Gymnastics

Five Big 12 Gymnasts Advance to National Semifinal Meet

Following the regional stage of the NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships, five gymnasts advanced to the national semifinal meets held April 16 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

Arizona’s Abigayle Martin (beam), Denver’s Shyla Bhatia (vault) and Utah’s Avery Neff (all-around), Ana Padurariu (beam) and Ella Zirbes (floor) advanced to the national semifinals meet as individual event specialists. Four all-arounders and 16 event specialists from non-advancing teams qualified for the national championships.

Martin placed second in the Tempe Regional with a 9.925 ahead of her first national championship appearance. She is the first GymCat to compete at the national championship since the 2021 season.

Bhatia tied for third in vault at the Corvallis Regional with a 9.900 and advanced to the national meet after winning a tiebreaker. The 2026 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year is the second straight Denver gymnast to qualify for the national meet on vault, as the Pioneers have sent at least one gymnast to the NCAA Championship in 25 of the last 26 seasons.

Neff captured the all-around title at the Corvallis Regional with a score of 39.650 and was named the regional’s co-beam champion (9.925).

Padurariu, the league’s Event Specialist of the 2026 season, tallied a 9.900 on beam to qualify for the national meet.

Zirbes rounded out the Utes’ individual event specialists who qualified for Fort Worth with a 9.90 on floor.

The individual competition will be conducted during the two sessions of the team national semifinals on Thursday, April 16, on ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m. CT and 8 p.m. CT. Each individual will be assigned to a competing team to be announced later by the NCAA.

Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Denver and Utah earned team bids to the regional stage, while West Virginia’s Amber Lowe, Sophia Rice and Emerson Smith qualified for regionals as individual event specialists.

The Sun Devils outlasted the Wildcats in the First Round play-in of the Tempe Regional before falling in the Second Round. BYU and Denver finished their season in the Second Round of the Corvallis Regional, as Utah placed third in the Corvallis Regional final.