Two more teams will punch a ticket to the NCAA Championships at the next stop: Lexington.
At 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+ Oklahoma, Mizzou, Arkansas and Ohio State will face off to claim two tickets to Fort Worth.
A snapshot of history: 2003 was the last time the Oklahoma Sooners didn’t advance to the NCAA Championships. In the last 12 years, they’ve won seven national titles. We think that stat speaks for itself. Mizzou had a history-breaking 2025 season, making its second NCAA Championship appearance in the last decade and finishing third. It should be a close battle between them and the Arkansas Razorbacks, who are looking for their first NCAA Championship berth since 2018. Ohio State is looking to make its first trip since 2012.
So what needs to happen for each of these teams to have a shot?
Oklahoma
The No. 1 team in the country just needs to do what it normally does, and it should punch its ticket to Fort Worth. The Sooners have been ranked No. 1 since the end of January and have consistently scored in the high 197–198 range, even in meets where they haven’t been perfect.
The Sooners will start on vault, where they are ranked No. 1 in the nation. They’re known for the control they show on their landings, but an area for improvement — especially heading into nationals — is increasing the number of sticks. That shouldn’t matter when looking at their chances of advancing, but good practice for nationals nonetheless.
Another area for improvement would be cleaning up the landings on their final event of the day: floor. It’s not a bad event for the Sooners by any means — they’re ranked fourth nationally — but it’s the event where they have shown slight inconsistencies this season. But really we’re being picky! In terms of this particular regional and what the Sooners need to do to advance, less than perfect is still enough.
Mizzou
Mizzou enters the regional final as the No. 2 seed but only posted a 196.875 in the semifinals. We expect the competition for the second spot to be razor thin between Mizzou and Arkansas and the Tigers certainly have the most room for improvement when you look at their performance in the semifinals. This is a team that has consistently scored 197+ during the regular season and they will need that type of performance to advance.
If the Tigers want to make the trip to Fort Worth again, they’ll need to step up their game on beam and turn some of those 9.7-range scores into 9.9s. Lauren Macpherson and Addison Lawrence are two athletes who can certainly do that. The Tigers also only stuck two dismounts on bars in the semifinals and left several tenths on the floor. They start on bars in the finals, so if they can dial in on those landings and keep that momentum going into beam, they have a great shot. At the halfway point, with Mizzou on their best event—floor—the writing could be on the wall.
Arkansas
Arkansas comes into the final as the No. 3 seed but actually posted a higher score than No. 2 seed Mizzou in the semis, with a 197.175. Beam was the Razorbacks’ lowest-scoring event on Friday, with a 49.15, and it also happens to be the event they finish on in the finals. Minimizing wobbles and refining the small details will be key to their success, especially if it comes down to the final rotation.
The Razorbacks will start the competition on floor — a strong event for them to build early momentum. In the semis, we saw the return of Morgan Price on floor, which is huge; however, they sat Lauren Williams, one of their highest scoring contributors on the event. Having a full-strength floor lineup in the finals could give them the extra tenths needed to hold off the Tigers.
Ohio State
Ohio State pulled off a thrilling upset to advance to the regional finals, thanks in large part to a huge vault rotation with four consecutive career-high scores from Cameron Smith, Natalie Martin, Tory Vetter, and JJ Coleman.
Looking at the scores from all teams in the semifinals across four locations, Ohio State posted the lowest team score (196.550), so the Buckeyes can let it loose as they are the underdogs in the competition.
Should the door open, a repeat performance on vault would certainly help the Buckeyes’ chances, but uneven bars is a place where they have consistently struggled to put up big numbers. If the Buckeyes want to have a shot, hitting bars will be critical, and that’s where they end the competition.