
Get ready for a huge night of nonstop SEC antics on Friday, as four – count ’em, four – meets are all scheduled to begin in the span of an hour and a half.
#23 Kentucky will kick it off against Missouri with a 7:30 pm start time. Even though the Wildcats lost two of their heavy hitters to ACL tears two weeks ago, the rest of the team really stepped it up against Alabama to post their best score of the season.
#3 LSU will host #9 Georgia in what should be a decisive win for the Tigers, though look for Georgia to use last week’s season high at Florida to boost their confidence and help them continue to post high scores under pressure. They seem to do a bit better when the competition is tough, so back-to-back solid meets against two of the nation’s best programs could be exactly what they need for motivation throughout the rest of the season.
#6 Alabama will host rival #11 Auburn at 8 pm. The last time the two teams met was March of 2014, where the Crimson Tide pulled off a nearly two point win against the Tigers in front of 13,000 rabid fans. The programs have been a bit more evenly matched this year, tough Alabama still has the clear edge.
Finally, #2 Florida will travel to #8 Arkansas for a 9 pm showdown. Last year, the teams met in Florida on Valentine’s Day, with the Gators notching an easy win over the Razorbacks. Arkansas did best Alabama in their second meet in 2015, so there could be an upset here, but the Razorbacks would need to count on serious mistakes from Florida in order for it to happen.
#1 Oklahoma will travel to Iowa State for their third road meet in a row, and #4 Utah will host conference rival Arizona State with a 9 pm start time. Also on Friday is #21 Southern Utah hosting San Jose State and #22 Ohio State at Bowling Green.
We’ll see a few great Big 10 meets on Saturday, including #16 Penn State hosting #24 Michigan State, #14 Illinois hosting #25 Minnesota, #5 Michigan traveling to Maryland, and #7 Nebraska hosting Iowa. The most exciting of these is probably the Illinois/Minnesota meet; though the rankings suggest Illinois is the more consistent of the two, Minnesota actually has a higher top score by five tenths, so if they’re on their game, it could be a close meet with a big upset. Penn State, Michigan, and Nebraska, meanwhile, should all have decisive wins.
In the Pac 12, #10 Oregon State will #18 Arizona. OSU was upset by Washington last week, and now that Arizona is hitting more consistently, I’d say they could be a pretty difficult team for the Beavers, so this could be a fun one to watch. Finally, the brand new Mountain Rim conference will see action between #15 Boise State and #19 Denver at fellow MRGC conference member Brigham Young.
On Sunday, #22 Ohio State will see action for the second time this weekend, this time against Big 10 rival Rutgers. Additionally, #20 Cal will host #13 Stanford. Though Stanford got off to a rough start this season, they’ve since hit a 197 and now possibly have Kristina Vaculik back for good, though they might be without freshman standout Elizabeth Price, who injured her shoulder on bars last week. Either way, if they hit, it should be a win, though Cal did defeat the Card at the NorCal Classic a month ago.
Last but not least is a Monday night match-up between Pac 12’s #11 UCLA and #17 Washington. We’ll hopefully see Sam Peszek back in the all-around, though I’m not sure Coach Val will want to risk her in what should be a relatively easy win at home. The team pulled off their highest total of the season last weekend with Peszek relegated to just bars, and shouldn’t have a problem defeating the Huskies at home…though the Huskies did upset Oregon State on the road last week, so this should be an exciting meet.
We’ll update links to live stats and streams as we get them. All times listed are EST.
| FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6 | ||||
| 6:00 pm | Bowling Green | Ohio State | Stats | |
| 6:30 pm | Centenary | Eau Claire | Stream | |
| 7:00 pm | Central Michigan | Northern Illinois | Stats | Stream |
| Pittsburgh | NC State | Stats | Stream | |
| Stout | Hamline, La Crosse | Stats | Stream | |
| 7:30 pm | Iowa State | Oklahoma | Stats | Stream |
| Missouri | Kentucky | Stats | Stream | |
| Oshkosh | Winona State | |||
| 7:45 pm | LSU | Georgia | Stats | Stream |
| 8:00 pm | Alabama | Auburn | Stats | Stream |
| Illinois State | SEMO | Stream | ||
| Utah | Arizona State | Stats | Stream | |
| 8:45 pm | Arkansas | Florida | Stats | Stream |
| 9:00 pm | Southern Utah | San Jose State | Stats | Stream |
| Utah State | Seattle Pacific | Stats | Stream | |
| 10:00 pm | Sacramento State | George Washington | Stats | Stream |
| SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7 | ||||
| 12:00 pm | Penn | Temple | ||
| 1:00 pm | Cornell | Brockport, Ithaca, SCSU | Stream | |
| North Carolina | William & Mary | Stream | ||
| Yale | Springfield | Stream | ||
| 3:00 pm | Brigham Young | Boise State, Denver | Stats | Stream |
| Gustavus | Whitewater | |||
| 4:00 pm | Eastern Michigan | Kent State | Stats | Stream |
| Penn State | Michigan State | Stats | Stream | |
| West Chester | Bridgeport, Rhode Island, Ursinus | |||
| 5:00 pm | Illinois | Minnesota | Stream | |
| Oregon State | Arizona | Stats | Stream | |
| 7:00 pm | Maryland | Michigan | Stats | |
| Nebraska | Iowa | |||
| 8:00 pm | Air Force | Texas Woman’s | ||
| SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8 | ||||
| 1:00 pm | Cortland State | SCSU | ||
| New Hampshire | Brown, Towson, West Virginia | Stream | ||
| 2:00 pm | Bowling Green | Ball State | ||
| Ohio State | Rutgers | Stats | Stream | |
| 3:00 pm | Cal | Stanford | Stream | |
| Iowa State | Centenary | Stats | Stream | |
| UIC | Western Michigan | Stats | ||
| 4:00 pm | Missouri | Lindenwood | ||
| UC Davis | George Washington | Stats | ||
| MONDAY FEBRUARY 9 | ||||
| 9:00 pm | UCLA | Washington | Stats | Stream |
| TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10 | ||||
| 7:30 pm | Winona State | Gustavus | ||
Article by Lauren Hopkins