No. 19 Kentucky Takes on Deep Field at SEC Championships
TULSA, Okla. – No. 19 Kentucky is set to begin its postseason journey at the 2026 Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, competing in Session I at 3 p.m. ET on March 21. The meet from the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma will be televised live on SEC Network with John Roethlisberger, Samantha Peszek, Aly Raisman, and Taylor Davis on the call.
The Cats will be joined in Session I by No. 6 Georgia, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 9 Missouri, and No. 16 Auburn. The top four teams in the country, No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida, and No. 4 Alabama, will compete in Session II at 8 p.m. ET. Scores from both sessions will be combined to determine team and individual champions.
Teams were split into the two sessions based on National Qualifying Scores, with seeds 5-9 competing in Session I and seeds 1-4 in Session II. 2026 marks the first time nine teams will compete in the SEC Championships.
The Wildcats will begin the Championships on the floor exercise. Due to the five teams competing in session one, each team will have a bye rotation after vault. Kentucky will vault in rotation two, take its bye during rotation three, compete on bars in rotation four, and close the meet on beam for the fifth and final rotation.
Kentucky enters the postseason after a successful back half of the regular season, scoring 197+ in four of the final six meets. After sitting at No. 39 in the national standings after their first two meets, the Cats have climbed 20 spots in the rankings to head to Tulsa at No. 19.
For the first time this season, Kentucky ranks inside the top 20 on all four events. The Wildcats sit at No. 14 on vault and floor and No. 19 on bars and beam. Kentucky has seen its average scores improve on each apparatus in the last six meets compared to the first four, most significantly on the balance beam with a .955 jump in scoring average. After ranking as low as No. 57 on beam after the second meet, Kentucky has climbed nearly 40 ranking positions on the event.
Delaynee Rodriguez was the star of the show for Kentucky in the regular season, taking home 16 individual event wins. The junior from Las Vegas won seven all-around titles and ranks No. 8 in the NCAA with a 39.520 NQS. Rodriguez has competed in all 40 rotations for the Cats this season, setting or matching career best marks in all four events and the all-around.
Creslyn Brose continues to shine on the floor exercise, as the two-time All-American has scored at least a 9.900 in all eight floor routines this season. Brose ranks No. 11 in the NCAA on the floor with a 9.935 NQS and holds the fifth best average on the event at 9.931.
Following this weekend’s SEC Championships, Kentucky will receive its NCAA Championships draw during the Selection Show at Noon ET on ESPNU. The Cats are hosting NCAA Regional Competition for the first time since 2010 and will compete in Lexington should their name be called on Monday. Competition at the NCAA Lexington Regional will begin with First Round action on Thursday, April 2, followed by two regional semifinals on Friday, April 3 and the regional final on Sunday, April 5.
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