 2026 recruiting class: That is Joscelyn Roberson, Arkansas and 2024 US Olympic Team Alternate, applauding Dulcy's efforts.
As reposted by Dr. Sam. I hope we get to see Skye and Leanne too. Another member of UF's 2026 class, Simone Rose performing on beam. All of UF's 2026 recruits are good enough to be there: UF's 2026 class is #1 on my list of 2026 team classes.
Gator News from the US National Team Camp - 2 Baby Gators Named to Pan American Championships team. Simone Rose competes internationally as well. Recruiting Roundup: May 23 - College Gym News Olympic Gymnasts Headline U.S. Roster For 2025 Pan American Championships With the level 10 season all wrapped up, the elite season is kicking off and preparations for potential international assignments are well underway. This week saw a host of recruits join the national team camp for May. There was strong Gator representation with Dulcy Caylor (Florida, ‘26) revealing a new combination pass: a double back to immediate punch front. She was joined at the camp by fellow Florida ‘26 commits Jayla Hang and Simone Rose, as well as rising Sophomore Skye Blakely and recent graduate Leanne Wong. Other notable names included the trio of UCLA rising Freshmen: Nola Matthews, Tiana Sumanasekera, and Ashlee Sullivan. Rising sophomore Joscelyn Roberson (Arkansas) was also in attendance, along with Izzy Stassi (Oklahoma, ‘26) and 2024 olympian Hezly Rivera (LSU, ‘26) News Following the national team camp, Dulcy Caylor (Florida, ‘26), Jayla Hang (Florida, ‘26), Hezly Rivera (LSU, ‘26), and Tiana Sumanasekera (UCLA ‘25) were named among the athletes to compete at the Pan American Championships.
The UF 2026 class that I think is the best in the nation: Preview: Winter Cup, Senior Competition - College Gym News Dulcy Caylor Committed School: Florida Graduation Year: 2026 Qualifying Score: 53.60 Gym: WCC (TX) Accomplishments: 2023 American Classic all-around and vault runner-up, 2022 Pan Am Championships all-around champion. Kieryn Finnell Committed School: Florida Graduation Year: 2026 Highest Score at a NLC Qualifier: 52.40 Gym: Rochester (NY) Accomplishments: 2024 Pacific Rim beam champion, 2023 national all-around and beam runner-up. Jayla Hang Committed School: Florida Graduation Year: 2026 Qualifying Score: 52.30 Gym: Pacific Reign (WA) Accomplishments: 2024 Pacific Rim all-around champion, beam and floor runner-up, 2023 Winter Cup vault and bars champion. Simone Rose Committed School: Florida Graduation Year: 2026 Qualifying Score: 53.05 Gym: Pacific Reign (WA) Accomplishments: 2024 Pacific Rim bars and floor champion. Gators gymnastics has a bright future.
Closed the 2024 - 2025 Gymnastics thread as the transfer portal closed on May 14. UF didn't have any gymnasts to opt to transfer out. The likely only gymnast remaining in the transfer portal that UF would be interested in presuming there is mutual interest is eMjae Frazier. eMjae is transferring out of California after graduating early to take advantage of her last year of collegiate eligibility: I don't know where eMjae stands after entering the portal a month ago. As you can see from her Instagram, she hasn't posted anything since announcing her intention to transfer. eMjae Frazier would be the second coming of Selena Harris-Maranda if she came to UF. I think it more likely that she would end up at UCLA with her sister or stay put at California. EDIT: Don't think LSU is in on eMjae Frazier. They have picked up 2 gymnasts from the portal, Madison Ulrich the latest on 5/23 from Denver and Emily Innis earlier from Washington. Tiger Droppings seems to be happier with Ulrich and is looking at Innis as a backup in the "leg events". LSU also received the commitment from true freshman Molly Brinkman who switched her commitment from Clemson to LSU.
Anyone ready to talk lineups? Lol. Let’s start with vault: pod: Skye, Kayla, Amelia (both Kayla and Amelia posted Cheng vaults in training so I suspect they’ll be looking to do Leanne’s vault instead of a traditional yurchenko) 1.5: Danie, Selena, gabby, Anya, Skylar, Ly, Jocelyn, Maddy pfh: Taylor fty (9.95 sv): Lily, Lori, Jayla
I'm prefacing my predictions as we go along that lineups projected presumes Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello are 100% for the 2026 season: Vault Options Alphabetically: Ly Bui - The event she most participated in during her arriving early freshman season. She was working hard with UF when she should have been attending senior prom. Ly has a head start advantage on Jocelyn Sasson. Here is hoping for Ly to have a sophomore jump in performance and scoring. Skye Blakely - When healthy, one of the top gymnasts in the world. Taylor Clark - She came to UF with both floor & vault being her strong events. I was consistently surprised throughout the 2025 season that she didn't at least get exhibitions on the vault. I have her here more as a gut feeling than anything she has done at UF so far. Kayla DiCello - Like Skye, Kayla is one of the top gymnasts in the world when she is healthy. Gabby Disidore - My concern on Gabby is she did not compete vault at the SECs, at regionals, or at nationals. Danie Ferris - Hoping for a breakout season of 10s which Danie is capable of doing. Danie has scored 10s as a freshman and a sophomore. The only thing missing is consistency. Danie is capable of scoring 9.9+ on every vault she attempts but does not always succeed in doing so. Selena Harris-Miranda - Consistently high scoring vaulter, among the best in the nation. Anya Pilgrim - Silky smooth on 4 events, consistently sticks vault landings. I think she will continue to improve in the 2026 season. Jocelyn Sasson - Vault is the event in which she is most ready to compete as a true freshman. The only vaulter lost from the 2025 lineup is Leanne Wong. This loss is from a vault team that finished the regular season with the 2nd best NQS in the nation. UF has 9 gymnasts who can compete to be in the vault lineups. The vault lineup UF puts on the floor from week to week will be one of the best in the nation. It's all about consistently sticking vaults that have 10.0 start values. No one should be allowed to compete with less than a 10.0 start value. That's what exhibitions are for. My top 6: *Skye Blakely *Kayla DiCello Selena Harris-Miranda Danie Ferris Anya Pilgrim Ly Bui *Presuming 100% Healthy It will be incumbent on Taylor Clark, Gabby Disidore, and Jocelyn Sasson to prove they are good enough to be included in the vault lineups as the occasions arise. Didn't include Skylar Draser as she had surgery for an unknown leg injury after nationals. Didn't include Amelia Disidore as I have no idea what to expect after she performed so little due to injury before coming to UF. Speculating an Achilles heel injury since Amelia posted a picture on her Instagram of her ankle while stating she is recovered from the injury. Time will tell but I do like her potential.
Amelia wasn’t Achilles. It was a foot/ankle issue but not Achilles. Amelia scored a 53 in the AA in the elite qualifier. She’s healthy and looking great. She absolutely is in the mix for every lineup.
Oh and Skylar was a shoulder issue but pretty much every shoulder surgery would be expected to be ok by the time season rolls around.
Glad you cleared up foot/ankle rather than Achilles heel which was speculation on my part. As posted in #1704 on the last page of the 2024 - 2025 Gymnastics thread: gatorgym_pics said: Amelia competed in an elite qualifier and was amazing! She posted highlights on insta. Thanks. I think Amelia has the potential to be special: https://www.instagram.com/amelia_disidore/reels/ One of the videos shows her heel with the pronouncement that she is now well. If she had an Achilles issue, that would explain her being on the shelf for quite a while. After missing gymnastics for so long, Amelia will have to show more over time for me to buy she is capable of being in the mix for the all-around lineups. As you see when I responded to you in the other thread, I think Amelia has the potential to be special. When she proves herself with UF and I hope she does, I'll gladly add her to my lineups. UF needs gymnasts to step up on bars, beam, and floor. Vault will be UF's best and deepest lineup, likely the #1 vault lineup in the nation. Helpful hint, the reply button is useful to direct responses to others. You'll get used to the system as you post more Since we've started on the vault lineup, I'm interested in knowing who you believe Amelia can beat out of the top 6 in my vault lineup.
I'm glad you cleared up what surgery Skylar had. This from College Gym News: Skylar Draser Unknown Unknown surgery 04/27/25 IMO, injuries and surgeries are too often kept under wraps. However, I will not reveal the nature of the surgery to CGN. For the most part, this is a safe place to share information. If you have good information, share. I apologize for misspeaking about it being a leg injury. Trinity Thomas posted a picture of Skylar in a hospital bed that was reposted by Dr. Sam. It wasn't easily observable that it was a shoulder injury. This was also on the last page of the 2024 - 2025 Gymnastics thread. I will say after following shoulder and back injuries in other sports, these injuries can be tricky and have longer term recoveries than often suspected. I'd rather it had been some unknown leg surgery.
