With the NCAA gymnastics postseason getting underway this weekend, we’re sure to hear complaints from gym fans about judging being less strict in the second session of two-session meets. While this does not affect team advancement through the tournament, since the advancing teams are determined within each session rather than combining both sessions, this does have the potential to affect individual qualification to nationals as well as the awarding of national titles to individuals, since scores for individuals are combined across both sessions. Is this rise in scoring a myth or is there actually a noticeable trend? To examine this question we’ve looked at data from the past five completed postseasons.
Methodology
Using Road to Nationals as our source, we collected data from the second round of regionals and the national semifinals, both of which are two-session meets. We used data from 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, which are the last five seasons to have complete postseasons. Data from full teams and qualified individuals was included. In order to avoid skewing the results, we excluded scores below 9.700, as well as scores from gymnasts with an NQS below 9.700 (or no NQS at all) on the event, competed. With the remaining scores from each meet, we…
