2026 Regionals Draw

Format review: The top 2 teams from each regional semifinal advance to the regional final. The top 2 teams from each regional final advance to nationals. There is a day off between the regional semifinals and the regional final so that everyone has a chance to glue their knees back on.

New for 2026: There is no predetermined apparatus draw. Teams will have a teleconference at 2pm ET today in which they pick their starting events, with the highest-ranked team getting first pick.

**Individual qualifiers include those from play-in teams so that if they happen to be eliminated in the play-in, they can still compete the next day in the hope of advancing to nationals since individual qualification to nationals is based on the regional semifinal results.

THOUGHTS:

–Regionals host Kentucky getting into the seeded positions at the last second was a win for competitive balance and a loss for absolute chaos. So I’m upset.

–With no host-rearranging nonsense, this year’s team draw is one of the less stupid in recent memory. The seeds are all going where their rankings say they should go, and the unseeded teams are also divided into ranking groups before being placed geographically (i.e., the 17-20 teams are all going to different regionals as de facto #4 seeds, and same with the 21-24 teams and the 25-28 teams).

–It gets weirder with the individual qualifiers, with the LSU regional having five AAers and the Oregon State regional having one AAer plus all the beamers. (Washington and San Jose State having so many beamers and being in the play-in forced the hand there.) Some of the regionals are over-stacked, like the LSU regional having 5 AAers and 5 floor qualifiers, which is not ideal because you only have 8 rotation groups across the two semifinals, so you’re going to have to double up on some individual qualifiers and make the rotations longer.

–Having a civilian host the broadcast was fun because we got to return to the days of ridiculous name interpretations. Congratulations to Ariana Tran and Jay Graba on their seasons. I mean, it’s no Lymeenis Hall, but it’s something.

–I love PRETENDING to SCREAM-CLAP in SURPRISE at learning the information I already kneewwwwwwwww.

–Commiserations to everyone else placed in the UCLA-Alabama-Utah regional as we mourn your individual qualification hopes. Minnesota, Iowa, Denver, and Oregon State all get permission to throw a priceless vase off a flight of stairs.

–That drama-burger of a regional is an advertisement for the new ranking format because that would not have happened with the old NQS. Utah would have been able to drop more of their bads and would have been ranked more normally, denying us all the sporting joy of this incoming nonsense.

–Clemson and Auburn in the LSU semifinal is a good one. Maybe the juciest semifinal draw.