Georgia’s CaMarah Williams has become an immediate star in just her freshman year in NCAA gymnastics. On March 6, Williams earned two 9.975s on beam and floor, securing her team a win over Missouri. Two days later, she earned a second-consecutive 9.975 on floor assisting the GymDogs to a 198.075. 

“That was crazy because I wasn’t expecting it,” Williams said about her scores. “I wasn’t expecting it on beam. I’ve been working hard on beam. It’s just been more of a mental event before. I’ve been working so hard for that, I’m waiting for that real 10.0.”

Since the introduction of new headcoaching duo, Cécile Canqueteau-Landi, and Ryan Roberts, the GymDogs have been on the rise. This year, they introduced a  freshman class who have elevated the program. The class includes Avery Moll, Autumn Reingold, Kelise Woolford, and Brooke Pierson. Originally, Williams was not supposed to be donning her grips for the GymDogs this year. She committed to Georgia in the fall of 2024, with the plan to join the squad for the 2027 season, but at Winter Cup in February 2025, Williams heard that there was an extra room available for a freshman. She jokingly asked Landi if she could take over the spot.

“First, it started off as a joke with Cecile,” Williams said. “That Winter Cup, when I saw them, I was like, ‘I could just get the extra room.’ I was joking, and I got back from Kentucky, and Cecile had talked to me and my mom about it, and we just solidified that that’s what I was going to do. I got my school together, and then I just graduated early.”

For Williams, this was not a difficult decision to make. She knew it was the right time and place. 

“When she told me I could do that, I took it right then and there.” 

Williams graduated high school in December and quickly moved to Georgia to prepare for the season. The adjustment was fast, but her teammates and coaches helped ease her into the transition, making sure she was on the same training plans as her teammates before moving to Georgia.

 “I was in constant communication with them, so I kind of already knew what I was supposed to be training before I got here,” Williams said. “I was just working on stuff that they told me to work on, and then a little bit of extra just to keep my own endurance up conditioning, because I obviously wasn’t conditioning as much as them, so I just did a little bit more than what they asked me to do. But then when I got here, everything was easier, and I had better coaching, and I had a team that was doing all the same stuff as me. I think it made it easier when I got here for my skills. It was just basically coming in every day.”

Not only did Williams have to immerse into a new environment with gymnastics, she also had to quickly become a college student. This made her nervous at first, but she soon realized that there was nothing to fear.

“I expected it to be like torture something, and it wasn’t, so it wasn’t that bad,” Williams said. 

She missed the majority of the preseason, forcing her to use every meet during season as practice, and treat the regular season as her version of the pre-season. 

 “I missed preseason,” Williams said. “All these meets are just really gearing me up for that, [post season] and I need that the most, because I didn’t get to experience that before getting it.”