What a crazy weekend this was for NCAA. Is it just me, or is this the weirdest start to the NCAA season ever? For the past four years, I’ve basically been able to predict how teams will do, and they have generally stacked up according to where you’d think they would.

This year, however, you have teams normally in the top ten earning scores in the 194-195 range and there are upsets or close calls everywhere. Like, Arkansas defeated Alabama on Friday night in a shocking twist of events (and the team adorably reacted to the victory as if they’d just won the Super Six, sobbing all over the place) and then on Monday, Denver got the upper hand over Georgia even with mistakes of their own.

Denver is actually a favorite of mine right now. First of all, Nina McGee. She does a fantastic tsuk full on vault, her floor is awesome in both her tumbling and movement, and she’s solid and reliable on bars and beam. She’s the anchor on everything but vault, where she competes fifth. She’s been building on her career since her freshman year, but now is going to be the time for her to really shine as an individual.

But her team is also nothing to ignore. Sure, they don’t have the elite recruits you see at top schools and their execution isn’t always the cleanest, but they put a lot of effort into showcasing difficult and unique skills. There are no giant fulls to double backs in their bars lineup; in addition to four double layouts, they also have a double front and a full-in. They also have choreography that works perfectly for each gymnast, including fouettes from Julia Ross. FOUETTES! Keep an eye out for them this year.

Did I talk about hitch kicks last week? I don’t think I did, but I should have. Where did they come from? Were they common in past years and I just wasn’t paying close enough attention? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed one in NCAA before and this year, they’re everywhere. Is there some loophole in the code that gives you special connection value if you do one in combination? Did everyone discover this video from “Jazz Dance Moves For Beginners?”

I don’t necessarily dislike them, but when there are other options, they just seem hokey. Like, I remember doing them in every elementary school dance performance as a very basic thing. Are grapevines and fan kicks next? I hope so.

Oh, so one of the most exciting things for me this weekend was actually attending the Minnesota vs Oklahoma meet live with a whole slew of gym fans (including Spanny Tampson, Joe Rinaldi, and Kyle Sandberg) as well as my high school friend and her husband, gym meet virgins to whom I thoroughly enjoyed providing live commentary when they asked (my friend said, “So, are you like, a Professional Gymnastics Talker?” and I think I’m going to make that my official title for the purposes of this website).

Aside from counting a fall, Oklahoma looked fantastic. They are on a whole other level right now in terms of their performance. Yes, they have the same little issues every team has right now, with not sticking every landing, counting a fall, and needing to clean up a bit, but their confidence levels look through the roof and it shows in every routine. They are so dynamic and brilliant in what they do, and they put SO much of themselves into their floor routines.

Their choreography this year is absolutely mind-blowing in person. They become their routines. They all seem to be on the same page, but Chayse Capps gets a special mention because I literally didn’t blink while watching her. I honestly don’t remember any of her tumbling passes because it wasn’t “choreography and tumbling,” it was a routine. Everything was one. Nothing was separate. The emotion and movement all had purpose, and I am tearing up just talking about it. So moving, so special, and so beautiful. It’s great on video, but it’s the kind of thing you need to see in person. Chayse has a ton of dance training and danced competitively until 2012, and it’s SO evident in her routine. It took us a long time to get over that one.

Brenna Dowell was also excellent, nailing her bar routine for a 9.95. The attention to her form has really taken priority and it’s nice to see her slow down a bit from her elite routine while still throwing huge skills and hitting them with ease. She sat her huge double front on floor in warmups and they decided to take her out of the lineup, but in her exhibition performance, she stuck it cold with a smile on her face, so expect to see her back there soon.

Alex McMurtry of Florida got a perfect 10 on vault in her very first home meet. I’m pretty sure you all know my feelings about perfect 10s, but this was actually one I could get behind. She blew every other perfect 10 out of the water. The FTY she competed on Friday night should be the standard to which other perfect 10s are measured. Overall I thought their judging was pretty fair this week, and I hope the trend continues!

Nebraska’s judging was a bit much on vault, where the team earned an insane 49.7 after posting a 9.9, 9.925, 9.95, 9.975, and a perfect 10 from Ashley Lambert. The vaults weren’t quite performed that well, but it was nice vindication to see Lambert earn a 10 after breaking several vertebrae in her neck less than four years ago. She needed a year away from the gym and lost her LSU scholarship about six months after the injury, but by March of 2012, Nebraska made an offer despite everything that had happened and now as a sophomore, seems primed to become one of their strongest competitors.

Other thoughts? Commentators need to stop saying things like “they’re ranked seventh on bars in the nation! How did they count a fall?!” Like, event rankings are based on literally one or two meets right now. Rankings mean absolutely nothing at this point, and won’t until at least a month of meets are out of the way. The same goes for the whole screaming and yelling about “so-and-so just earned her CAREER BEST!!!” when it’s a freshman on her second meet ever. Everybody chill.

Sam Peszek did her standing full on beam, which is pretty important, and when she had a balance check where her leg came up, she turned it into a scale. No big deal. Scott Bregman of USA Gymnastics tweeted that Sam told him “next week she’s going to land that full really cleanly on one leg and show off the scale more” and I actually wouldn’t doubt it. The Peszek has a nice ring to it.

Oh, LSU 100% stole a bit of the Sia “Chandelier” music video choreography for Rheagan Courville’s floor routine but I’m not even mad because it’s excellent and works for her.

Finally, I don’t even want to talk about Georgia, but their beam lineup is in serious need of a Tyra Banks “TIFFANY, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU” moment right about now. Or as gym fan Nancy Mann said on Twitter, a “come to Suzanne” meeting. They were SO close to having a decent meet. Beam was their downfall last year even with girls like Brittany Rogers, Lindsey Cheek, and Kaylan Earls competing on the event; without them, it’s almost painful to watch. I think the young freshmen are doing a fabulous job getting acclimated and some of them – like Vivi Babalis and Natalie Vaculik – show so much promise, but the team as a whole hasn’t looked this down and out since their first year without Suzanne Yoculan, aka 2010 when they didn’t make it to Championships.

It’s definitely a transition issue – they lost a lot of heavy contributors in the past couple of years to graduation and haven’t been matching the losses with equally strong recruits. Recruitment was one of Yoculan’s strong points, and it’s a trend Jay Clark continued; with his forced resignation, however, the Gym Dogs lost two of their best recruits in years – Lexie Priessman, who will follow Clark to LSU, and Brianna Brown, who is already becoming dominant as a freshman at Michigan. Their next solid recruiting class won’t come until 2017-2018, when U.S. elites Ashley Foss, Marissa Oakley, and Emily Schild are slated to attend.

Check out this week’s rankings below! Be sure to also check out our detailed meet-by-meet coverage as well.

Top Scores in Week 3

Season Team Rankings (through Sunday January 18)

Season All-Around Rankings (through Sunday January 18)

Article by Lauren Hopkins