Have you ever watched an NCAA meet and noticed how often routines score a 9.85? Do you ever get a sense of deja vu watching the same gymnast, week after week, getting 9.85s? It almost feels like a default. But is it? And has it always been? We dove into the data to find out
The Rise of the 9.85 from No. 4 to No. 1
To analyze this, we scraped every individual score since 2013 from Road To Nationals. In 2013, 9.85 was only the fourth most common score, sitting behind 9.8, which dominated as the most frequent score across the sport. Between 2014 and 2021, the 9.85 hovered between the second and fourth most popular score. In 2021, it finally overtook 9.8 entirely and has held the No. 1 position for six consecutive seasons. It also reached peak popularity in 2021 with a huge spike of over two percentage points between 2020 and 2021.
9.85 Trends By Event
Breaking down the data by event, the spike in 9.85s seen in 2021 is evident across all four events. However, across the entire time period, floor has had the highest percentage of 9.85s of any event. A 9.85 has been the No. 1 most common score on floor in 12 out of the 14 years we analyzed. On the other end of the spectrum, 9.85 has never been the most popular score on vault, with 9.8s being the most common instead almost every year. Since 2022, a 9.85 has either been the No. 1 or No. 2 most popular score on bars and beam, contributing to it staying at No. 1 when you look across all events.
How Widespread Is the 9.85?
It’s not just the top programs posting 9.85s. The score has spread across the sport. In 2013, 83% of teams had at least one 9.85 during the season. By 2024, that number hit 92%. Individual gymnasts are also more likely to get a 9.85 at least once in a year, with around half of all gymnasts hitting that score each year
The Teams That Love 9.85
Looking at the data by team across the entire time period, California and Alabama have scored the most 9.85s with ~16% of all scores hitting this mark. Just looking at the past five years, however, Arizona State moves into the top spot, and Alabama drops down to tenth. This shift comes from both teams’ score improvements; however, with Arizona State’s most popular score increasing from 9.8 to the focal 9.85, and Alabama’s most popular score shifting away from 9.85 to 9.9
The Individual Record Holders
| Rank | Name | Team | 9.85 Count | Total Scores | 9.85 % |
| 1 | Sienna Schreiber | Missouri | 54 | 240 | 22.5% |
| 2 | Tory Vetter | Ohio State | 51 | 206 | 24.8% |
| 3 | Keeley Kmieciak | Oklahoma | 46 | 177 | 26.0% |
| 4 | Makenna Smith | Utah | 44 | 220 | 20.0% |
| 5 | Nevaeh DeSouza | California | 44 | 199 | 22.1% |
Single-Meet Records
There are plenty of 9.85s over this 14-year period, but they become the most noticeable when they’re concentrated in a single meet. So which meets had the most 9.85s? Penn State grabbed the record on April 4, 2024, when 11 of the team’s 24 routines went 9.85. Eight other meets are then tied for the second most 9.85s with 10 each, six of which happened in the last two seasons
| Rank | Team | Date | 9.85 Count | Total | 9.85 % |
| 1 | Penn State | April 4, 2024 | 11 | 24 | 45.8% |
| 2 | Arizona State | March 19, 2022 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
| 3 | Arkansas | March 7, 2025 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
| 4 | Michigan | March 24, 2018 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
| 5 | Florida | February 20, 2026 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
| 6 | NC State | March 21, 2026 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
| 7 | Minnesota | April 3, 2025 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
| 8 | Arizona State | March 16, 2025 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
| 9 | Missouri | April 5, 2026 | 10 | 24 | 41.7% |
The Rarest Feat: 9.85 on All Four Events
Scoring a 9.85 on vault, bars, beam, and floor in the same meet requires a gymnast to be remarkably consistent across all four apparatuses. In the entire dataset from 2013 through 2026, only four gymnasts have ever done it:
| Name | Team | Date |
| Katie Zurales | Michigan | February 2, 2013 |
| Sonya Meraz | UCLA | February 13, 2016 |
| Kyana George | California | February 17, 2018 |
| Karina Munoz | Iowa | February 9, 2024 |
Expanding the criteria to three out of four events opens the list up to 163 total occurrences, but it’s still a relatively exclusive club
The Perfect Lineup: All Six Scores at 9.85
Perhaps the most noticeable trend is when most or the entire lineup scores a 9.85. With ESPN’s score tower, it becomes increasingly obvious when this happens because you see all the 9.85s listed one on top of another. Just once have all six gymnasts in a rotation scored a 9.85: March 7, 2025, Arkansas’s vault squad achieved this feat. Even five out of the six scores all being a 9.85 is rare, with seven teams hitting that mark. However, having four out of six scores all be 9.85 is much more common, occurring 101 times in our dataset.
What Does It All Mean?
The story of 9.85 is really the story of college gymnastics scoring over the last decade, but what contributed to the rise of the 9.85? Are gymnasts getting better or are scores getting higher? It’s impossible to say with just the data, but know that your eyes are not deceiving you when you see 9.85 after 9.85 each week
READ THIS NEXT: Recruit Spotlight: Jayla Hang
Article by Claire Harmon
