Power, Poise, and Perfection: 10 Routines That Ruled 2025
- Alyssa Klauminzer
- 11 hours ago
- 5 min read
Are you still not over the NCAA gymnastics season being done even a month later? Me too. So, I’ve compiled some of my favorite routines: ones that were fun, iconic, and even historic, to reminisce on moments this season brought us. These routines absolutely ruled the 2025 NCAA season.
Abbey Scanlon’s NCAA competitive debut was not a typical one nor was it an easy one. After battling several injuries during her time at Cal, the senior made her debut on February 2 against conference rival North Carolina State. Scanlon was put in perhaps the most difficult position in college gymnastics: she anchored on the balance beam. She didn’t just have a good beam performance for Cal’s last routine of the meet, she nailed it and put up a meet-high score of a 9.950.
NCAA gymnastics is known for having fun and exciting floor routines, and Kyrstin Johnson’s is one of the best. Johnson’s routine, which went viral this year, starts off set to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Her hip-hop-inspired floor routine was choreographed by Christina Elliot, a junior Diamond Gems dance team member at Temple. In an interview with ESPN, Johnson, who transferred to Temple from Talladega, said that each song and dance move incorporated into her routine is a tribute to her personality, HBCU culture and roots. Johnson finishes her routine by putting on a crown.
In just her first season, Chio was already one of the best vaulters in the NCAA. She had seven scores of 9.925 or better, including a near-perfect 9.975, through her first ten meets. Then came an SEC dual meet against Auburn. When Chio stuck her vault, everyone knew she would get her first career perfect 10. The star freshman herself knew too, as she could be seen nodding before she saluted the judges. Chio went on to become the NCAA vault champion, which just felt right!
Lali Dekanoidze had been near perfect many times on bars, and finally reached perfection in the ACC championships. The emotion was clear on Dekanoidze’s face the moment her feet hit the mat, as after four seasons and battling through injuries, she knew she finally got her first perfect 10. Dekanoidze became only the fourth gymnast in UNC history to score a perfect 10, and the first to do so on the uneven bars.
As a sophomore, Mya Hooten became the first Minnesota gymnast to score a perfect 10 on the floor exercise. She went on to score nine perfect 10s on the event, the most by a single gymnast in program history. This year at nationals, the grad student finished her career with her iconic Beyoncé-inspired floor routine. Hooten was such a fun and incredible gymnast to watch the past five seasons, especially on the floor exercise, and bringing back this routine was the perfect way to cap off her historic career at Minnesota.
Morgan Price made history countless times for Fisk, the first HBCU gymnastics team, in her and the program’s first three seasons. Most notably, though, Price became the first HBCU gymnast to score a perfect 10. During her first three seasons at Fisk, Price set and broke many records. She shattered her previous high on bars, a 9.900, when she nailed a perfect routine on February 9 against Temple and Pennsylvania. Since her NCAA debut, Price has been making history and drawing eyes to HBCU gymnastics.
Jordan Bowers, the 2025 NCAA all-around champion and Honda Sports Award winner, was dominant as ever this season. Outside of her all-around performances that won her and Oklahoma NCAA titles, her most impressive meet was during the regional finals. Bowers started the day with a 10 on bars, put up a 9.9000 on beam, scored another 10 on floor, and ended her night with a 10 on vault. The most impressive part about this feat? It’s the second time Bowers has done it!
Simply put, Brooklyn Moors’ floor routines are works of art. Moors, now the NCAA floor champion, was so close to perfect so many times, and it was only a matter of time before she was scored as such. That time came at the Big Ten Championships. Moors was elegant as ever on floor at Big Tens, and when her score flashed as a 10, the whole crowd erupted. That routine won UCLA their first Big Ten Championship title, and it even set up her teammate Jordan Chiles for a 10 of her own. I will always brag about being there to see Moors finally get her long awaited perfect 10.
Helen Hu’s first perfect 10 of her career after returning to the sport was, of course, iconic. But my favorite of her beam routines this season, and the one that was most impactful, was the one that won her the NCAA balance beam title and sent Mizzou to their first NCAA final. As seen in the picture above, taken during this routine, Hu went out and just did her thing on beam, and had fun while doing so. I am so incredibly grateful we got to see the beam queen come back to compete one last season.
Carey dominated both the Olympic and collegiate floor. While Carey’s strong events in elite competition are vault and floor, she was consistently the top all-arounder in the country. On March 15, Carey scored a perfect 10 on beam, her second on the event. With that 10, Carey had been perfect on every event at least twice, which meant she became only the fourth gymnast to complete the gym slam more than once. Carey’s two gym slams aren’t the only impressive feats she had in college: she ranks 7th all-time in the NCAA with 16 perfect 10s, and she finished her college career with a 100% hit rate! I’m still not over Carey’s NCAA career coming to an end, so this is my plea to the NCAA to let her compete for as long as she wants.