SEC Gymnastics Championships to include all 9 schools moving forward

Arkansas won’t have to worry about being left out of the SEC Gymnastics Championships moving forward.

The 2025 Southeastern Conference Spring Meetings concluded Thursday, with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey addressing several topics, including conference athletic directors approving including all nine SEC schools that sponsor gymnastics to participate in the SEC Gymnastics Championships starting in 2026.

After a season that saw the Razorbacks beat LSU and Florida – teams ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time of competition – during the regular season, Arkansas still ended up as the ninth place team in the SEC by National Qualifying Score (NQS) and was subsequently eliminated from competing at the conference championship meet. This, despite being the No. 16 team in the country at the time (the Razorbacks would finish No. 12 overall after the NCAA tournament). The team also lost out on an away meet score to potentially include in its NQS, which could’ve impacted postseason seeding.

With the addition of Oklahoma to the SEC gymnastics ranks, the conference changed the format of the meet for 2025, opting to leave one school – whoever finished last in the regular season rankings by NQS – out of the conference championship, including individuals. This decision faced backlash from fans, athletes, and coaches throughout the season, especially as Arkansas proved it was capable of wreaking havoc on the conference’s top teams.

Part of the hang up on having nine teams was the issue of having five teams in either the afternoon or evening session, which would mean adding a bye rotation and increasing the runtime of the meet by approximately 20-30 minutes – a potential obstacle for the meet broadcast as networks continue to try to optimize the viewer experience. According to Whole Hog Sports, the 2026 SEC Gymnastics Championships will see the bottom four teams compete in the afternoon session and the top five teams compete in the evening session.

“All nine [teams] will be invited,” Sankey said. “Noting just the high level of competition and the impact on some of the score opportunities, it’s important for all of us to compete together.”