Luke Tully didn't waste a second soaking in the moment. One meet after another, one routine after another, he kept showing up—healthy, prepared, and unfazed by the pressure. When the season culminated with a sixth-place finish in all-around at the 2026 NCAA Championships,
becoming William & Mary's first NCAA All-American as an all-arounder, it felt less like a surprise and more like the natural outcome of months of consistent work.
"It was amazing," Tully said. "All the way through the lift, working with the coaches, to just the training every single day, all of the hard work paid off. The best part of it all was that there were no injuries this season. Not getting injured was the top priority—thankfully I was able to stay healthy."
That health, paired with a sharpened mindset, defined his sophomore campaign. The W&M standout didn't just make routines—he made a statement. Steady. Reliable. Unshakeable. And the gymnastics community noticed.
One Tribe, One Family
After the championships, messages poured in. One in particular stood out.
"It meant the world," Tully said. "Scott McCall (a W&M alumnus who won the 1996 NCAA national title on rings) texted me. Seeing that text from him, a past All-American, was just one of the coolest things."
Recognition from alumni only deepened Tully's gratitude for the program's legacy. He became the ninth All-American in the program's gymnastics history, adding his name to a list he grew up admiring.
All-Around Excellence
For those unfamiliar with gymnastics, Tully offered a simple explanation: "All-around is when there are six events for men's gymnastics—floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, high bar. All-around just means you compete every single event, and your all-around score is based off all of those scores combined."
Of the six, high bar is where he feels most at home - an event in which he placed ninth at the NCAA Championships and nearly earned a second All-America honor. "High bar is definitely my favorite event because of all the releases," he said. "It feels like you're flying when you're competing. My second favorite is maybe a tie between floor and vault."
Preparation is both physical and mental. "One of my favorite things to do for recovery is the sauna," Tully said. "After practice every single day, Ricky, a senior on our team, and I go to the sauna to sweat out and get our muscles relaxed so that they're ready for the next day. Mentally, before every meet, one of my rituals is to read Philippians 4—it always calms my nerves. We've learned all these breathing exercises too. They help with the nerves when you start to compete."
Family Time
Tully's calm under pressure might seem surprising—until you learn he grew up in a house with nine siblings.
"There's never a dull moment," he said. "You don't really get a lot of peace and quiet in my house. One of the younger siblings will come into the room and ask to make a puzzle with them, jump in the pool, throw a football. There was never a quiet moment."
Born in Portland, Oregon, Tully later moved to Lebanon, Tennessee, helping his family relocate during a gap year before college. "We lived in Portland for 17 years," he said. "Then I took a gap year before I came to school. During that gap year I helped my family move because they needed a lot of help—I have nine siblings."
He's the fourth oldest—three older sisters, then himself, followed by six boys in a row and one younger sister at the end. Athleticism runs deep. "As of right now, it's me," Tully said with a grin when asked who's most athletic. "I may be tied with the sister right above me. She went to George Fox and did pole vaulting for all four years. But I take the flex over her for now."
Next season, his younger brother Chase plans to join the team at W&M. "I can't wait," Tully said. "We push each other and always want to be better than the other. When we're working the same skills, we have a competition—who gets it first. The competitive aspect is going to be amazing."
Home at William & Mary
Tully credits much of his growth to the structure Director of Gymnastics
Mike Powell and Associate Head Coach
Bo Morris brought to the program. "It's been really cool," he said. "We have a structured plan. We brought in these new things called 'one touch and go.' On pommel and parallel bars—two of the events you get the most shaky on—we'll all go over, and you get one turn to do whatever skills you need to prep. No matter how that turn goes, everyone comes over and cheers as loud as they can to simulate the meet, and then you do your routine. Once you hit those routines after just one turn, the confidence builds and builds. Mike started that this year, and it was my favorite thing he implemented."
That confidence showed up when he needed it most. Early in his college career, Tully struggled through a rough stretch on high bar—his favorite event. "I had a really hard time," he said. "After this one meet, I fell on high bar twice. After that, we had a week off, then two weeks before our next meet. During those weeks, I fell so many times—I didn't know how to get myself back on track."
A teammate stepped in. "Ricky (Pizem) was a captain on the team," Tully said. "He came over to me and said, 'Think about when times were going very well on that event and the feeling you had after you landed or stuck your dismount. Only think about that going into your routines.' Once I started doing that, it clicked. I started making routines again. I've tried to pass that knowledge on to the rest of our team because every freshman goes through that. That's what I tell people now—it's been helping a lot of people on our team."
The Brotherhood of College Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a small world—or as Tully describes it, a tight-knit one. "Because there currently aren't many collegiate programs, when we travel and compete against all the other teams you become really close friends with everyone," he said. "Everyone knows it's such a small group of people who actually get to do college gymnastics. It's easy to bond."
That camaraderie extends within the Tribe's own roster. "Some of the people I'm closest with are Niko Greenley and
Evan Wilkins," Tully said. "We love to push each other at practice. The best part about our team is that if you can't do a skill, there's most likely someone else who can, and they'll help you learn their technique. Sometimes the coaches have their idea of how to teach the skill, but learning it from someone who can already do it helps the process even smoother—alongside the coach's corrections, obviously."
A Runner at Heart
Long before college, Tully was mastering another kind of endurance—distance running. "I love running," he said. "During COVID, we didn't have anything to do other than that one-hour Zoom class with our coach. My mom actually runs 10 miles a day just for fun, and I started running—I would run three or four, then it got up to seven miles a day."
He kept pushing. "The longest I've ever run was 14.2 miles—just around our building over and over again," Tully said. "If you don't have new shoes, the blisters are brutal. Now though, I've kind of tapered off from running that much. So now I'm kind of down to 1.5 miles a day."
His playlist changes with his pace. "Sometimes if it's a really hard run, I'll listen to something hype to get me going," he said. "But if I'm feeling it that day, I'll put on Christian music—Maverick City Music or something that keeps me relaxed."
Aiming Even Higher
Despite being an NCAA All-American and one of the nation's top all-arounders, there are still always areas to improve – and for Tully one of those is pommel horse. "I'm going to work on a lot of basics because once your basics get better, all of the harder skills follow. That's one event where Chase is a lot better than me—pommel horse. I'm going to be working with him a lot this summer about what clicked for him and how to get better at it. Once my pommel score gets better, my all-around score will get a whole lot better, too."
Given the leap he made this season, his exceptional work ethic, attention to detail and commitment to excellence will undoubtedly translate to even more success in the future. He's proven he can fly—now he's aiming even higher.
