Morgan Price Tabbed Newcomer of the Year, Six Get All-SEC Honors
The Gymbacks’ success this season continues to show as the team was well-represented in the SEC’s annual awards announced on Wednesday.
Senior transfer Morgan Price was named the conference’s Newcomer of the Year, and six gymnasts combined for 13 total All-SEC honors. The 13 nods are the most in program history and just the second time ever that Arkansas has seen double-digit All-SEC honors in one season.
Morgan Price is just the second-ever recipient of the SEC’s Newcomer of the Year award, which recognizes top athletes in their first year of SEC competition. At Arkansas, she has immediately made a tremendous impact on the program, the conference, and strengthened her role in the sport as a whole. Morgan has competed in every meet for the Gymbacks this season, including in every vault and bars lineup and with seven appearances in the all-around.
She has season highs of 9.900+ on vault, bars and beam and earned a career high 39.675 in the all-around on Jan. 30. After making history at Fisk as a member of the first-ever HBCU gymnastics program, she has continued to do so at Arkansas. Price scored the first-ever Perfect 10 for the Gymbacks, on vault, on Feb. 20. With the mark, she became one of only five known athletes to score a Perfect 10 at two different universities. She has also earned a 9.975 on bars twice, matching the school record and becoming the first Gymback to get the score on the event more than once.
Morgan has been consistently ranked in the top 10 on vault and bars this season and has earned 15 total event and all-around titles: five on bars, three each on vault and all-around and one apiece on beam and floor.
At her first SEC Championships, Morgan started out extremely strong with a 9.925 on vault, the second-best score of the afternoon session. Just two athletes in either session earned higher, making Morgan the outright SEC bronze medalist on the event and an All-SEC honoree. Her 9.925 is a new Arkansas SECs high on vault, and her sixth score of 9.900+ on the event this season.
Hailey Klein, Joscelyn Roberson, Frankie Price and Leah Smith are all repeat All-SEC honorees and Allison Cucci and Morgan Price have earned their first conference honors. All-SEC placements are given to the athletes with the top four scores (including ties) in each session of competition at the SEC Championships.
Roberson’s first SEC Championships was one to remember as she racked up all-conference honors on bars (9.875), beam (9.950), floor (9.900) and all-around (39.575). Her beam score of 9.950 is a new SEC Championships individual record for the event and earned her a share of second place, Arkansas’ highest SECs finisher since Sophia Carter on floor in 2021. Roberson has now earned All-SEC honors on beam in both of her seasons at Arkansas. Her all-around mark of 39.575 is also the highest-ever by a Gymback at SECs and was good for sixth place overall.
Cucci had an outstanding day with top four scores on bars (9.850), beam (9.900), floor (9.850) and all-around (39.400) for four of a possible five All-SEC nods on the day. Her 39.400 all-around was good for second place in the afternoon session behind Roberson to also clinch SEC All-Freshman Team honors and placed her ninth overall at SECs.
Smith’s last SEC Championships was one of her best and she went two-for-two on All-SEC nods on the day with a 9.875 on bars and a 9.900 on floor. Leah finishes her SEC career with four total all-conference honors: two on floor, one on bars, and one All-Freshman Team designation.
Klein has emerged as one of Arkansas’ most consistent competitors this season as a first-year all-arounder, and that was no different at SEC Championships. The junior scored a 39.100 all-around, the fourth-highest score of the afternoon session, and added a second All-SEC nod to her resume after earning the honor on beam in 2024.
Frankie Price’s last-ever floor at SECs was a good one, where she delivered her trademark power and performance and scored a 9.875, tied for the third-highest score in the afternoon session. She is now a two-time All-SEC floor honoree, has one on vault, and was an SEC All-Freshman team honoree in 2023.
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