Kentucky competes in the University Park Regional this week hoping to earn a berth in the national championship. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Maybe Kentucky got a little extra boost of confidence that might help at the NCAA Gymnastics Regional this week when Creslyn Brose, Hailey Davis, and Isabella Magnelli all were named regular season All-Americans by the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA).
Mangelli, a senior, was first team on both vault and balance beam while Davis, a senior, and Brose, a sophomore, earned second team honors on floor exercise.
Regular season All-America honors are based on National Qualifying Scores (NQS), derived from an athlete’s top six scores on the event—three of which must be away from home. The high score is dropped and the average of the remaining five scores determine the honors. The top eight scores are first-team picks and scored 9-16 are second-team selections.
Magnelli now has six All-America honors and the sixth best NQS on beam at 9.935 and seventh on vault at 9.925. She is one of 11 gymnasts in the country earning multiple First Team All-America honors for the 2025 regular season.
Magnelli was also a Second Team All-American on beam in the 2023 and 2024 regular seasons, making her the fourth Wildcat of all time to earn Regular Season All-America honors in three consecutive seasons, joining Kentucky legends Jenny Hansen, Mollie Korth, and Raena Worley.
Magnelli’s remarkable season has included a 9.900 or higher in every meet, giving her the No. 2 beam average in the nation with a 9.927. Magnelli led a Kentucky vault squad that ranked No. 5 in the nation, scoring 9.900 or higher in six meets and matching her career high of 9.950 twice.
Brose also was a second-team All-American her freshman season as she and Davis both had NQS of 9.930 to rank 14th nationally. It was Davis’ first All-American honor.
Brose scored a perfect 10.0 against No. 16 Arkansas March 7 to set off a big celebration by teammates, coaches and fans at Memorial Coliseum. The only other UK gymnasts to score a 10 were Jenny Hansen, current UK assistant Raena Worley and current teammate Makenzie Wilson. Brose scored at least 9.9 in each of her final six meets this season and has met that benchmark in 20 of her 23 career floor routines.
Davis, a fifth-year senior, had 9.9 or higher in all but one meet this season. She set her career high with a 9.975 on her Senior Night against No. 16 Arkansas, earning a perfect 10.0 from one judge.
Kentucky is the No. 3 seed in the University Park Regional at Penn State that starts Wednesday. Kentucky will compete against No. 8 Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State Thursday afternoon with the two top teams advancing to Saturday’s regional final. Defending national champion LSU, the No. 1 seed, will compete with No. 16 Arkansas, Michigan and either Maryland or West Virginia Thursday night for the other two spots in the final.
The top two teams in Saturday’s competition advance to the national championship along with the top scorer on each individual event not on a qualifying team.
Normally gymnasts have more rest between competitions than two days. Kentucky coach Tim Garrison said his team has been preparing for this type of schedule and had a full intrasquad meet two days after its last regular-season competition.
“All we can do is just go in the gym and fight for everything,” Garrison said. “We are used to being seeded eighth. The biggest thing I have tried to impress on them is that you are not going to show up and do something different. Don’t think you can put on Superman’s cape and do something different. It’s not happening.”
Garrison said his team is as “healthy as we can be” at this point and feels “confident” going into the regional.
“This is a good one (season). We have been in the top 10 (in the country) pretty much the entire year. Any time, especially in this conference, you can be in the top 10 and are competing every single weekend with the mental beatdown you take is really good.
“We were No. 8 in the country and No. 6 in the conference. That shows how tough the SEC is. Now how you finish determines how your season is.”
Garrison remembers 2023 when UK made the national and finished sixth in the country. However, he thought UK’s 2024 team was better even though it didn’t make nationals.
“We went to the regional final (in 2024) and two or three routines did not go as planned,” Garrison said. “We had a better team that demonstrated that through the year but we did not get to nationals. We didn’t finish as strong as we should have.
“We have made tweaks to try and correct that and put ourselves in a better spot going into the regional championship.”
