Meet 13: NCAA Regional Semifinal
READ: Clemson Selected as No. 15 National Seed | Clemson Wins 2026 ACC Title
- Session II Thursday, Apr. 2, 2026, 8 p.m. ET
- Pete Maravich Assembly Center • Baton Rouge, La.
- TV: ESPN+
- Clemson Meet Notes: (Download PDF)
CLEMSON, S.C. - The 15th-seeded Clemson Gymnastics team travels to Baton Rouge, La., for the NCAA Regional Semifinal, which is held at 8 p.m. ET on April 2, 2026, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Clemson is joined in the quad meet by No. 2 LSU, No. 17 Auburn and either Air Force or Nebraska.
The top two team scores will advance to the Regional Final quad on Saturday, April 4 at 6 p.m. ET. Both meets will be broadcast on ESPN+. In session one, No. 7 Stanford, No. 10 Michigan, North Carolina and Utah State will compete for a spot in the Regional Final.
This is Clemson's third appearance in the NCAA Championship in as many seasons, and the Tigers' first as a national seed. Fourteen Tigers have NCAA experience, and Co-Head Coaches Justin Howell and Elisabeth Crandall-Howell have coached in Regionals 12 times previously and advanced to Nationals five times in their time at California.
Regional Semifinal 1 (2 p.m. ET)
- No. 7 Seed - Stanford
- No. 10 Seed - Michigan
- UNC
- Utah State
Regional Semifinal 2 (8 p.m. ET)
- No. 2 Seed – LSU
- No. 15 Seed - Clemson
- Auburn
- Play-in (April 1): Air Force/Nebraska
Each of the four regionals will be conducted in a two-day format featuring two quad meets in the semifinal round. The top two teams from each semifinal session will advance to the regional final on April 4, where the top two teams from that quad will earn a berth to the NCAA Championship, held April 16-18 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Clemson has competed against nine of the programs that made the NCAA field, including four (Stanford, Michigan, UNC, and Auburn) in its Regional. Clemson enters the postseason following a historic performance at the ACC Championship, capturing the conference title with a 197.100 over No. 7 Stanford and No. 14 Cal on the final routine.
TIGERS TAKE ACC TITLE
- Clemson posted a 197.100, the ninth-highest score in the nation on championship weekend, to upend No. 7 Stanford, No. 14 Cal, No. 20 NC State, No. 22 UNC and Pitt to win the ACC Championship
- Clemson won by a 0.025 margin after its school-record bars performance (49.450), which included four 9.900s, and a season-best 49.250 on vault.
- Madison Minner won the ACC Vault title with a 9.900, while Maggie Holman (vault), Lippeatt, Malewski, Hannah Clark and Kuhl (bars), Malewski (beam), and Brie Clark (floor) all earned podium finishes.
Clark becomes Clemson’s first First-Team All-American
- Brie Clark was named a First-Team Regular-Season First-Team All-American and All-ACC on floor, ranking No. 1 in the ACC in NQS (9.945); She has won floor nine times in 2026 and has won beam in two road meets. She has 21 career floor and five beam event wins.
- Clark is the only gymnast in the nation with a 9.900+ on floor in all 12 meets this season
Clemson earns No. 15 national seed
- Clemson earned the No. 15 national seed, its first national seed.
- Clemson has qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of its first three seasons.
- The Tigers were in the Regional First Round in both 2024 (L vs Iowa State) and 2025 (W vs. Rutgers)
- 14 Tigers have NCAA experience, including 13 at Clemson + Ella Cesario (see page 14)
ONE DAY BETTER
- Clemson has taken big strides in its first season under new Co-Head Coaches Justin Howell and Liz Crandall-Howell
- Clemson leads the region and is No. 5 nationally in average score improvement, going from 195.970 to 196.698 (+0.728). It led to a 12-spot jump (27 to 15), which is third-best nationally.
- They’ve led Clemson to seven of its top nine team scores in program history (36 meets); Clemson has 14 team scores of 196.500 or better (38%) - nine are in 2026 (75%). Clemson also broke 197 three times in 2026 (twice previously) and has its four highest team scores away from home.
- Clemson is one of seven teams nationally (and one of 2 in the region) to improve in all four events
- Clemson’s 18-spot jump on bars from 2025 is the biggest jump nationally
- Clemson’s 20-spot jump on beam from 2025 is second-best nationally
- Clemson has surpassed 196.500 nine times in 2026 (including 8 in a row) after doing so five times in its first 25 meets.
COMPETING WITH THE BEST
- 13 of Clemson’s 18 head-to-head meetings have been ranked in the top 25.
- Clemson has competed against 4 teams in the Regional - Auburn, Stanford, Michigan and UNC
- Additionally, four members of Clemson’s roster were previously at Utah State (2022)
TRENDING...
- Tara Walsh was named All-ACC on vault with a 9.880 NQS. She has competed in 36 events in 2026, with 29 at 9.8 or above (80.6%) and 23 of those scored a 9.850 or higher
- Lilly Lippeatt has 28 routines of 9.800 or higher in 2026, including 9.900s on bars, beam and floor. 21 of her last 23 routines have been 9.8 or higher, dating to 1/30.
- Ella Cesario ranked 3rd in the ACC in AA NQS (39.385); She is 1 of 2 ACC gymnastics in the top-15 of all four events... She has four of the top eight AA scores in program history.
CLEMSON LOVES GYMNASTICS
- Clemson ranked 6th in the nation with 43,161 fans and its 7,194 per meet ranked 10th in 2026
- Clemson ranked in the top ten in attendance nationally in each of its first three seasons in Littlejohn