Women's gymnastics power rankings: Week 4 shakes up each event, all-around

Unlike other sports, gymnastics rankings are considered to be pretty objective. However, this early in the season, they don’t exactly tell the whole story. Some gymnasts have yet to compete in the events they’re known for while others have been in and out due to various reasons, such as injury or COVID protocols.

In an effort to normalize the events, these power rankings take a look at how things stand now based not necessarily on the scores themselves but on how the actual routines look in comparison to each other at this point in the season. They may not be the top competitors overall or the ones expected to win national titles come April, but they are standouts from the previous week’s competitions. Let’s get to it.

All-Around

1. Jade Carey, Oregon State
2. Raena Worley, Kentucky
3. Lexy Ramler, Minnesota
4. Sierra Brooks, Michigan
5. Sunisa Lee, Auburn
6. Megan Skaggs, Florida

Gymnasts seem to be taking things a bit slower to start 2022, with many top all-arounders not performing on all four in the same meet yet this season. Carey moves up to No. 1 with another strong outing for a 39.775. Worley, the back-to-back SEC Gymnast of the Week, shifted up to No. 2 with her career-high-matching 39.750. Ramler, while idle, maintained her place on the list despite moving down. Brooks, arguably Michigan’s best all-arounder apart from Natalie Wojcik, notched her second 39.700-plus in a row, thanks to a 9.975 on vault and 9.95s on bars and floor.

Perhaps the most notable addition this week is Olympic all-around champion Lee, who made her collegiate debut in the all-around, scoring a 39.700, which included a 9.975 on beam. Skaggs, who many didn’t expect to consistently compete in all four this season given the strength of the Gators’ freshman class, rounds out the top six after being a big part of Florida’s massive 198.250 Friday. 

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Vault

1. Ona Loper, Minnesota
2. Trinity Thomas, Florida
3. Lynnzee Brown, Denver
4. Nya Reed, Florida
5. Gabby Wilson, Michigan
6. Rachel Baumann, Georgia

Brown has to be addressed first because this is the last time she’ll appear in the rankings due to an unfortunate season-ending injury suffered at Oklahoma. However, it would nevertheless be cruel not to include her in the vault rankings after her beauty of a Yurchenko one and a half tallied a near-perfect 9.975 Sunday.

Now that that’s out of the way, this week’s vault lineup looks similar to last week’s with Loper — despite not competing — and Wilson. Thomas and Reed also make appearances after hitting 9.9-plus yet again in the Gators’ huge win at home last Friday. Baumann rounds out the top six thanks to the senior debuting her 10.0 start value for the first time.

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Bars

1. Audrey Davis, Oklahoma
2. Lexy Ramler, Minnesota
3. Natalie Wojcik, Michigan
4. Jade Carey, Oregon State
5. Emily Muhlenhaupt, Boise State
6. Leanne Wong, Florida

College gymnastics is just like any other sport, with most fans having strong alliances to certain schools. However, one of the most agreed-upon things at this level of the sport is the desire for Muhlenhaupt to finally get a perfect 10. She’s come close many times and returned for a fifth year in 2022 specifically to keep that dream alive. She kicked off her 2022 campaign with a 9.950.

As for the rest of this week’s list, it looks largely similar to the week before, with Davis, Ramler and Wojcik all making a reappearance, albeit in a slightly different order due to Davis’ near-perfect 9.975 Sunday and the latter two’s rest days. Carey jumps into the top six for the first time after hitting 9.950 on the event for the third time in three tries this season. She may be the Olympic floor champion, but Carey just might get her first perfect score on this event. Finally, Wong may have had some perfectly-fine-but-not-amazing performances to start her collegiate career on bars, but due to the nature of power rankings, her perfect 10 on Friday earns her a spot this week.

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Beam

1. Lexy Ramler, Minnesota
2. Trinity Thomas, Florida
3. Natalie Wojcik, Michigan
4. Maile O’Keefe, Utah
5. Cristal Isa, Utah
6. Carly Woodard, Oklahoma

Ramler, Wojcik and Isa maintain their spots in the beam power rankings this week after repeated strong performances — or simply being idle as in Ramler’s case. But the big news of the week comes in the form of perfection, with Thomas, O’Keefe and Woodard all joining the rankings after scoring 10.0 during week four competition — and in what exciting fashion they were scored as well. The Gators notched the highest total on the event in the country in 2022 with a 49.700 with the help of Thomas’ 10, but then just a day later, O’Keefe and her Utes surpassed the mark with a 49.725. Woodard’s first career-perfect 10 came en route to the Sooners totaling their third-highest beam total in program history with a 49.700.

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Floor

1. Nya Reed, Florida
2. Gabby Wilson, Michigan
3. Brie Clark, Utah State
4. Jade Carey, Oregon State
5. Derrian Gobourne, Auburn
6. Bell Huang, Rutgers

Floor continues to be an absolute fight to make the list each week and is likely to be the event with the most movement week to week within the top six. Reed holds on to No. 1 with yet another 9.9-plus while Wilson, Clark and Carey each shift up after Lynnzee Brown’s injury. With a show-stopping performance in the gymnastics Iron Bowl Friday, Derrian Gobourne slots in at No. 5 this week. Her routine is not only one of the most fun to watch in the NCAA, but it scores big, too. Her most recent effort brought in a 9.950. Huang rounds out the power rankings after tallying 9.9-plus in three of four competition routines this season.