Roberson, Jones Earn Individual Nationals Berths

Arkansas will be represented at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships for the eighth straight year as Joscelyn Roberson and Maddie Jones have qualified to the event as individual competitors, the NCAA announced on Monday.

Roberson is one of four individual all-around qualifiers, the only freshman in the group. She is the seventh Gymback to qualify as an individual all-around competitor and the first freshman to do so for Arkansas since Jessica Yamzon in 2017.

She punched her ticket to Fort Worth after she put up a huge 39.600 all-around score in the University Park regional semifinal last Thursday, the third-highest score of the session and fourth across both semifinals combined. She didn’t post any scores below 9.875, and it was Arkansas’ highest regional all-around score since Katherine Grable’s 39.675.

While that performance ended up being enough to earn a trip to nationals, Roberson did even better on the second day of competition with a 39.625 all-around total, breaking her own freshman record and placing her within the top 10 program all-around ranks.

As Roberson continues to show her star potential as a rookie, Arkansas will also be represented in Fort Worth by one of its veteran leaders as Maddie Jones is set to compete on bars at the event. Jones joins a group of prestigious recent bars workers for Arkansas as the third Gymback in five seasons to qualify individually for nationals on the event, along with Maggie O’Hara (2021) and Sarah Shaffer (2022).

Jones cemented her spot at championships with a stellar bar routine that went 9.950 in the regional semifinal, receiving a 10 from one judge. The score tied for the best across both sessions, making Maddie Arkansas’ first-ever regional co-champion on bars.

She repeated the performance in the regional final, earning another 9.950. The score ties Arkansas’ regional program record on the event, and Jones is the first-ever Gymback to score 9.950 twice on bars at regionals.

Roberson and Jones will look to extend an All-American streak by Arkansas, with 10 accolades being earned by the program since 2021. Joscelyn has already earned WCGA regular season All-American status on beam and would be the first Arkansas freshman to get NCAA All-American honors since 2012 if she places within the top 15 on any event or all-around in Fort Worth. Jones would be the third Gymback in five seasons to do so on bars, as O’Hara and Reese Drotar received the honor in 2021 and 2024, respectively.

All-Americans and individual awards will be given based on the results of both semifinal sessions on Thursday, April 17. Both Roberson and Jones will compete in the evening semifinal session on Thursday, April 17 at 8 p.m. Roberson will rotate with Utah, starting on beam, and Jones will compete in the second rotation with Michigan State. The action will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

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