NCAA Gymnastics Regionals 2024: Fans Furious Over Judges Favoring 2016 Olympic Alternate Ragan Smith

The NCAA Gymnastics regionals are creating quite the hype among fans, as expected. And not without its fair share of controversies. On the very first day of the regionals, Oklahoma’s Ragan Smith is at the center of things with two judges awarding her beam routine with 10s, on her way to complete the event with a 9.975. However, things aren’t sitting well with the fans!

Over the years, Smith has established herself as force to be reckoned with, and lent her expertise to the Sooners in multiple occasions. However, even for her, taking home two perfect scores despite her wobbly feet wasn’t something that the fans could get behind of.

Smith’s impressive score was the highlight of the day in the first session of April 6 in Ann Arbor as Alabama, Penn State, Oklahoma, and Ohio State locked horns. However, fans quickly took to social media to express their dissatisfaction after Oklahoma’s total of 49.800. A recent post on X (previously known as Twitter) by Inside Gymnastics shared news of Smith’s results from the first session of the NCAA Gymnastics Regionals. “It’s a 9.975 for Ragan to bring Oklahoma’s total to 49.800!“, reads the caption of the emphatic post.

The Oklahoma women’s gymnastics team walked away from April 6’s event with a total of 198.400 points to its name. And Ragan Smith’s thunderous performance on the beams helped the Sooners rack up points in the first rotation that eventually contributed significantly in their win over their powerhouse opponents.

However, the two-time NCAA gold medalist’s performance raised many eyebrows after the scores were announced. Smith’s wobbly landing and her scores didn’t add up for the fans, and they couldn’t hide their astonishment.

Fans seek answers after troublesome scores

And since then, fans have come forward with their own take on the matter. One fan commented, “Even with a noticeable wobble, Ragan Smith still got 2 10s from the judges?? lol a joke“.

Another fan seemed genuinely curious as to what the judges saw different from the others that prompted them to rally behind Ragan without deliberation. “To the judges that gave Ragan Smith 10s…what exactly were you watching because she 100% had a slight balance check after her series.“, reads the fan’s comment on social media.

Jennifer also thought the whole affair was farcical. “So two judges gave Ragan Smith a 10.0? With an obvious balance check on her series (surprised emoji). Joke.“, reads her post. 

Another gymnastics enthusiast thinks this hints how the rest of the tournament will pan out. “9.975 for Ragan Smith is funny when she clearly balance checked after her series. So I see how this meet is gonna go“, Leighanne didn’t hold back on her thoughts.

Keeping parity with the general outlook, another fa also commented “Ragan Smith’s beam score is nonsense. She had a huge wobble.”

What did you think of Ragan’s routine? Tell us below in the comments.

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