When Bailey Stroud committed to Utah last October, she was a promising three-star prospect in College Gym News’ recruit ratings, although something of an unknown after missing much of the competition season (she competed in only a single meet).
There were hints of greatness — on uneven bars especially — but not enough quantity to demand she be considered one of the top recruits in the 2025 class.
Fast-forward seven months, during which time she competed plenty, and Stroud is now a five-star prospect and a top-10 recruit in her class.
What happened?
Not only did Stroud compete more — in six meets compared to just one — she steadily improved before settling in to compete at a high level.
“Her 2024 started out somewhat slow,” College Gym News writes, “but she crushed the end of the season with three straight (all-around) scores of 39. Her vault saw the biggest improvement this season, including an upgrade to a Yurchenko one and a half.”
That might undersell it a little bit.
In the last three meets of the season, including the Level 10 national championships, Stroud scored lower than a 9.7 one time, across all four events. Over her last four meets, she scored a 9.825 or higher on vault three times, including a 9.875 at the national championships.
Where she used to be a clear bar worker, Stroud showed — in different competitions — real ability on balance beam and floor exercise as well.
Based off scores alone, Stroud has never been better at gymnastics than she was this past season.
As a result, she jumped from a recruit rating of 59 (out of 100) to a rating of 88, tied with LSU commit Nina Ballou, Alabama commit Jasmine Cawley and Missouri commit Kimarra Echols at No. 10 overall.
As such, she is the eighth five-star commit to Utah since CGN started rating recruits, following in the footsteps of Kara Eaker (2021), Makenna Smith (2022), Elizabeth Gantner, Ella Zirbes and Camie Winger (2023), and incoming freshmen Avery Neff, Zoe Johnson and Clara Raposo.
Stroud is now the face of Utah’s 2025 class, which includes four-star recruit Norah Christian and three-star recruit Sage Curtis.
Per College Gym News, Stroud has clear room for improvement, too, with another season at the Level 10 level upcoming.
“Building on the end of this season and continuing to put up strong numbers after being out in 2023 will help,” CGN writes. “There’s room for her to add difficulty on floor, as well as consistently compete the Yurchenko one and a half.”
If her “glow up” continues at the rate it has, who knows, Stroud may have an argument to being the best prospect in the country in 2025, when the recruit ratings are revised next summer. As it is, she is now one of the best already.