Kellerman, Smith and Ortiz Set for NCAA Gymnastics Championships

Thursday, April 16

Fort Worth, Texas

4:30 PM ET/3:30 PM CT

Michigan State University

NCAA Championships

Sage Kellerman celebrates with the team after finishing a bar routine

Photo by: Donovan Kelly

Kellerman, Smith and Ortiz Set for NCAA Gymnastics Championships

4/15/2026 11:25:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics

Meet Notes Watch - ESPN2 Live Scoring

FORT WORTH, Texas - Michigan State seniors Sage Kellerman and Nikki Smith alongside junior Gabi Ortiz will head to Fort Worth, Texas, to compete as individuals at the NCAA Championships in the first of two semifinals on Thursday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. ET inside Dickies Arena.

The NCAA Semifinals will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2 with individual event streams available on ESPN+.

Smith qualified as an all-around competitor, while Kellerman earned spots on both vault and bars and Ortiz will compete on floor. Smith will rotate with LSU in Olympic order, beginning on vault. Kellerman and Ortiz will both rotate with Georgia, with Kellerman on bars in the first rotation and vault in the fourth rotation, and Ortiz on floor in the third rotation.

Smith will make the third NCAA Championships appearance of her career and second as an individual after finishing with the top all-around score (39.625) on a non-qualifying team in the second round of the Tempe Regional. She scored the third perfect 10.000 of her career on vault while adding a 9.925 on bars, 9.750 on beam and 9.950 on floor in the second round before putting up the top all-around score in the regional final with a season-high-tying 39.725, earning a 9.900 on both vault and beam, a 9.975 on bars and 9.950 on floor. Smith's 39.725 tied the third-best all-around score in program history. She now holds five perfect 10.000s for her career with three on vault and two on floor.

Smith finished the regular season ranked ninth nationally in the all-around with a 39.540 NQS and seventh on floor (9.950). While Smith has made three NCAA Championships appearances in her career, Thursday will be the first for her in the all-around - she qualified as an individual on beam in 2024 and was scheduled to compete in the all-around in last year's team appearance, but only competed on vault, beam and floor after dealing with a shoulder injury ahead of the meet.

Kellerman scored a 9.950 on vault and 9.900 on bars to earn the individual spot on both events in the Tempe Regional Second Round and will make her second-consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships. Last season, she earned First Team All-America honors with a runner-up finish on the event, the best individual finish by a Spartan in program history at the NCAA Championships, and added a Second Team All-America nod on bars. This season, she has scored a 9.900 or better on both vault and bars eight times and has anchored both lineups in every meet.

After a breakout season on floor, Ortiz will compete on the event for the second-straight year at the NCAA Championships and make her first NCAA individual appearance in Fort Worth. Ortiz scored a career-high 9.950 in the second round of the NCAA Tempe Regional to earn a share of the regional title on the event, the first of her career. She has earned five scores of 9.900 or better on the event this season and competed in every floor lineup for the Spartans.

The Spartans have now been represented on the NCAA Championships stage in five consecutive seasons, qualifying individuals in 2022-24 and 2026 while qualifying as a team in 2025.

Podium finishers and All-Americans will be determined after the second semifinal session, set for 9 p.m. ET. ESPN+ will stream the individual awards ceremony at 11 p.m. ET.