NCAA Week 1 Preview and Schedule

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The 2016 NCAA season officially gets underway this weekend, with 32 total meets to zap you back into gymnastics just when you thought you had nothing to watch.

Last weekend offered a little glimpse into what’s to come, with the Cancun Classic held in sunny Mexico on Saturday afternoon. No. 7 Michigan had nearly a two-point win over No. 13 Arkansas, posting a 19t6.975 thanks to an excellent performance from junior Nicole Artz and the explosive debut of freshman Olivia Karas. Arkansas, meanwhile, had a 195.150, seeing great work from all-arounder Amanda Wellick, beautiful beam work from Sydnie Dillard, and a solid vault and floor combo from freshman Sydney McGlone. Iowa, ranked 29th in the preseason poll, posted a 192.475.

The most exciting meet this weekend is definitely No. 1 Oklahoma at No. 5 LSU on Saturday. These teams have been putting the pressure on No. 2 Florida over the past couple of years, but neither ended up being able to challenge at last year’s Super Six, with LSU not making it to finals and Oklahoma cracking when it counted. Both will certainly seek revenge this season, and I think we can expect both to prove their worth even this early on. The meet should also give us the freshman debut of Sarah Finnegan, the 2012 Olympic alternate we haven’t really seen at all in the past 3.5 years. Fellow often broken former elite Lexie Priessman is also on the roster, but a recent surgery could keep her out for the first couple of meets.

Another awesome meet should be No. 3 Alabama at No. 6 UCLA. I think I’m personally most excited to see UCLA this year, thanks especially to the debut of Katelyn Ohashi, who should be a killer performer for the Bruins.

Florida will travel to Texas Woman’s for a low-key opener. You’d think the three-time defending national champions have nothing to prove, especially with yet another stellar freshman class, but it’s the first time the team will compete without the guidance of coach Rhonda Faehn and that’s never an easy transition, so expect them to take it a little easy as they get into the swing of the season on Friday.

No. 4 Utah is in a similar situation, hosting BYU in what should be an easy win, but they too are under a new reign with Megan Marsden taking over after the departure of Greg Marsden at the end of the 2015 season. There’s no real transition for this team, however, as Megan is certainly no stranger to the team, but they did lose one of their best senior classes ever last year, which could always throw a wrench into things…but I think they’ll be juuuust fine.

Michigan’s second meet of the season will be at home on Saturday against No. 9 Georgia. Michigan has clearly already proven to be hot in 2016, but I think Georgia with Brandie Jay, Brittany Rogers, and Mary Beth Box as the senior leaders could be a force to be reckoned with and I can’t wait to see them in action.

Other teams competing this weekend include No. 8 Stanford and No. 14 Cal at the annual Nor Cal Classic at San Jose State, No. 10 Auburn at No. 12 Oregon State, No. 11 Nebraska in a triangular meet at No. 36 Arizona State, and No. 15 Illinois at No. 23 Missouri.

The full schedule for the weekend is below. All times listed are EST, the first team listed is the host team, and we’ll update the schedule with links to live stats and video streams as they become available. Can’t watch? We’ll keep a live blog running all weekend with updates from as many meets as we can watch. Enjoy!

FRIDAY JANUARY 8
7:00 pm Eau Claire Central Michigan, Whitewater, Winona State Results
Kentucky Ball State Results
Stout La Crosse Results
 7:30 pm Southeast Missouri Lindenwood Results
 8:00 pm Arizona Michigan State Results
Missouri Illinois Results
Texas Woman’s Florida Results
Utah BYU Results
9:00 pm Arizona State Bowling Green, Nebraska Results
Utah State Centenary Results
SATURDAY JANUARY 9
1:00 pm Springfield Rhode Island Results
2:00 pm Gustavus Oshkosh Results
4:00 pm Michigan Georgia Results
Penn State NC State Results
Western Michigan UIC Results
5:00 pm Iowa Northern Illinois Results
LSU Oklahoma Results
7:00 pm Little Boston Invitational George Washington, New Hampshire, Rutgers Results
7:30 pm Minnesota Iowa State Results
8:00 pm Air Force Illinois State, Seattle Pacific
Denver Southern Utah, West Virginia Results
9:00 pm Washington Ohio State Results
SUNDAY JANUARY 10
1:00 pm Kent State Temple Results
North Carolina William & Mary Results
2:00 pm Hamline Whitewater Results
Pittsburgh Eastern Michigan, Maryland, Towson Results
4:00 pm Lindenwood Missouri Results
5:00 pm Oregon State Auburn Results
San Jose State Cal, Sacramento State, Stanford, UC Davis Results
UCLA Alabama Results
TUESDAY JANUARY 12
4:00 pm Brockport Cortland
Ursinus West Chester

Article by Lauren Hopkins

6 thoughts on “NCAA Week 1 Preview and Schedule

  1. Pingback: Megan Marsden and Tom Farden | Excellent Liquid Chalk for Weight Lifting

  2. Hey Lauren? I’m confused. I was just watching the stream from Florida’s meet tonight. And Bridget and Alex did spectacular. Bridget gets an 9.875 with an almost perfect vault…which, that made sense to me bc with the rule change, and FTY’s only being worth a 9.9, that really WOULD be just about a perfect score. …..but then Alex comes up, does the single most flawless vault she may’ve ever done…like, even for HER it was amazing. But then she got a 9.925. …..? How is that possible? How did she get over the 9.9? and if they *were* scoring her out of a 10 (wrongly) that’s the the harshest collegiate judging for an opening meet for such a flawless fault. …esp in a system where feet shuffles can still get them 9.95+’s.

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    • Oh oh oh. Now THAT makes sense. Jeesh… I wonder why I saw 9.9 around *so* many times. -__- No wonder they all pretty much stuck with FTY’s. .05 is hardly a loss or a risk given the deductions you’re more likely to incur with a blind landing. A tenth I could see really pushing for a 1.5TY.
      Thank you.

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  4. Pingback: The NCAA Week One Highlights | The Gymternet

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