It’s no secret that Rutgers gymnastics just had what can only be described as a historic season for the program. They made the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, their third appearance since joining the Big Ten in 2014. They came in first place among all teams that participated in the first session of the Big Ten championships and finished the championships with the eighth-best overall score, which was good enough to send them to the national tournament.

In the first round of the NCAA regionals down in Lexington, Kentucky, Rutgers defeated Central Michigan with a team score of 196.200. They then moved on to compete in the regional semifinals against No.1 Oklahoma, No.16 Kentucky, and No.18 Ohio State. The best two teams in this quad meet would advance to the regional final.

Rutgers was able to post a higher score than their Wildcat hosts, but could not work upsets over either the Buckeyes or the Sooners, marking an end to the team’s historic season. They posted a combined score of 196.300 in this meet, their highest score ever in program history at the NCAA’s.

All of this culminated in a No.26 final team ranking, the highest ever in program history.

Much of this success can be attributed to head coach Anastasia Candia, who has led the Knights to the NCAA tournament in both of her two years at the helm. She originally took over as an interim head coach for Umme-Salim Beasley, who was placed on administrative leave last season before being fired at the end of the season. Candia took over and has righted the ship over the past two seasons, making the national tournament twice, and was named Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Region 3 Co-Head Coach of the Year this season for her efforts.

However, a breakout team would be nothing without breakout players, and Rutgers had quite a few this season.  Gabrielle Dildy was named to the All-Big Ten First Team, Emily Leese was named to the All-Big Ten Second team and set a program record on vault (9.95), while both also qualified as individuals for NCAA Regionals. In total, five different Scarlet Knights earned a 9.9 during the season, including five unique scores of 9.925 or above: Dildy (Bars, Floor), Elliot Goldsmith (Floor), and Leese (Vault, Floor).

With the season now in the books, the program will now look ahead to next season in the hopes that they can keep their momentum from the last two seasons rolling into 2026-2027.