A resurgent Georgia and a resilient Arkansas are back at the NCAA gymnastics championships

NCAA Championships

FILE - Gymnastics coach Cecile Landi talks about coaching reigning Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NCAA Championships

FILE - Gymnastics coach Cecile Landi talks about coaching reigning Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NCAA Championships

FILE - In this July 18, 2018, file photo, Jordyn Wieber arrives at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles. Arkansas has picked Olympic gold medalist and former world all-around champion Jordyn Wieber as head coach of the Razorbacks' women's gymnastics team. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File) (Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP) When Cecile Landi made the somewhat surprising move two years ago to step away from coaching elite gymnastics — the list of athletes she and husband Laurent guided at World Champions Centre included two-time Olympic champion Simone Biles and three-time Olympic medalist Jordan Chiles — to the open position at Georgia, she wasn't sure what to expect. Neither did the young women she was hired to lead. Yes, there was a jolt of excitement. There was also a dash of anxiousness. One of the most decorated programs in the history of NCAA gymnastics had fallen off considerably since winning the last of its record 10 national titles in 2009. The worry that Landi might lean heavily into the transfer portal in search of a quick fix was real. It also turned out to be fleeting. Minutes into the first meeting that Landi and co-head coach Ryan Roberts had with the team, Landi made it clear she had no interest in blowing everything up and starting over. “Gymnastics is not rocket science,” Landi said. “It’s about consistency and being fair and working hard and working smart.” A lifetime in the sport — from competing for her native France at the 1996 Olympics to two-plus decades in coaching — had taught her the value of dreams and the empty feeling that comes when they are taken away. Several college-bound athletes Landi mentored at WCC saw their opportunities altered or pulled outright when a new coach took over. Landi wanted no part of that. The talent to get the program back to being a factor on the national stage was in the room, she told them. We can do this, and we can do this together. “I wanted to give everyone a chance and embrace the change and follow the culture we were building,” she said. “I was not going to bring in 10 kids. The kids who committed two years prior, they had that goal. I've had athletes at the club level who had that taken away. It was really, really hard.” Less than two years after that initial sit-down, the Bulldogs will walk onto the floor at Dickie's Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday for the NCAA semifinals for the first time since 2019 with legitimate hopes of reaching Saturday's finals.

A more level playing field?

They will do it with a roster that has largely remained intact since Landi's arrival, led by senior floor specialist Eryn Williams and senior Ja'Free Scott. And they will do it with a sense of confidence they lacked a year ago, when a resurgent season ended early after a jittery performance in regionals. Those days appear over. Georgia advanced to nationals by having perhaps its best meet of the season at regionals, finishing second to a powerhouse Florida team loaded with former elites that will look to spoil Oklahoma's bid for its fourth NCAA championship in five years. While the Sooners have been dominant, the playing field in women's college gymnastics may be starting to level out. The eight-team field at nationals includes the Bulldogs, ninth-seeded Arkansas and 13th-seeded Minnesota, a close runner-up to star-laden UCLA at regionals. The programs that didn't make it to Fort Worth include longtime NCAA fixtures Utah, runner-up a year ago, as well as Alabama and California. “It's not going to be the same eight every year like it used to be,” Landi said. “I like that it gives an opportunity to other teams. But it makes it harder because we always have to be better. It also makes it more exciting because you know you can have that chance, you can be there.”

Arkansas rebounds

It's a belief that Arkansas coach and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Wieber instilled in her program after the Razorbacks didn't advance out of regionals a year ago, ending an eventful season that included Wieber publicly calling out the NCAA for not allowing Arkansas to schedule a late-season dual meet with Oregon State after it failed to qualify for the SEC championships. “It was just about the unfairness to our athletes and wanting them to have another competitive opportunity and them to say no for maybe not the best reason,” Wieber said. “We're grateful we’re on the other side of that for sure.” There were no such scheduling issues this time — the SEC adjusted its parameters to allow all nine schools to compete for a league title — and Arkansas advanced out of the competitive Lexington regional by holding off Missouri with a steady performance on beam in the final rotation, proof of just how far the Razorbacks have come. “I just feel like we’re building to peak at the right time,” Wieber said. “And their performance at regionals was remarkable.” Having Morgan Price helped. The senior, who spent the first three years of her career competing at Fisk University — the first Historically Black College and University to field a women's artistic gymnastics team — joined Arkansas to compete alongside older sister Frankie. All she's done over the last four months is record the first perfect 10 in program history with a dazzling performance on vault in a meet against Kentucky in February. “She’s a great competitor, she’s got swagger and she knows how to put up great scores,” Wieber said. “What people don’t see is who she is on a daily basis. She’s one of the most consistent workers and teammates and strives to be a great leader.” Price's journey will end this weekend. Just as it will for Williams and Scott and the other seniors at Georgia, who have spent years competing underneath the banners at Stegeman Coliseum that beckon to the program's run of greatness, wondering when their time will come. Turns out, that time is now. “We were this amazing team with this legacy so many years ago,” Williams said. “I think for a while, it got lost. People forgot about us. ... I think a lot of them need a reminder of who we are." \\\_ AP Sports: