Grinning like they’re winning

The GIST: The NCAA winter sports season officially wrapped when the LSU Tiger women and Stanford Cardinal men won their respective gymnastics championships on Saturday.

The women: No. 2–seed LSU clinched their first-ever natty by topping finalists No. 3 Cal, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Utah with a dominant score of 198.225. Despite trailing Utah by 0.0375 points entering the final rotation, the Tigers recorded an NCAA Championship–record beam score of 49.7625 to capture the trophy, sealed by junior Aleah Finnegan’s stunning 9.95 performance. Chills.

• Finals first-timer Cal impressed with a second-place finish, while Utah fell to third after some unforced errors in the final rotation on vault. Even though Florida’s 197.4375 score would typically win regular-season meets, it sank them to fourth against the country’s best.

• With a roster stacked with upperclassmen, legacy-building could be difficult for LSU. But with all-around champ Haleigh Bryant potentially returning for another year and freshman Konnor McClain a formidable force all season…these Tigers could run it back for another natty.

The men: Top-ranked Stanford crushed their way to the national championship, becoming the first program to nab five straight ’ships since 1983. Sophomore Asher Hong won individual titles in vault, parallel bars, and rings (!!!), while junior Khoi Young claimed the all-around crown. Dynasty, secured.

The GIST: On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education released updates to Title IX regulations that allow student-athletes accused of sexual misconduct to avoid suspension until university investigations conclude. The amendment, an update to the preexisting “due process provision,” will go into effect on August 1st.

The details: The due process provision was first established to protect students’ rights in 2020, and the update simply clarifies school protocols. It also includes changes favorable to survivors: expanding the scope of investigations, lowering the evidentiary standard of misconduct, and eliminating requirements for live hearings with cross-examination, which can be harmful to survivors.

• Importantly, the new protection from suspension update does not apply to athletes who are deemed immediate threats to others’ health or safety — these offenders can be removed from teams before investigations finish.

• Although it’s frustrating to know that accused players will remain in competition, these regulations do provide consistency across institutions and, hopefully, will encourage prompt, efficient investigations.

Zooming out: The new regulations clarify that the January ruling ending Illinois men’s basketball player Terrence Shannon Jr.’s suspension, despite his ongoing rape investigation, was correct, and expands that standard to all future athletes under investigation.

• This update is especially necessary now that name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals mean suspensions could result in financial losses, creating all sorts of legal challenges for institutions — especially if athletes like Shannon are eventually acquitted.