(GYM) Gymnastics 2023 - 2024

Somebody is going to pick up an outstanding talent from the transfer portal:

Selena Harris Dismissed from UCLA, Enters Transfer Portal - College Gym News

Selena was the #1 ranked gymnast in the 22 class. She developed a rift at UCLA when the team got eliminated in the first round of regionals. She did go to nationals as an individual. Today, Selena was dismissed, UCLA's story, so Selena entered the portal on 5/15, the last day she could do so.

If UF has a ship, I'd go for her. She is an excellent all arounder, has 2 years of remaining eligibility, and wants to win. I'd hate to see her end up at LSU, OU, Cal, or Utah. I don't know if she visited UF when she went from high school to college but, from what I've read, her final selections were UCLA, LSU, and Utah. Her hometown is Henderson, Nevada. LSU is likely out of ships, but gymnasts get paid well through their NIL program regardless of having a scholarship.

In other gymnast news, LSU's Sierra Ballard announced she is returning for her final season. I thought she already had 5 years, but apparently not. She led off beam for LSU and was rock solid.

 

Core Hydration Classic - May 17 & 18:

If interested, CNBC will provide television coverage so check your TV guide. The last meet like this I tried to watch was just too hectic in coverage for me.

Olympic and NCAA Stars Headline Core Hydration Classic - College Gym News

The 2024 Core Hydration Classic will take place May 17-18 at the XL Centre in Hartford, Conn. Alongside Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, and Shilese Jones, 47 former, current, and future NCAA standouts will take to the floor. Find out more about them in our in-depth preview!

5 Gators Performing:

Trinity Thomas

College: Florida

After five exceptional years at Florida, Thomas decided to give her Olympic dream another shot. Among the upgrades she’s shown off in training are a full-twisting double layout and a full twist to double layout on floor, as well as a Yurchenko double full-on vault. She had a strong showing at the Winter Cup in February, but with little recent elite and international competition experience, her Olympic bid is a bit of an uphill climb.

Leanne Wong

College: Florida

The Florida junior didn’t hold back this collegiate season. She competed in the all around in most meets and helped her team finish fourth at nationals last month. She also tied for first place on bars and for second place in the all around. She will add more difficulty to her routines as she starts her elite campaign, but it’s likely that her mantra will be the same as last year: consistency and reliability over difficulty. Only time will tell if it will be enough for a spot on the Olympic team.

Kayla DiCello

College: Florida

The Florida standout also decided to forgo her sophomore year of college and to return to her club gym, Hill’s, to train for the Olympics. So far the decision has paid off. DiCello looked stunning at the Winter Cup in February, where she won four gold medals, including in the all around. Team USA will likely need one reliable gymnast who can be trusted on any event at any given time. DiCello could be the one.

Skye Blakely

College: Florida

Once known as Sloane Blakely’s little sister, Skye has made a real name for herself over the last few seasons. At the Winter Classic in February, she won silver in the all around despite a fall on bars and recurrent landing issues on floor. Her bar and beam work are among the best in the world, but fixing her floor problems will be instrumental in turning Blakely into an all-around contender.

Amelia Disidore

College: Florida

The younger sister of current Florida gymnast Gabby Disidore, Amelia hasn’t competed since the U.S. championships last summer, but historically she has impressed on vault, beam, and floor. On vault, she can get exceptional height on her Yurchenko double twist. On floor, she competes both a double double and a full-in. And on beam, she competes a variety of rare elements, including a roundoff to layout to two feet and a layout stepout from handstand position. She’ll be exciting to watch, regardless of her final placement.

 

Owen Field Promoted:

Owen Field Elevated to Florida Gymnastics Associate Head Coach - Florida Gators

Associate Head Coach - Congratulations!

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gator Assistant Coach Owen Field has been promoted to Associate Head Coach, UF Head Coach Jenny Rowland announced Thursday.

"I am thrilled to announce that Owen Field has been promoted to the position of Associate Head Gymnastics Coach. Owen has been an invaluable member of our coaching staff for the past several years, and we are confident that he will excel in this new role," Rowland said." Owen's dedication, passion, and expertise have been instrumental in the success of our gymnastics program. His knowledge of the sport, leadership skills, and commitment to our student-athletes make him the perfect fit for this position. I am excited to see Owen continue to make a positive impact on our team and help lead us to even greater heights in the upcoming seasons."

 

Core Hydration Classic Results:

Gators Compete at Core Hydration Classic - Florida Gators

Gators Gymnastics on X: " compete tonight at @USAGym Core Hydration Classic. All-Around Top 5th 7th T10th claims uneven bars bronze https://t.co/mppUS9bB87 #GoGators | ‍♀️ https://t.co/rgO1APP5O7" / X (twitter.com)

MyUSAGym

In all around, Skye Blakely finished 5th, Leanne Wong finished 7th, and Kayla DiCello finished tied for 10th.

Trinity Thomas competed in 3 events finishing 3rd on bars, Bronze Medal. She didn't compete on floor, and she had issues on the beam again. At this point, Trinity seems like a long shot to make the US Olympics Team. Given that she didn't do all around and she didn't compete in her last assigned meet, I'm thinking Trinity has been nursing an injury which isn't a good time as Olympic tryouts are late next month.

Sad to report that Konnor McClain, LSU rising sophomore, tore her Achilles heel and will require surgery. Typical of these injuries, it takes 10-12 months to complete recovery. Not expecting LSU to risk her collegiate career, I expect Konnor will redshirt the 2025 season.

EDIT:

Didn't mean to overlook Amelia Disidore, Gabby's little sister. Being young, a member of the US National Team, and barring injury, the experience of being around the best gymnasts in the nation and in the world can only be a plus. Amelia performed only on bars:

Amelia Disidore - Great American Gymn. Express
Bars 12.200 19th Place

Amelia is a 4-star rated gymnast in UF's 2025 recruiting class. She will get to perform with Gabby for 2 years starting in the 2026 season.

Tiana Sumanasekera, my favorite recruit in the 2024 recruiting class from the list of who did not choose UF after visiting instead choosing UCLA, finished in 6th place. It makes sense as she grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, but she would have been an outstanding addition to the gymnasts coming to UF in August. Based on her age and talent, I'd have preferred Tiana over the next gymnast I'm going to mention.

Last, it's a shame Shilese Jones doesn't value education. She consistently finishes 2nd to Simone Biles which likely places her in the top 2 to 4 gymnasts in the world. Unless she does poorly next month, she is a lock to be on the US Olympics Team. The remaining battles are for spots 3, 4, and 5. There are no longer any alternates in the Olympics.

 

Wowzer! hope this happens for her and UF. She's allowed her visits, but I hope she answers any questions CJR and wants to be a Gator. Game changer!

Checked College Gym News, they don't have the visit yet.

It's behind the paywall at On3, but someone posted Selena is visiting UF this weekend on Reddit, mentioned Dani, Arana, and the team photographer are following Selena on X.

UF is likely her first visit so there is that she will be taking other visits unless it becomes a love affair with UF. Checked LSU's Tiger Dropping Recruiting last night and they didn't have it yet. With Konor McClain injured and likely out for the 2025 season, they want Selena badly. LSU and Utah were the other finalists when Selena selected UCLA 2 years ago.

 

No. Selena is visiting so CJR likely doesn't think so either. Get her before LSU does. Selena can help deliver the next 2 national championships for UF, LSU, OU, or Utah. She was the PAC 12 gymnast of the year and the #1 recruit in the 22 class. The opinion I read on College Gym News when she went into the portal, she became very upset with her teammates when UCLA was bounced out of the regional early. If this was a cancer on the team situation, I doubt she'd be visiting UF this weekend. Sometimes young people do foolish things and then deserve a second chance. Reel her in CJR.

What's fair for the goose is fair for the gander. UCLA gave UF's dismissed gymnast, Nya Reed, a second chance that worked out well. Let's do the same with Selena Harris but get 2 years out of her.

 

Scrappy, thanks for the update. I always had a bad feeling about the way Alyssa Orgen so publicly had her UF signing announcement. UF never confirmed the signing which means it was never official and there was no news coverage in the local paper. I wrote this in post #182 on page 10:

***SPECULATION ALERT***

Given that UF has not acknowledged Alyssa Orgen as of Saturday, 11/11/23, and there was no local newspaper coverage of Alyssa's signing day on 11/8/23, I'm beginning to think Alyssa is a preferred walk on who may only receive a ship if Shilese Jones does not come to UF. If this is the case, Alyssa's ship situation could drag on to next summer.

I don't know if it is within NCAA recruiting rules for universities to talk about preferred walk on athletes. However, the athletes do get preferential admissions help to enroll and become a part of the team.

These were the Gators confirmed by UF in November:

Two New Gators Sign National Letters of Intent - Florida Gators

Skye Blakely - previously signed and deferred
Lily Bruce
Taylor Clark

I suspect, Alyssa Orgen would have been coming to UF as a preferred walk on. That would have made in much easier to enroll with UF. JMO, her talent level did/does not match up with UF, a low 3-star athlete.

Alyssa would have been like walk on Michala Magee who represents UF publicly and is a good teammate but has never performed in her 4 years with UF. Insofar as I know, Michala could walk on for a 5th year too. She is currently in Los Angeles at Black Student Athletes Summitt hosted by Southern California representing UF with a group of other UF black athletes.

Good on Alyssa Orgen for making the smart choice of accepting a scholarship with Kentucky. Otherwise, she would likely have been at UF this fall as a walk on. Again, this is speculation as UF cannot comment on any athlete not signed with UF.

Scrappy, how did you get this golden nugget on Alyssa Orgen going to UK?

UF does have Selena Harris visiting this weekend, but I doubt that had anything to do with Alyssa. Did you happen to see Selena on campus?

I also doubt if Victoria Nguyen decides to return that she would have impacted Alyssa.

 

Well dang, I forgot about this. I wrote this about Alyssa in post #614 page 31. I have no idea what happened from late February to now:

Alyssa Orgen officially added to UF's 2024-25 team:

Gymnastics Adds Alyssa Orgen for 2025 Roster - Florida Gators

- College Gym News

(1) Gators Gymnastics on X: "#Gators 2⃣0⃣2⃣5⃣ class adds another from the State ! Welcome to of Lakewood Ranch, FL! https://t.co/3LnChy1XLX #GoGators | ‍♀️ https://t.co/AevpEHXP0L" / X (twitter.com)

I'm just trying to be real on this addition, no offense intended, but the way UF recruits and the talent level of Alyssa, it's not likely going to be possible for her to break into UF's lineups. UF is loaded next year and beyond.

The background on Alyssa is she grew up a Gators fan and has been to UF camps, so she is obviously well known and liked by the UF coaches. Adding Alyssa doesn't necessarily mean she will develop into a major contributor in the future, but UF accepting Alyssa has allowed her to enroll in UF and be a Gators team gymnast, her lifelong dream. Kudos to CJR for making this happen.----------EDIT---------- Found it on Reddit from early this morning. The thought was walk on with UF until UK offered her a ship. UF has been removed from her instagram.

 

College Gym News has it reported on their front page:

Breaking: Selena Harris Transfers to Florida After Dismissal from UCLA - College Gym News

Selena Harris announced on social media Saturday that she will be transferring to the University of Florida for her remaining two years of eligibility.

This news comes just ten days after she was dismissed from the UCLA gymnastics team and announced that she had entered the transfer portal.

Harris was the #1 recruit of the class of 2022 and since arriving at UCLA, she has been a consistent contributor in the all-around. She ranked 5th nationally this past regular season and finished 3rd on beam at nationals. College Gym News recognized her strong contributions for UCLA this season by naming her this season’s Most Valuable Gymnast.

Selena, this is what people say:

It's Great to be a Florida Gator!

Welcome aboard the Gator jet to the 2025 national championship!

 

College Gym News named Selena Harris the Most Valuable Gymnast of the 2024 season. When the dismissal and transfer portal on 5/15 happened, they heard she had a rift with the teammates over UCLA being bounced out of regionals early. Maybe that trouble extended to the coaches as well.

Some on the internet say Selena was a malcontent and caused trouble for the UCLA coaching staff. Seems strange that this would be true as it points to UCLA using Selena's talent to get through the 2024 season and then cut her loose for said issues after the season was over, not a good look for the UCLA coaching staff.

You're right though, nobody outside of UCLA and UF knows for sure the inside story, but CJR knows for sure, or she would not have offered the opportunity for Selena Harris to transfer to UF to join the most talented team in the nation for the 2025 season.

My only concern is how Selena is going to adjust to going from being the big star at UCLA in 2024 to just a star amongst many stars at UF. It will be an adjustment for her. By the time falls rolls around, I suspect Selena will have become a part of UF's good team chemistry. Selena's upside is she has already experienced great success for 2 years in collegiate team gymnastics.

Another gymnast who will have to adjust is Skye Blakely. She just finished #5 at the Hydro meet and has a very good shot at Paris. She's going from individual elite gymnastics to collegiate team gymnastics which will be a big adjustment for her. Fortunately, she'll have sister Sloane plus Leanne Wong and Kayla DiCello to help her with the adjustment period.