Trinity Thomas wins all-around as NCAA gymnastics moves to team final

Florida’s Trinity Thomas won the NCAA women’s gymnastics all-around title on Thursday as she helped her team advance to the Saturday’s finals.

Thomas finished with a total of 39.8125, fractions ahead of Auburn’s Suni Lee, who finished second with 39.675. Thomas’ Florida teammate Megan Skaggs came in third with 39.6625.

“I feel absolutely amazing,” said Thomas, who scored a 10 on floor – her 11th perfect score this season. “I’ve been working through this ever since I got to school and just having a few setbacks, you know, I kept fighting. And to finally do it this time is literally a blessing.”

She’s the fourth Gator to win the all-around in the past decade.

Florida, Auburn, Oklahoma and Utah all advanced to Saturday’s finals. Defending champion Michigan’s repeat bid ended during the second session’s third rotation, in which the Wolverines fell to fourth behind Florida, Auburn and Missouri.

Auburn will make just its second trip to the finals since 1993, with the other coming in 2015.

Lee, who won gold in the all-around at the Olympics, admittedly was nervous before Olympic teammate Jordan Chiles – who competes for UCLA – gave her a pep talk and reminded her to have fun.

“I think (after that) I really took the pressure off myself and I just went out there and enjoyed it,” said Lee, who took the individual title in beam.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, advances to its ninth straight final. The program is aiming for its fourth title since 2016.

Utah has reached the finals for the fourth time in the past five seasons. The Utes’ score on beam – 49.600 – was the highest in the event during the first semifinal.

The NCAA gymnastics finals will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. The competition will air on ABC.