No. 9 Arkansas 

Redemption

From the moment the 2025 NCAA ended, the Arkansas Razorbacks had one goal on their minds: Redemption. Last year, the Razorbacks were the odd team out and missed the 2025 SEC Championships because the SEC allowed only 8 of the 9 teams to compete. Following that competition, the squad missed a spot in Fort Worth after finishing fourth in the University Park Regional Final behind LSU, Michigan State, and Kentucky. After the season ended, the fire was ignited.

“Life in general, and especially athletics, is going to have its ups and downs, and the best thing to do is learn from those moments and let them fuel you and make you resilient,” Arkansas head coach Jordyn Wieber said about the 2025 season. “I tell the girls all the time, we all have that resilience muscle. It’s just up to us to keep flexing it and making it stronger. That was something last year that made us stronger.” ​

“We really put our heads down, and we worked for what we wanted in the upcoming season,” said senior Frankie Price. “We worked a lot on our mental toughness, physical toughness, all of the above. I think the work that we put in as a team, the way we bonded as a team to move forward, is what put us on top.”

The Razorbacks last appeared in Fort Worth in 2024. Getting a trip back was a full-circle moment for Price, who was injured on the floor during the Regional Championships in 2025. Despite long days and hours of recovery, she battled to return to competition.

“Last year was one of the hardest days of my life,” Price said. “The whole year since then, I’ve been working my butt off, going through hard pains, hard injuries, hard days, but it was all worth it. “The work that I put in showed out tonight, and I’m just so proud of myself for being able to lean on my teammates and my coaches. My support staff is awesome. With their help, I was able to go out and just do me.”

To make Price’s journey even sweeter, her sister Morgan transferred from Fisk to Arkansas for her senior year. Morgan has been the missing piece to the Razorbacks’ puzzle on every event. She brings sharp, beautiful gymnastics to the competition floor, and an ear-to-ear smile, making it impossible not to smile right back.

“That’s why I wanted to come here. I wanted to give myself a challenge, because I knew it was worth it,” Morgan said about transferring to Arkansas. “I knew I could do it. So to be able to be here, going to nationals, it’s everything I can imagine.”

Another key to Arkansas’ success is Joscelyn Roberson, an alternate for the 2024 Olympics and 2023 World Champion with her team. Roberson entered the 2026 season fresh off a world bronze medal on vault at the World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, in October of 2025. Without one minute to rest, she jumped right into the NCAA season and didn’t miss a beat. Roberson has earned nine 9.950s on beam, a high of 9.975 on floor, and became the first gymnast to ever compete a Mustafina vault (a half turn onto the vault table, layout full twist off the table) in NCAA competition. During her beam routine, you can catch Roberson performing and smiling with no signs of nerves.

“I get up there, and I’m not even nervous most of the time,” Roberson said about her beam routine. “I get to do what I love, and I get to spread it through the entire crowd.”

The stars have aligned so far for the Razorbacks in 2026, and with a strong performance during the semifinal, they could find themselves being one of the final four teams remaining.

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