Daily Archives: January 19, 2015

Live Blog

[22] Arizona @ [8] UCLA Live Blog

10 Comments

Do this again, please.

The meet will begin at 4:00 ET/1:00 PT on the Pac-12 Network.

Scores
For UCLA, I’m hoping primarily to see some progress made on the floor landings over last week. And if Danusia hits beam, that would be nice too. For Arizona, I’m mildly obsessed with their tkatchevs and their beam routines but still uncertain about how competitive they can be on vault and floor given the injuries, so this will be a test.

Amanda Borden is off today. Jim and Amanda Two are doing the commentary and telling us how amazing Peng is. Obviously.

A few changes to UCLA’s vault lineup, of course, with Irvin coming into the order.

Rotation 1 – UCLA on vault, Arizona on bars
UCLA vault:
1. Honest -Not as strong as last week, OK, a little iffy in the feet and knees and a larger lunge back on yfull. 9.825.
2. Cipra – Good height, small amount of piking, comes in a little short and hops forward, but not too problematic. 9.850.
3. Lee – Well, it was gorgeous in the air, but they left their landings at OSU so far – comes in very low with a large lunge forward. 9.750
4. Irvin – (no Bynum today?) – Really nice power on her full, and a stuck landing – well that’s a debut – looked perhaps a little staggered or leg separation on the stick. 9.850. 
5. Peszek – Excellent full – noticeably stronger in the form and distance over the others – weaker landing than last week – medium hop back – 9.875.
6. Williams – Great amplitude on her yfull – fairly good chest position on landing, minor piking and a hop back.9.850

Arizona bars:
1. Howard – Good first hhs, a little close on piked jaeger, leg break on the bail, double back dismount is stuck, legs apart. Fine, but some breaks. 9.800.
2. Felix-Terrazas – fine on the giant full – nice height on the tkatcehv, slightly floppy down on the bail – giant full into the double back – hands down on the dismount. “A little too much momentum.” 9.250.
3. Mills – handstands looked a little short – good giant full – some floppy legs in the gienger and the bail handstand is short of hs – pretty good half in half out, though – small step but controlled dismount.9.825.
4. Laub – arches first hs – not as much height as usual on her tkatchev, bail is clean in the legs – last hs was borderline – nice double layout – (small leg separation in the air) but overall good form and landing. 9.825. 
5. Flores – short on first hs but good finish on the giant ful – piked on her bail handstand with a leg separation – tkatchev was just OK this time – DLO 1/1 dismount – loses the form on the second salto as most everyone does. Lunge back. 9.775. 
6. Ortiz – hip circle – gigantic tkatchev – excellent – that’s silly big – the rest is solid – giant full – double back dismount with a step. Solid. 9.825.

After 1: UCLA 49.250, Arizona 49.050
The scoring was laxer for UCLA on vault this week than last week, but the performance was also clearly weaker. They did not bring the sticks this time out and couldn’t expect to go much higher. I praised Arizona’s tkatchevs at the top, but other than Ortiz (whose is amazing) the rest were a little flat. No big issues in the five counting routines for Arizona, but sloppy legs and a couple weak bails kept the scores medium.

With all these commercial breaks, and then jumping back in to say nothing, the Pac-12 Network always makes the warmup period feel 85 hours long. 

Val is yelling about something. Yesssss. Just stay on that. We need a dedicated “Val yelling at peasants” cam at these meets.

Rotation 2 – UCLA on bars, Arizona on vault
UCLA bars:
1. Francis -Nice shaposh, clean back to the bail, good amplitude on shoot, a little short on giant full and then flings out her double pike with a larger lunge back. Not her best at the end but lovely before that. 9.775.
2. Meraz – Arches her handstand on her toe circle, no chance to save it – comes off. Short on her bail handstand as she gets it back. Missing the handstands to follow – sticks the DLO, though. 
3. Honest – good first handstand, super high tkatchev, needs to work on the foot form – flexed on all these skills, fine straddle back – she missed about couple handstands here – step back on tuck full. 9.825 (One judge went 9.9. Come on).
4. DeJesus – nice finish on the giant full – still with the legs on the gienger – a little bit of an angle on the bail handstand – tuck full dismount with knee-chest landing – step back.”She is a funny one,” Amanda says about Val. “She likes the spotlight,” says Jim. Um, yeah. 9.850.
5. Lee – Get this. lovely in the legs as always , beautiful on the bhardwaj but misses her toe going for the shaposh half, has to redo and try again and then misses the catch. Ugh. This is like the opposite meet of last week for Peng – short DLO dismount with lunge. Disaster. Counting a fall now.
6. Peszek – She needs a 1000.00 for this routine. good first hs and finish on the giant full – that’s how you do a gienger! Perfect bail – into the dismount – sticks the DLO. Great routine. Let’s see what they do with this. 9.975. Saved the rotation as much as she could.

Arizona vault:
1. Felix-Terrazas – Has solid height on her yfull, some leg break, not much distance, and a bounce forward, but fine for someone who hasn’t done much vaulting. 9.725.
2. Cindric – A little flatter off the table but better distance, medium-sized step back. 9.750. 
3. Sisler – Pikes her yfull pretty significantly, not a big block – quite close to the table – hops back.9.700. Jim thought it should be higher. Because why?
4. Laub – Buckles as she lands her yfull but saves it with a large lunge forward.
5. Edwards – Best height on the team so far on her yfull – near-stick with a small hop back. Some piking in the air and a leg break on her block, though. 9.750. 
6. Flores – Solid on the yhalf, hop forward – a little flat like most of the team and crazy legs on the table, but fine.

After 2: UCLA 97.950, Arizona 97.725
UCLA actually managed to extend the lead in spite of counting a fall. Peszek was brilliant. Identical routine to the 10 she got last year. Disappointing about Peng. That would have been a great rotation score if she had hit, but her routine has much more risk than anyone else is trying. Arizona was average on vault, but the lack of block on many of those vaults was evident coming after UCLA.

After those falls on bars, Val has stopped dancing to music that doesn’t exist. Val: “Girl issues at 18 do not change.” What is this essay about listening and feelings she’s giving us? I really hope the question was about vault landings or something.

I feel like I could probably hit a beam routine if Dom talked to me right before it.

New lineup on beam this week for UCLA.

Rotation 3: UCLA on beam, Arizona on floor
UCLA beam: 
1. Gerber -tight on full turn but no wobble, pretty aerial, she can be lovely here when she’s not nervous, smallest check on loso series, switch to split is solid, hits the side somi – that was Aisha-identical. 1.5 dismount with a step forward – that was the only real mistake in the routine, though. Good start. 9.800.
2. Craddock -pretty full turn, aerial with smallish pause to bhs – it’s a better solution than the fake series she was doing, but she did pause – also another pause between the switch and split. side aerial to a pikey layout full dismount. No major errors, just some nervous pauses in there. 9.800.
3. DeJesus -Good aerial – better on her loso series than last week, just small shuffle – OK switch and solid split to follow – very minor balance adjustment on front toss – another smaller correction on L turn – sticks the front full dismount. That should score well. 9.825. 
4. Francis – We see the highlight of her fall from last week. Get it this time. Side aerial to aerial to back handspring is lovely – good to get the bhs into the combination because there was a pause after the side aerial. Switch and splits are perfect to 180. Lovely. Does her y spin wonderfully, so respect, even if it is rushed. I don’t care when it’s a y spin. Dismount – nailed it this time. Yes, there’s a pause before it and she lands chest down, but whatevs. Perfection. 9.925. 
5. Lee – Homma flares (that’s right, I said flares) – beautiful and wonderful, lovely switch to split, balks on what she was supposed to do and just does a bhs – goes again and does the bhs to layout 2 feet – excellent – punch front is strong with no cowboy this time (NOTE) – gets her double turn as well. Double full dismount with a fairly large step back. Not as strong as last week, but she hit it. 9.850. 
6. Peszek – back with a full! Leg up to balance but she hit – excellent aerial to bhs loso series – switch to split to straddle – middle split was iffy but the whole thing was solid. Double full dismount, sticks it (basically) a little staggered. I’m glad everyone else hit so that we got to see the tuck full. Her leg flew up and I love that she tried to cover it by pretending she was doing a back full to scale. Lol. 9.950. Methinks someone got a little difficulty bonus there.

Arizona floor:
1. Cindric – a little low on double pike mount, wolf full to split full looked fine, front full to pike is nice as well – Note: If you start out composed and lovely in your routine, it’s not a rule that you have to “break it down” after the second pass, but everyone does. It’s not in the code. OK dismount, low on the final layout but pulled it around. 9.700.
2. Howard – lunges back out of her double pike, looks good in the straddles – just layout as the middle pass, which shouldn’t count, 1.5 dismount. Hit routine. No real mistakes. Just form on passes. 9.800.
3. Felix-Terrazas – also bounces back out of her double pike a little – the straddle elements were short – whips around the layout out of that 1.5, didn’t think she could get that around but she pulled it through. finishes double back – lowish and a step. 9.750.
4. Schneider – Solid double pike to start – layout to layout full middle pass – switch side and straddle full are medium but fine – no for the drumline choreography – double tuck dismount – sticks it chest low. 9.850.
5. Sisler – Punch rudi to loso was strong – give me a loso out of a floor pass with pointed toes and I’m done. Lands pretty forward on her double pike with a large lunge in the middle pass – double full to punch front dismount. She always looks like she’s going to get about 1 centimeter off the ground on these passes. 9.875.
6. Flores – Rudi to loso mount, cat leaps and whatnot – also lands short on her double pike – low chest with lunge forward – they all look like they’re going to splat all these passes and then pull them around – front full to layout with a bounce out of it – 9.825.

After 3: UCLA 147.300, Arizona 146.825
Legitimately good beam rotation there for UCLA. Some looked tight and wonky in the early spots, and Peng was not as solid as last week – but Danusia and Sam were excellent and they showed the potential of what that rotation can be. Given what we’ve seen this season so far on beam, 49.350 is basically amazing. They would be in good shape right now if not for counting that bars fall.

No Peszek on floor today?
Thankfully, we’ll get to see Pinches.

Rotation 4 – UCLA on floor, Arizona on beam
UCLA floor:
1. Pinches – Nice high double tuck and enough control on the landing – she has developed much more presence on floor as a UCLA gymnast – enjoy watching this – OOB on her middle pass double full, but the form looked fine – knee-chest on the double pike but did stick it. Looked good except for the double pike. 9.775 even with the OOB. 
2. Meraz – (in for DeJesus) – large lunge out of double tuck mount – her straddles are certainly 180+ – secure front full in her middle pass – this is one of those UCLA “I’m going to stay on the ground for pretty much all of it” routines. Also knee-chest on the double pike, but that was a good hit after the first pass. 9.825.
3. Francis – “More of a James Bond theme” You mean because she’s using Bond music? “I feel like she’s almost on a secret mission with all those tumbling passes.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Very secure on the double tuck – and little stumbly on 2.5 middle pass but fine – I could watch Danusia exist all day. Sticks her double pike as well with just medium low chest. 9.925. 
4. Gerber – This routine is very pretty. Right down my alley too. Fine double back – small slide? – 1.5 to pike to stag looks nice – an actual switch ring as well – Looked really good until the double pike with was quite low with a step. Still strong. I actually think this is weaker than her routine last week but will clearly get a much higher score. 9.825.  
5. Hall – Big cowboy on that double arabian with a step back – eh – front full to pike is nice – illusion turn – split full to straddle jump full is fine – I like a slow tempo routine, but this one just comes across as sleepy – a bit better than last week, though. Way short on double pike dismount with hands down. Oopsie. 9.275. 
6. Cipra – throws the tuck full – low landing and a step to the side but she stays in bounds with it – 1.5 to front tuck – was that supposed to be a layout? The tuck looked improvised and sloppy. Elephant walk because Val. Hands down on double pike. Well, they threw that meet score away in the last two routines. Unacceptable. Sam Peszek, please save the day next time.

Arizona beam:
1. Fox – switch and split – back leg a little short on those – off line on her front aerial and comes off the beam, both feet half on – figures it out the second time – and falls again on her straddle 3/4 – Yeouch. Fall #3 on the front toss. Amanda Two tells us you’d rather have people on beam who hit. Really? Sticks the gainer pike at least.
2. Cindric – lovely press handstand stag mount – switch + split looks good – secure on loso series – sheep is an NCAA sheep but solid landing, hits the side aerial – lots of pauses before elements but solid. hop forward on front full dismount. 9.775. 
3. Schneider – opens full turn, Off on the bhs+loso series, splits have Raisman legs – NCAA sheep – sticks front full dismount. They’ll have to count this, but it will be low because of the fall obviously but also the dance elements. 9.250.  
4. Sisler – stepout to bhs to loso – looked solid and pretty but then a wobble stepping out of it – switch split is good – solid front toss – Sticks her 1.5 dismount. Best of the group so far. Trying to save it. 9.800. 
5. Mills – pretty aerial with minor pause before loso, elegant full turn with confident finishing position – switch to stag – nice height into her side somi as well – she’s lovely on beam – small bounce in place before gainer full dismount. 9.850. 
6. Flores – three series into loso is secure, slightly wonky on her full turn, pause after iffy switch into solid side aerial, straddle 1/4 is hit, 1.5 dismount with fake stick-salute.

UCLA 195.975, Arizona 195.300.
God, how UCLA was that? I also love that they counted two falls and still got the same score as last week. My, my, how the scoring standards change.
Well, obvious what the problems were there for UCLA. Exhibitions happening right now, which we don’t get to see because TV. Beam was great, though. Beam was great. Not for Arizona, though. Without that problem, they could have challenged for the upset.

Interview with Nush. She’s a gem.

Someone interview Miss Val about these falls like NOW.

I love Sam Peszek’s faces of honesty after bad meets.

In other news, Georgia had a disaster (thanks for the reports in the comments!), so maybe UCLA shouldn’t feel too bad. 

Rankings

Week 2 Rankings and Notes

Another weekend done. Before getting to the rankings, a few new topics have emerged.

Keep it simple
Just go clean. As long as you’re starting out of a 10, performing relatively simple skills while showing proper amplitude and form has been the way to go for big scores. For evidence of that, we need look no further than Arkansas’s 49.600 on Saturday, which is the highest floor score in the country this season by over a tenth and featured zero passes more difficult than a double pike. Sure, the scoring was crazy high to the point of being silly at times in that meet, but those judges were all about those double pikes (and did not care so much about the chest position, amiright?) We also had Kara Lovan with her rudi mount and general wondrousness continuing to get 9.9s, and Alex McMurtry on bars. She was certainly not a bars worker before Florida but showed up with a bare bones routine until the dismount, and got 9.925 for it. Because she kept it simple. And because she was positioned well in the lineup. And because Florida.

10s
We had two more 10s this weekend on vault, coming from Florida’s Alex McMurtry and Nebraska’s Ashley Lambert. McMurtry’s vault was tremendous, and the more I watch it (four times now, which is normal, right?) the more I’m happy with it getting a 10. It’s certainly the strongest vault we’ve seen this year. If I’m ranking the 10s so far, it’s McMurtry, then Sloan, then Lambert. How about you?

The beam, you guys
Alabama had three falls. Oklahoma counted a 9.425. What is the world coming to? Plus, Michigan nailed it for 49.225. Up is down. Down is up.

Scoring
We’re still seeing a somewhat erratic standard, but there was a noticeable increase in the scores this weekend, which can be accounted for both by improvement in areas like floor landings as teams work their way into the season as much as an increased frequency of crazy, drunken judges. (What even was the Arkansas vault rotation?) But there were some tightly scored meets as well. I was pleased overall with the judging at Oklahoma/Minnesota. The scores were restrained enough to be realistic and accurate for those routines, yet the judges also showed a willingness to give it up for great performances like Dowell on bars. If all the meets were judged at about that standard, we would be in good shape.

Now, to the rankings.

Week 2 Rankings – (GymInfo)

1. Oklahoma – 197.063
Week 2: 196.500
Week 2 leaders: AA – None; VT – Scaman, Capps 9.900; UB – Dowell 9.950; BB – Capps 9.875; FX – Scaman, Lovan 9.900

The Sooners looked on their way to another comfortable low-mid 197 this week until beam, and it was pretty bizarre to see them struggle there. Haley Sorensen and her beautiful flexibility came into the lineup, but what looked like a break on her series dropped her SV, and Oklahoma ended up counting her 9.425 after Clark fell. Odd, but not a worry. Just that random time Oklahoma wasn’t awesome on beam. We’ll see if they settle on a lineup soon or keep running through all 45 options that they have. I love “exploring depth,” so hopefully we see a few more people.

I was quite impressed by the other three events, though. In the majority of the floor routines, the performance was engaging and the tumbling was clean and comfortable especially for this point in the season (Kanewa still needs time to work back into her passes, but otherwise). They also incurred very few handstand deductions on bars while throwing in a good amount of sticks. Before that beam rotation, I was ready to call this the best performance of the year so far, regardless of score, and it still was for three events.

1. Florida – 197.063
Week 2: 197.200
Week 2 leaders: AA – Hunter 39.500; VT – McMurtry 10.000; UB – Dancose-Giambattisto 9.950; BB – Hunter 9.900; FX – Hunter 9.875

The Gators jump into a tie with Oklahoma this week by virtue of not counting a fall this time. Progress! They still had mistakes (including weird ones like Caquatto falling on floor), but it was a mostly comfortable meet. The floor and vault landings and beam dismounts are still pretty January, but it is January, so that makes sense.

197.200 is a perfectly fine score—the best of the weekend—but not one that reflects how good this team can be, nor one they will want to keep as a home score. Baker and McMurtry came into Sloan’s spots on a few events, as expected, and posted solid scores that should improve as the year goes on, but that were still not at the same level as Sloan would have been (9.8s vs. 9.9s). Interestingly, Florida had just one score of 9.9+ on vault and beam and none on floor. Now, Hunter didn’t get a 9.9 on vault or floor this time (which happens never), so the number of 9.9s will go up, but it’s also going to be down to McMurtry and Baker to continue growing into their routines to act as sufficient replacement 9.9s until Sloan comes back. Then, Florida can expect to do much better than 197.200 for a hit meet.

3. LSU – 196.863
Week 2: 196.600
Week 2 leaders: AA – Jordan 39.525; VT – Everyone 9.850; UB – Courville 9.900; BB – Jordan 9.900; FX – Hall 9.950

I had one eye on LSU’s meet while several other meets were going on, but a lot of what I saw the Tigers put up this week was much tighter than they showed in their home debut. That tightness was most evident in a disappointing beam rotation where they were teetering all over the building, but they also forgot to pack their bars sticks when they left for Kentucky. There’s no problem with a 196.600 at this point in the year, at a meet that was also among the more realistically scored, but it wasn’t a meet to remember. On the happy side, the 196.600 was mostly a result of improved floor landings over last week, with Hall and Gnat pulling their routines together for scores that better reflect the quality of their performances. Now Courville just needs to follow suit. What are these 9.7s, Rheagan?

A lot was made at LSU’s meet about everyone getting a 9.850 on vault, but that doesn’t bother me so much in theory. If that’s the score they’re earning, then that’s the score they should get. There were a lot of 9.850-quality vaults in that meet and few sticks in that LSU rotation. The bigger problem comes when the judges give HUGE scores to inferior vaults and then leave themselves no room to reward the great ones. In this meet, they left themselves plenty of room to reward better vaults, just no one took advantage of it or earned it. Courville could have gone 9.900, though.

4. Utah – 196.788
Week 2: 196.675
Week 2 leaders: AA – Dabritz 39.600; VT – Dabritz, Lee 9.875; UB – Dabritz 9.925; BB – Dabritz 9.850; FX – Dabritz 9.950

The Utes continue to be solid and hang around the top 5, which is pretty much what I expect from them all season, and I’m excited to see this team go against UCLA next weekend to get a full glimpse of where they are as a group. Dabritz is nailing it as usual, sticking 1.5s for scores that are causing Utah-based outrage from their scandalous un-10-ness (deduction for distance, feet apart on stick?), but most importantly, Dabritz competed beam over the weekend for the highest score on the team. Down really is up on beam this year. 

I have been rattling on about this for four seasons, but it still stands (though it’s maybe less necessary this year than it was in years before). Dabritz in the beam lineup and hitting is an essential piece for Utah because it gives them another real option who can score 9.850 or more even in a discerning postseason environment. Hopefully we’ll see Stover come into form soon and emerge like a phoenix out of the 9.7s to help fill out this lineup of high potential scores, but they have real choices now.

At the same time, the comment from last week still stands. At Friday’s meet, the only 9.9s for Utah were earned by Dabritz, and it can’t be all about that Dabritz, ’bout that Dabritz. She can’t rule the kingdom by herself. Let’s step it up, others.

4. Michigan – 196.788
Week 2: 196.975
Week 2 leaders: AA – Sugiyama 39.450; VT – Sugiyama 9.925; UB – Williams 9.925; BB – Brown 9.875; FX – Artz 9.950

Look at you, Michigan! Tied for 4th and #1 in the country on beam! I feel so proud. And surprised. Mostly surprised. And this is without Lauren Marinez, who could have been the best beamer on the team. They’ve done it with 9.850 rather than huge scores (and it helps that everyone else has been performing like the beam is make of snakes), but 49.225 on beam is a beautiful thing for Michigan. Let’s keep it going.

I’ve also been worried about the depth of scores for Michigan, which is primarily what made Saturday’s performance an encouraging result. The Wolverines recorded just three scores under 9.8, two of which could be dropped, and they showed they’re much healthier in the 1 and 2 spots than they appeared to be on paper to start the season. Casanova has emerged as more than a one-eventer, Williams is a believable three-eventer now, and Parker is doing some of the best gymnastics in her college career to beef up those early lineups. Artz and Sugiyama are doing well, as expected, and Brown is gaining her sea legs as a significant AAer in pressure spots, but most of all, it is the solidity and competitiveness of those early-lineup workers that is helping Michigan exceed expectations so far this season.

6. Nebraska – 196.213
Week 2: 197.125
Week 2 leaders: AA – Blanske 39.500; VT – Lambert 10.000; UB – Blanske, Lambert 9.850; BB – Williams 9.925; FX – Blanske 9.925

Now this is the Nebraska we expect to see. Insane vaults and 197s. None of this 9.6s garbage from last week. They scored a low 197 this weekend primarily as a result of that 49.750 on vault, which is the highest vault score in team history. In January. But, that’s what happens when you have amazing blocks and stuck landings. Nebraska is always going to be in the running for preposterous vault scores when they stick because they are not susceptible to the same amplitude deductions that many teams are, which the judges seem to be cracking down on (occasionally) this season. It’s all about the landings for Nebraska.

It also helped that DeZiel came back in the all-around this weekend and the freshmen contributed a couple 9.9s and many 9.8s, which is much closer to the performance I would expect from this very talented new class.

7. Alabama – 196.200
Week 2: 196.175
Week 2 leaders: AA – None; VT – Williams, Clark 9.925; UB – Beers 9.875; BB – Sims 9.900; FX – Brannan 9.925

Well, that was weird, wasn’t it? Alabama nailed vault on Friday with the level of bam-bam vaulting an Alabama team should be showing, exhibited improved landings and endurance on floor over last week, and then went to beam and had an epic and memorable catastrophe except for Aja Sims, who was glorious. I was curious about that beam result because I couldn’t remember the last time Alabama had such a poor showing. Turns out, it was the worst beam score for the Tide since February 20th, 2009, away against Florida. While last week wasn’t as bad, but they’ll looked iffy on beam then too. I still don’t think this should be a thing, but after two weeks of issues, it’s certainly an area to watch next weekend.

Alabama was also somewhat sloppy on bars. I’m still on “Who’s getting the 9.9s?” watch for that rotation, especially while Clark is out of the lineup. Jetter has struggled with landing her double front dismount in both meets now, which hurts because she’s the next most likely option for 9.9s. 

8. UCLA – 196.000
Week 2: 196.000
Week 2 leaders: AA – Peszek 39.550; VT – Peszek 9.950; UB – Lee 9.900; BB – Lee 9.875; FX – Peszek 9.875

We have just the one meet to go on for UCLA since they will be competing in their second meet later on today (which will count as part of week 3), but in the first meet, the Bruins showed themselves off very well on vault with much-improved depth and impressive landings. That has not been the case in recent years and is evidence that maybe the post-Zam vault hangover is abating. They didn’t even use Pua, and I thought she would be essential this year—and still can be. Things got wonky once the Bruins moved to the second half of the meet as a lack of endurance was exposed in the final passes on floor, and a general UCLAishness was exposed on beam.

Of course, the star of the meet was Peng Peng Lee, who was brilliant on three events and could have received 9.9 on all of them. I’m very interested to see how she scores at home today if she’s able to put up the same performances. 

9. Oregon State – 195.713
Week 2 Meet A: 194.450
Week 2 Meet A leaders: AA – Gardiner 39.250; VT – Aufiero 9.850; UB – Gardiner, Tang 9.825; BB – Tang 9.875; FX – Gardiner 9.800

Week 2 Meet B: 195.975
Week 2 Meet B leaders: AA – Gardiner 39.275; VT – Gardiner 9.875; UB – Aufiero 9.825; BB – Gardiner, Perez 9.900; FX – Gardiner, Turner 9.825

The Beavers are coming off a not-terrible performance in the first meet for mid 195s at a tightly scored competition. It’s a score they’ll soon forget, but they managed to survive with enough 9.8s and this week, stepped things up with a few new 9.9s on beam and more competitive scores all around. The score on Sunday would have been a clear 196 if not for bars problems from a few uncharacteristic people (Chelsea Tang had two falls in that meet, which…is that even a thing?)

If Oregon State is going to make the postseason for the first time in three years, it will be about Gardiner and Tang in the all-around getting the 9.850s on every event, and perhaps adding some beam 9.9s. But along with them, Risa Perez is already emerging as a force on beam and floor, and they’ll need Aufiero to get 9.9s on bars and McMillan to rise to her potential (she was one of the top JO gymnastics but has been in the middle of the pack for OSU so far, dealing with frequent injuries).

10. Georgia – 195.700
Week 2: 195.800
Week 2 leaders: AA – Persinger 38.500; VT – Jay 9.950; UB – Davis 9.900; BB – Box 9.850; FX – Box 9.875

Georgia will compete again later today, but this ranking includes the meet from earlier this weekend, which was another 195 showing. Still, with scoring the way it is so far this year, that’s good enough to keep the Gym Dogs just afloat in the top 10. They experienced different problems this weekend than last weekend (is that a good thing or a bad thing?), with floor looking safer than it did in the first meet but that old nemesis the beam fall creeping in. When Sarah Persinger falls on beam, they should just cancel the rest of the rotation. In happier news, however, she did compete the all-around. Get it. Also in happy news, Vivi Babalis is emerging as a solid 9.8 on beam and floor through two meets, which is so, so welcome. She and Box are like, “It’s not that hard, you guys.”

Weirdly, this was another meet of meh bars for Georgia. That shouldn’t be happening for a team with this talent, though being without Brittany Rogers hurt severely on that department.

11. Illinois – 195.675

12. Arkansas – 195.613

13. Penn State – 195.350

14. Kentucky – 195.288

15. Denver – 195.263

16. Stanford – 195.225

17. Cal – 194.975

18. Washington – 194.938

19. Auburn – 194.900

20. Michigan State – 194.850

20. Ohio State – 194.850

22. Arizona – 194.813

23. Southern Utah – 194.713

23. Iowa State – 194.713

25. George Washington – 194.675

25. New Hampshire – 194.675