One Day Better. One Historic Title.

Written by: Ashby Burton

Orange: The Experience Magazine | V17 , Issue 3

One Day Better. For Clemson Gymnastics, it wasn’t just a mantra introduced by first-year Co-Head Coaches Elisabeth CrandallHowell and Justin Howell. It became a standard. A mindset. A daily commitment that, over the course of a season, transformed a young program into a championship contender, and ultimately, a champion. In just its third year of existence, Clemson Gymnastics didn’t just take a step forward. It took a leap. And it did so one day at a time.

Long before the trophies and postseason milestones, there was Team Zero in 2022. The inaugural group of student-athletes – Molly Arnold, Trinity Brown, Brie Clark, Eve Jackson, Lilly Lippeatt, Kielyn McCright, and Rebecca Wells – who arrived at Clemson with no legacy to inherit, only one to build. They drove to an off-campus facility 25 minutes from campus each day to train before there was a dedicated facility, competed without precedent, and embraced the challenge of creating something from nothing. They watched the 2023 season come and go while awaiting the official first season and practicing in their best-in-class practice facility. Clemson opened its first competitive season in 2024 to immediate local fanfare with more than 8,000 fans filling Littlejohn Coliseum and making NCAA appearances in each of its first two seasons.

By the time the 2026 season arrived, many of those same gymnasts were still at the heart of the program – Arnold, Brown, Clark, Lippeatt, and Jackson, all a crucial part of Team 3. They weren’t just contributors; they were culture setters. They understood what it meant to represent Clemson Gymnastics before it had history, and now, they were determined to define what that history would become. That foundation mattered. Because when the Howells stepped into leadership, they weren’t starting from scratch, they were building on belief. One of the first things they did was meet with the team to help develop a series of core values – empower, purpose, joy, growth, and respect – and put them in an incredibly visible location in the gym.

From the opening meets of the season, the difference was clear – the team was becoming more and more consistent. Routines of 9.800 or higher increased by more than 20 percent and routines of 9.900 or higher more than doubled. The Tigers set a new high for team score on the road. And then did it again. And again. By the end of the season, the Tigers had ascended to a No. 15 ranking in National Qualifying Score (NQS), a jump of 12 spots from the previous season, the largest jump in the nation. The Tigers had become one of seven programs to improve in all four events and ranked in the top three nationally in improvement on bars and beam. Again, it was consistency that reflected the team’s identity. The Tigers weren’t chasing one great performance; they were stacking them, routine by routine. “We’re very grateful that this team allows us to keep coaching them and experimenting and learning and going to gymnastics lab every day, and seeing what’s possible,” said Crandall-Howell said after a midseason meet. “They know they can do whatever we ask them to do. When we put something out there as an idea that a while ago might have been an ‘I’m not sure’ – is now a ‘yeah, that’d be cool – I can do that.’ I’m seeing that type of confidence in everything we do.” That approach began to pay off in tangible ways. Scores pushed into new territory. The national ranking climbed. And with each competition, Clemson Gymnastics started to look less like a young program, and more like a dangerous one. A program that would compete on the national stage. Still, one of the defining moments of the season was waiting.

At the 2026 ACC Championship in Greensboro, N.C., Clemson arrived with momentum, but not expectations. In a conference filled with established gymnastics powers, the Tigers were still writing their story. The Tigers were strong from the jump. Starting on beam, moving to the floor exercise, and to vault, the Tigers remained steady. Moving into their final rotation on the uneven bars, the Tigers saw their opportunity in front of them. By the end of the night, there was no more doubt. The first three Tigers hit on 9.900 scores to open the rotation, and junior Quinn Kuhl tallied a 9.900 in the anchor spot. Behind the historic performance, including a school-record bars rotation, Clemson captured its first ACC Championship in program history. It was a breakthrough that felt both sudden and inevitable. Suddenly, because of how quickly the program had risen. Inevitable, because of how intentionally it had been built. “I can’t say enough about the resilience of this group of young women,” said Crandall-Howell. “They have fully bought into the ‘One Day Better’ mission and they take it one thing at a time, the next choice is the best choice, and just keep moving through life that day, and that’s reflected through their gymnastics.” As routines stacked and scores flashed, the realization set in: Clemson wasn’t just competing, it was winning. And when the final score was posted, the celebration that followed wasn’t just about a title, it affirmed that the consistency was key. “We see it every day in practice, but to see it in a meet like this where every team on the floor is operating at a high level,” said Howell. “These girls have been working so hard and have bought in from the very beginning. We plotted a line on a graph before the meet, and we showed it to them – and what it showed is consistency. They’ve done the work to be consistent.” In just three seasons, Clemson Gymnastics had gone from new kids on the block to champions.

Championships change expectations. While Selection Monday had little mystery, heading into the NCAA postseason, Clemson was no longer a surprise – it was a team to watch with the No. 15 National Seed. The Tigers rose to the moment. In the NCAA Regional, Clemson delivered when it mattered, advancing to the Regional Final for the first time in program history. It was another milestone, another barrier broken, another sign that this team was still climbing. And then came the Regional Final. With a trip to the NCAA Semifinals on the line, college gymnastics’ version of the Elite Eight, Clemson competed alongside some of the sport’s most established programs. The margin for error was razor-thin. Every tenth mattered. The Tigers fought. They delivered. They posted a 197.150, one of the strongest scores of the season and the best-ever away from home. But it wasn’t quite enough. Clemson fell just short of advancing to Nationals. The moment was bittersweet. The end of a remarkable run, but not the end of the story. Because even in that finish, there was something undeniable: Clemson Gymnastics had arrived. As Justin Howell said after the meet, “We came into this meet feeling like we belonged. They competed like they belong, and they really need to hold their heads up high.”

The 2026 season will be remembered for its milestones: the first ACC Championship, the first NCAA Regional Final appearance, the team that truly put Clemson Gymnastics on the national stage. The first All-American and National qualifier in Brie Clark. But within the program, it will be remembered for something deeper. It was the season where belief turned into identity. Where a mantra became a standard. Where a group of student-athletes, many of whom helped lay the very foundation of the program, saw their vision come to life. Team 3 didn’t just help build Clemson Gymnastics. They elevated it. They proved that a new program doesn’t have to wait its turn. That culture, when built intentionally, can accelerate success. That progress – steady, consistent, relentless, can lead to something extraordinary. One Day Better.

For Liz Crandall-Howell and Justin Howell, the message hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s only grown stronger. Because now, “One Day Better” isn’t just about building, it’s about sustaining. It’s about taking a championship standard and continuing to raise it. The bar has been set. And the future of Clemson Gymnastics has never been brighter. The Tigers are no longer chasing history. They’re writing it.