Rankings for February 13th
1. Utah – 196.855
2. Florida – 196.833
3. Oklahoma – 196.696
4. Georgia – 196.642
5. Arkansas – 196.554
6. Alabama – 196.540
7. UCLA – 196.504
8. Oregon State – 196.305
9. Nebraska – 196.200
10. Penn State – 195.988
11. Ohio State – 195.604
12. Stanford – 195.595
13. LSU – 195.429
14. Boise State – 195.175
15. Arizona – 195.130
16. Missouri – 195.017
17. Auburn – 194.979
18. Illinois – 194.860
19. NC State – 194.833
20. Denver – 194.725
21. Michigan – 194.670
22. West Virginia – 194.500
23. Washington – 194.425
24. Iowa – 194.383
25. Arizona State – 194.346
Have I underestimated Oregon State? The team recorded a great score this weekend of 197.400, which certainly took me by surprise. I tend to think of them as being the excellent Leslie Mak, a few routines from Makayla Stambaugh, and Olivia Vivian on bars. To me, that’s not enough to sustain a top team. But if they’re able to show more than that, we may have to expand our conversation to a nine-way race. I haven’t seen a full meet from them this year, so I will likely check in on UCLA @ Oregon State this Friday.
More thoughts after the jump.
- Arkansas and Alabama dropped significantly after poor performances. They will be competing against each other this week, both needing a rebound, which Alabama is more likely to get at home. At Georgia, Grable had an off meet and Pisani had a fall, which the team could not recover from. As they go, so goes Arkansas.
- LSU is starting to show more and more potential, scoring in the high 196s over the weekend. Everyone will be hoping that this team finds its way into the top 12 before Regionals. No one wants to see this LSU team as the #3 seed. They would be a prime spoiler. Imagine if Utah were to get Stanford and LSU in their Regional (as the rankings stand now). That would be a fun day.
- More teams are starting to have running RQS totals, which gives us a great glimpse of where teams stand and what they need. Oklahoma is in the wonderful position of scoring so well on the road that they have an upper hand on the rest of the teams that are trying to scrape together three usable road scores. This is why they have the upper hand on higher-ranked Florida.
- UCLA should be pleased at how close they are to the teams above them, considering their running RQS includes a 194.600. Even something like a 196.500 at Oregon State would put them right in middle of the lead pack.
- Nebraska competed six all-arounders last weekend, which I suppose makes sense since they are probably the team’s best on each event, but I’m not comfortable with it. Beam continues to be a nail-biter.