While some things have become clearer as we approach the home stretch of the 2024 college gymnastics season, questions about the bigger picture have started to emerge.
The Florida Gators clinched the SEC regular-season title, but can they continue that momentum into the conference tournament and eventually to nationals?
LSU’s Haleigh Bryant put up another perfect 10 this week, and has her consistency put her in the GOAT conversation. 
Who’s the biggest threat to win it all in the SEC?
All we can do is wait and see what happens down the road. Until then, here’s whose stock is going up and down after everything that took place in Week 9:
Rising
Florida wins SEC regular-season title
The No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats hosted the No. 5 Florida Gators on Sunday with the SEC regular-season crown on the line.
On Sunday, it was Kentucky’s senior night, and the Wildcat faithful treated it as such, packing Rupp Arena for the highly anticipated matchup.
Kentucky, themselves, showed up too, with Wildcat junior Makenzie Wilson closing out her squad’s first rotation with a perfect 10 on vault, her second of the season. Her front handspike half helped Kentucky earn its third-highest vault score (49.500) in school history.
Fifth-year senior Raena Worley continued that momentum into the final rotation, where she put together a perfect floor routine that resulted in a 10.
It’s her third perfect mark on the floor in her career, as Kentucky eclipsed the 198-point threshold for the first time in program history and made for the ultimate goodbye to the Wildcat fans.
But even on a historic night for Kentucky, Florida was better.
Leanne Wong again led the Gators with a 9.975 on the balance beam and uneven bars. While Florida trailed the Wildcats halfway through, the Gators turned it around with a season-high 49.725 on the floor, with five of their gymnasts scoring a 9.90 or better on the event. 
The highlight of the night had to be Anya Pilgrim’s perfect 10. She became the first freshman in the nation to earn a perfect score on the floor all season long and just the second Florida freshman to ever do it. 
The Gators continued their momentum into their final event of the night, the balance beam. Four of their gymnasts turned in a 9.90 or better for their second-highest beam total of the season (49.575) and secured the 198.225-198.100 Florida win.
With that victory, the Gators moved up to No. 4 in the national rankings and clinched the SEC regular season championship, making it their sixth consecutive year of winning at least a share of the title.
“With this team, starting on day one and looking back to where we are now, I couldn’t be prouder,” head coach Jenny Rowland said. “This SEC Championship is extremely meaningful. This team has been through highs and lows and did it together. They never stopped fighting. And today, we get to celebrate sole possession of the SEC championship.” 
Ragan Smith and Oklahoma break more records
It was a busy weekend for the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners.
Just last week, Oklahoma’s Ragan Smith tied the school’s record for the most perfect balance beam scores. But just this past Friday, she broke it in front of the home fans against the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines.
During Sunday’s quad meet hosted by Texas Women’s University, she added to her lead with her ninth perfect 10 on the event. She is again tied with Maggie Nichols, but this time for the most perfect scores on any event in Sooners history.
Oklahoma rolled past Michigan 198.650 on Friday night and followed it up with a first-place finish (198.300) over Clemson (196.350), Texas Women’s (196.275), and Penn (194.825).
After posting back-to-back scores of over 198.300, the Sooners set a new NCAA record for the highest National Qualifying Score ever (198.420), beating the mark they set in 2023 (198.355).
Oklahoma still looks like the heavy favorite to go back-to-back and win the NCAA Championship in April. 
Haleigh Bryant leads LSU past Alabama
What Haleigh Bryant does for her LSU Tigers this season is unheard of. On Friday, Bryant recorded her third perfect 10 on the floor and 14th overall with her latest showcase of perfection during the purple and gold’s 198.325-197.325 win over the Crimson Tide. She’s now tied for the 11th most perfect 10s in NCAA history.
“I never get tired of watching her,” LSU head coach Jay Clark said. “It’s remarkable. She’s amazing.” 
Bryant reaches new heights even when we think we’ve seen her peak. She also won the all-around with a season-high score of 38.850, as well as the titles on vault and uneven bars.
No matter how the Tigers finish off 2024, Bryant’s consistent success she’s found this season demands your attention. 
Falling
ESPN
While fans prepared for No. 2 LSU to battle No. 9 Alabama in a highly anticipated SEC rivalry on Friday, one thing felt off: the time.
ESPN demanded that the meet start at 5 p.m. local time so they could also fit in No. 6 Michigan at No. 1 Oklahoma on ESPN2 later that night. 
The problem is that LSU fans were absent at the start of Friday afternoon’s meet at the PMAC, and the gymnasts felt a little off themselves. 
During the first routines of the entire afternoon, Alabama’s Mati Waligora took a hard fall on uneven bars and was forced to perform her routine over again, resulting in an 8.4 that killed any early momentum and put the Crimson Tide in an early hole that they never could dig themselves out of. 
Even coach Jay Clark felt that there was something off.
“The meet felt weird in the beginning,” Clark said. “It felt a little flat when we got started.” 
While we can all appreciate a significant TV network trying to spotlight college gymnastics in any way they can, if ESPN, the NCAA, and the SEC want to see their gymnasts perform at their best, scheduling meets for later at night would be ideal.
Auburn
The No. 20 Georgia Bulldogs finally won a meet.
Georgia swept all four event titles, with freshman Lily Smith continuing to stand out for the Bulldogs, collecting her second all-around title of 2024 in her squad’s 197.550-196.900 win over No. 14 Auburn.
It’s Georgia’s first win since Jan. 6, with their last coming all the way back in Week 1 over unranked North Carolina State.
“We’ve been working really hard in the gym on the details, the landings, and just on the confidence going after all of their gymnastics,” Georgia head coach Courtney Kupets Carter said. “We saw a lot of those pieces come together all in one night, especially with it being our last home meet. I think that’s a really good thing for us, this team and the excitement moving forward to two away meets and then post season starting.
We knew this was going to a build, after some injuries at the beginning of the year, and they’ve done the work. Hopefully, they’re feeling what that work can bring them. They’re all very excited. I believe they’ve had a good night, so we’ll celebrate the seniors after this.”
To be the team that broke the Bulldogs’ six-game losing streak, especially with the SEC Tournament and nationals right around the corner, isn’t good for the Tigers’ confidence right now. This is the time of year that competing teams should be hitting their stride, and Auburn doesn’t look like one of them. 
“We had some bright spots tonight with big performances in each rotation,” Tigers head coach Jeff Graba said. “Being on the road in the SEC is never easy and I thought the team did well in a tough environment.”