We’re back with the highlights from the third weekend of NCAA competition! If you missed anything this weekend, we watched a ton, so go back and check out our live blog for the archived quick hits and live commentary. You can also find links to results for all meets here, and the top scores from the week in addition to the updated rankings here. On with the show!

Arkansas is HOT

The Razorbacks got off to a somewhat slow start in Cancun earlier this month, but since then they’ve been on fire. Even an off day last weekend resulted in a solid score, thanks to the gymnasts keeping it together at a time where many might crumble and drive the score down even further.

This week was especially great, as they competed on conference rival turf. A year ago, Arkansas got really lucky at home to beat a down-and-out Alabama, but that likely wasn’t going to happen in Tuscaloosa. But, oh, it did. Sure, maybe it wouldn’t have happened without Bama’s mistakes. On beam, Avery Rickett fell three skills into her debut for the Crimson Tide, tallying only a 6.0 meaning the team had to count falls from Lauren Beers and Kiana Winston.

Bama’s remaining rotations were stellar, and without falls they would’ve reached around a 197.5. But they did fall, and Arkansas remained steady, upsetting the higher-ranked program and bringing in their second 196.7 of the season. It’s already a huge improvement on last year, when they didn’t reach this mark until two months in, so I think we can expect some very exciting things from the program this year.

While everyone’s working hard and putting up clean sets and strong numbers, keep a special eye on freshman Sydney McGlone, who is already one of their top performers on three events. She has the makings of a star, especially on floor, where her routine is consistently one of the most entertaining with huge tumbling – she’s already whipped out an upgrade to a double layout opening pass – and tons of personality.

Utah Without Their Stars

This was my first glimpse at Utah this year, and my first time seeing the team without the Georgia Dabritz-era group that started dominating the second they walked into the door as freshmen.

Without their departed superstars, Utah is performing about as well as you’d expect. There are no clear-cut stars any longer, though junior Baely Rowe is showing tremendous ability on bars, freshman Sabrina Schwab is performing beautifully on bars and floor, and Sam Partyka is a steady competitor with the makings of a great leader. In fact, as she finished beam this weekend, head coach Megan Marsden took her aside and said her beam was “one of the best beam leadoffs [she’d] ever seen.” The team looks good, but they’re no longer the team that can pull off a near-win against Florida at NCAAs as they did in 2015.

The Utes were also just dealt the major blow of an Achilles rupture for sophomore standout Kari Lee, an all-arounder capable of huge scores when she hits. She was injured in training earlier this week, meaning the team will have to replace four spots this weekend, including on the precarious floor lineup which was already struggling. There are little nuggets of gold within this young team, but this might end up being an off-season, especially in the Pac-12 as conference rival UCLA is heating up.

Bustin’ a Cap

Speaking of UCLA, the Bruins are continuing to work their spark this season, fighting through mishaps and putting up big scores rather than letting small mistakes turn into meltdowns. They have hands-down the best floor rotation in the country, something fans are eating up both in Westwood and on rival ground, and while their scores aren’t through the roof on beam or bars, there’s no weak link either, so you can look for them to make up ground as the season progresses.

In Arizona, freshman Katelyn Ohashi had a bit of a scare as she dismounted with her double pike off beam. As she punched off the end of the beam, her foot hit the cap, causing it to pop off, which in turn caused her to lose her footing. She made it about 75% of the way around, but then had a super scary crash onto her hands and knees with her head hitting and bouncing back up.

She was fine, and walked away from the apparatus with a smile on her face. The judges then ruled that due to equipment malfunction, the fall wasn’t her fault and she would be allowed to repeat her routine. Beam caps fall off all the time and it’s really no big deal, but in a competition routine on a dismount as difficult as the one Ohashi attempted, it’s definitely cause for alarm. Whether or not that was the actual reason for her fall, it could have been the reason, and that’s enough for her to get a second shot.

Once she was medically cleared, she hit her second set of the night, though this one was a bit more wobbly than the first. I don’t know why it was imperative for her to go again, honestly…individual season rankings don’t really matter so it’s not like a dismount fall would’ve destroyed her all-around or beam ranking, and the team had a good enough lead that they would’ve won with or without a hit routine from Ohashi. I personally don’t see the point, but at least we know she’s okay and handled the drama with a smile on her face.

Gnat’s ‘Perfect’ 10

Ashleigh Gnat of LSU finally got a perfect 10 for her DTY on vault, and while it wasn’t literally perfect – she had some leg separation in the preflight – it was about as close as she can get and her stick was more legit than most FTYs, so I say she deserves it. Consider it a bonus for her breaking the mold and trying something way harder than anyone else is competing. She did unfortunately have a costly mistake on bars when she over-arched a handstand, but came back with an excellent floor routine to finish her day.

The team had to count a bars fall when Sarah Finnegan missed her Ray, but otherwise had a solid – if not excellent – day to defeat Kentucky, whose freshmen continue to own it. Sidney Dukes is consistently owning it, anchoring almost everything and providing rays of sunshine when she’s not competing. As a whole, the team is actually pretty fabulous on beam, with super steady sets and great performance value. I looooved Montana Whittle’s side aerial to Korbut.

The Consistent Wolverines

It’s been four meets for Michigan thus far and each time they’ve posted a score between 196.9 and 196.975 – how’s that for consistent? Their 196.9 this week was actually their lowest, but still a solid effort considering they competed at conference rival Illinois and were without senior Briley Casanova.  Once again, the team continued to show that their greatest strength isn’t perfection, but not letting mistakes carry over into subsequent routines. They could stand some cleanup on landings, but it’s early yet. Oh, and freshman Olivia Karas had a standout week, posting a 9.95 for her Yurchenko 1.5 and a 9.9 on floor to win the all-around with a 39.55, the second-best score in the nation this week after Bridget Sloan.

Freshman Standouts

As a lower-ranked DI program, Cornell and its gymnasts generally aren’t well-known, but it’s time to start paying attention. Their freshman Kaitlin Green wins my superstar honor this week, doing work that would make even the top-ranked D1s turn their heads. At Cortland, she competed bars and beam, earning scores of 9.8 and 9.9, respectively, tying the school record on beam only two meets into her collegiate career. She is simply beautiful there, and is capable of pretty much any skill or series she wants, including a flawless front aerial to bhs loso. She’s also throwing big skills on bars, including an excellent Ray release. The program itself is also doing great work this season, hitting team records and currently sitting in 45th in the rankings, a big improvement from finishing 64th a year ago.

My other freshman standout nod goes out to Britney Ward of Missouri. This was my first time seeing Mizzou this season, and I have to say, I was impressed with the team overall, especially Kennedi Harris on floor, but Ward is already showing true expertise on her two events – vault and beam – and adds a style and confidence to her work that is unseen in most freshmen.

Brandie Jay in the AA

I’ve wanted to see Georgia’s Brandie Jay in the all-around since her standout freshman year in 2013, and now that she’s a senior, we finally saw it happen. One of Jay’s goals this season was to break into the beam lineup, and after her team’s disastrous performance at home against Stanford last week, she finally made it happen. Her exhibition routine on meltdown day was one of the team’s only hit sets, so this weekend she got her first trial on the event, going up third after the first two Gym Dogs had falls.

Her routine was excellent, earning a 9.85 for only a couple of minor checks and form issues. Having also hit solid performances on her other three events, Jay finished her first all-around performance with a 39.475, making her one of the best in the nation so far this year.

Jay is the shining light for Georgia right now, and deserves to be in the spotlight after a career of nothing but hard work, excellent leadership, and getting the job done. Hopefully her teammates will feel inspired by their senior star as they travel to Kentucky this weekend, or else they’ll be taken down in their third straight upset in a row.

Florida Stays at #1, Oklahoma Close Behind

Sloan was on fire, as usual, hitting every routine expertly to tally a 39.575 at Auburn on Friday. This score also happens to be her season average, and she tops the charts both in the rankings and in this weekend’s best scores grid in addition to sharing the best ranking on bars. Florida also remains number one, but it’s super close between the Gators and Oklahoma, as the two are separated by less than a tenth. Florida gave away a little of their lead on beam this week, counting several shaky routines in their lineup, though they were otherwise strong and Kennedy Baker continues to come in right at Sloan’s heels with her superb floor routine.

At home, Oklahoma posted the week-best score of 197.475 after especially strong bars and beam rotations. Chayse Capps and Keeley Kmieciak continue to destroy it in the all-around, each posting a 39.5 this week, while sophomore Natalie Brown is really starting to come into her own on beam and floor, where her gorgeous lines and excellent performance ability are top notch. McKenzie Wofford, tied with Sloan for the top bars ranking in the country, is almost robotic in her perfection on this routine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything less than incredible from her.

The Kitchen Sink

We weren’t able to watch several meets due to them not being made available – ahem, Stanford – but here’s a quick catch-up for you. After a messy start, Stanford reached the sixth-best score in the country on Sunday, led by Elizabeth Price with the top score on every event but beam, where senior Ivana Hong showed gorgeous work for a 9.925. Taylor Rice unfortunately continued with some issues, falling on both bars and beam; she’s reportedly “unmotivated” this season and it’s really showing in her routines, which is unfortunate as the rest of her team is already working on trying to make it a great season.

You should also know about Boise State, with the ninth-best score of the week at 196.425. Their tenth place season ranking is the best in program history, and with some clean-up on beam, they could definitely be the dark horse for NCAA Championships. Sandra Collantes, the sophomore former Peruvian elite who trained at Excalibur, is absolutely nailing it week after week, and tallied a huge 9.925 on floor at BYU. Krystine Jacobsen is also showing incredible talent, Shani Remme is a super calm and commendable lead-off on beam and excels on all four events, and as a team, they counted only three scores below a 9.8 in the entire meet, all on beam. I’m very excited about this team and can’t wait to see them continue to show great work.

Temple’s Turnpike Drama

Lots of meets got canceled this weekend due to the wild and crazy blizzard on the east coast. Pittsburgh decided to forge on with their quad meet, though it quickly turned into a dual as George Washington got snowed in and Temple got snowed out. (Pitt had a major upset here, winning the meet by a couple of tenths after UNH imploded on everything but beam, where they continue to have one of the best rotations in the country and both Casey Lauter and Kelsey Aucoin went 9.925).

The team was en route from Philadelphia only 80 miles from their destination when incidents with rolling tractor trailers ahead caused standstill traffic around 8 pm. As time ticked on, the snow piled up, and before long no vehicle was able to move, with approximately 500 motorists stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Temple bus was stuck for a total of 27 hours.

Sure, maybe they should’ve stayed home, but the idea was that they’d leave early enough on Friday to miss the snow, which they would have had there not been an incident. A half hour earlier could’ve meant an entirely different outcome, but alas, life doesn’t always work out as planned.

The gymnasts kept up good spirits, watching Disney movies, playing cards, and eating snacks to pass the time. The fire department brought cases of water and eventually the National Guard dropped off MREs – army talk for ‘meals ready to eat’ – to hold them over before their rescue. Once freed, they were able to get to a hotel where hot pizza, warm showers, and comfy beds were waiting before they headed back to Philadelphia the following day.

“Well, we didn’t make it to the meet, but at least we got famous,” freshman Aya Mahgoub wrote on Facebook after making one of several media appearances following the ordeal. The Temple ladies became media darlings and turned a messy situation into a team bonding experience.

 

Skill Highlights

The skill I screamed about the most this week was Lauren Rice of Sacramento State’s triple turn on floor. Sacramento State wins all my love yet again for their innovative, fun, and well-choreographed floor routines, but Rice’s above-and-beyond turn really took the cake. There is no pirouette requirement on floor in NCAA gymnastics, so any time you see something thrown in, it’s more for the artistry and overall enhancement of the routine than for bonus points. Several gymnasts have fabulous turns in their routines, but nothing beats this. Yet. I also loved Jesse Williams’ random bhs loso in the middle of her floor routine, and Cassie Benning’s routine is to-die-for.

Article by Lauren Hopkins
Photo thanks to Cornell University