FORT WORTH, Texas – Stanford gymnast Kyla Bryant competes as an individual floor specialist at the NCAA Championships Thursday, April 15, in semifinals session one scheduled to start at 10 a.m. PT.
Bryant qualified as an individual for the 2022 NCAA Championships based on her performance at the 2022 NCAA Regional Semifinals in Seattle, Wash. The Athens, Ga. native earned a 9.95 on floor in competition on Thursday, March 31, which solidified her as the region's top-performing floor gymnast that did not qualify for the championships with their program.
The fifth year joins a list of distinguished Cardinal gymnasts to qualify for the NCAA Championships as an individual, including current head coach Tabitha Yim and NCAA Individual Champions Elizabeth Price and Carly Janiga. Bryant is the first Stanford student-athlete to qualify for the national championship meet since Price did in her 2018 senior season.
Throughout the 2022 season, Bryant has not earned less than a 9.90 on floor in 11 appearances, highlighted by a career-best matching 9.975 in Stanford's upset of UCLA Feb. 12. Bryant enters the NCAA Championship meet with an NQS of 9.925 and a streak of 12 performances scoring 9.90-or-better.
"I feel like a kid in a candy shop and this is quite possibly the best week of my life," said Bryant of her opportunity to compete on the nation's biggest stage. "It is such an honor and a privilege to represent my team at the 2022 NCAA Championships here in Fort Worth, Texas."
Bryant looks to mark the best score by a Cardinal on floor in program history at the championship event, currently owned by Yim and Price who each scored a 9.925 in their appearances in 2005 and 2018 to earn third and fifth-place finishes, respectively.
The NCAA semifinals session one features No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 Alabama, and No. 7 Minnesota. Bryant will rotate with Alabama and compete on floor in rotation three. The meet will be broadcasted on ESPN 2, with an individual floor stream available here. Live scoring updates will be provided on Stanford Women's Gymnastics twitter account as well a feed of the full meet's scores, which can be found here.
Stanford Record Book
Floor Exercise Scores at NCAA Championships (Top-8 ranked by score)
T1. Tabitha Yim- 9.925, 2005, 3rd place
T1. Elizabeth Price- 9.925, 2018, 5th place
3. Tabitha Yim- 9.9125, 2006, 3rd place
4. Caroline Fluhrer- 9.888, 2004, 5th place
5. Carly Janiga- 9.8875, 2008, 8th place
6. Elizabeth Price- 9.8625, 2016, 9th place
7. Natalie Foley- 9.850, 2007, 9th place
8. Sarah Harding- 9.750, 2004, 9th place
