Polls

The 10 of 10s Poll

29 Comments

Two days away from the NCAA season. Two. Let’s stoke our excitement with a little game.

Below are the 14 routines that received a 10.0 during the 2016 season. Having 14 different, theoretically perfect, theoretically equal routines is all a little “everyone’s a winner” for my taste. This isn’t 2015 worlds. So today, we’re going to pick an ultimate champion. The 10 of 10s. The best of the best. Watch the videos, then vote below. You’re encouraged to show your work in the comments.

Note: Gymnasts who received more than one 10 for a routine during the season are included only once per apparatus—for their best one—so Ashleigh Gnat isn’t nominated 165 times.

1. Nina McGee, Denver – Floor – January 9, 2016

2. Ashleigh Gnat, LSU – Vault – January 22, 2016

3. Bridget Sloan, Florida – Beam – January 29, 2016

4. Kennedy Baker, Florida – Floor – January 29, 2016

5. Chayse Capps, Oklahoma – Beam – February 5, 2016

Flogymnastics LINK

6. Ashleigh Gnat, LSU – Floor – February 22, 2016

7. Lauren Beers, Alabama – Vault – February 26, 2016

8. Brittany Rogers, Georgia – Vault – March 6, 2016

9. Danusia Francis, UCLA – Beam – March 6, 2016

10. Alex McMurtry, Florida – Bars – March 11, 2016

11. Bridget Sloan, Florida – Floor – March 11, 2016

12. Hanna Nordquist, Minnesota – Beam – March 12, 2016
This is the one 10 for which video has not materialized after the fact, so I’m including her 9.9125 from nationals instead. Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but this routine is several thousand times better than that 10, so I think it’s the one we should evaluate anyway. 

13. Breanna Hughes, Utah – Floor – March 12, 2016

Flogymnastics LINK

14. Keeley Kmieciak, Oklahoma – Bars – March 19, 2016

Now it’s time to vote.

29 thoughts on “The 10 of 10s Poll”

  1. Nina’s floor from Nationals actually has better leg form on the tumbling.

    1. I mean we can only pick one, so it’s realllly nitpicking – but Beers lands with her legs quite far apart, and McMurtry’s bars is blah to be because it’s not that difficult and she only gets such high scores because they put her in anchor. I’m not saying they didn’t deserve 10s because I think they did, but just that if I’m going to pick only 1 of these routines to be the best I wouldn’t pick them.

    2. Lauren’s vault would get my #2 vote. Her form is perfect, but amplitude is somewhat lacking.
      Alex has loose feet throughout her bars.

    3. Alex has little form stuff throughout her bars. She has a strong and clean routine, particularly on the dismount, but her strength in working the code and sticking the dismount can distract from small form issues. Lauren’s to me was a definite 10.0, but if you’re only allowed to pick one, there are other 10s in the group that I would rank above hers.

  3. When they give Bridget Sloan a 10 on floor, when she visibly hops on her last pass……grrrr

    1. Haha I caught that too. She covered it up quick, but it was there. Definitely some emotions going into that 10, but honestly it didn’t matter much at that point and I still cried when I watched it the first time because it was so fitting. I’ll just think of it as payment for all the times she probably deserved a 10 on the road and didn’t get it. It didn’t get my vote here though!

  4. Agreed re Bridget’s floor 10, but her beam…come on. I saw many more form issues with Nina and with Danusia than I did with Bridget’s beam and even Ashleigh’s floor.

    1. Yeah…Nina’s double lay was SO cowboyed, and Danusia had lots of little checks.

    2. Honestly, I think Bridget gets dinged by losing out to herself. Her best NCAA gymnastics was in her Freshman and Sophomore years. She was exceptional all four years, without question, but those first two years, it was hard for anyone else to even compare. (Although, I’ve never been QUITE as enthralled by her bars as the judges often were.) So while that beam routine is clearly exceptional and was a fine 10.0, I think at least for me, I unconsciously compare it with other routines from her in earlier years.

  5. Agreed re Bridget’s floor 10, but her beam…come on. I saw many more form issues with Nina and with Danusia than I did with Bridget’s beam and even Ashleigh’s floor.

  7. Bridget on beam. Literally couldn’t find ANY deductions. Danusia had the tiniest hip check on her series. Being nitpicky lol.

    1. Haha same here. Sloan beam and gnat floor were top for me, I love danusia’s work but she had some crazy Karolyi legs on her acro. Ultimately I give it to Sloan because I love that her every little move looks so intentional. She puts so much focused energy into everything she does and there was not even the tiniest wobble. I didn’t really find deductions in Gnat’s routine either, though.

  8. I agree about Bridget’s floor! There were a few I was going between, but I decided on Bridget’s beam, I couldn’t find any deductions! But also felt that Keeley’s bars, Lauren’s vault, and McMurtry’s bars were well deserved. I feel like judges often times ignore the entry of the vault if it’s a difficult vault, like Brittany and Ashleigh had obvious leg separation.

  9. Several of these had noticeable errors, like leg form or small wobbles. But I am insanely picky. Bridget’s beam I could find NOTHING!

  10. To me, Bridget didn’t appear to hit 180 (back leg low) on both her switch and split jump. I went with KK – would have preferred a better angle, but I didn’t see any errors.

    2. Oh yea you’re right. I saw that the first time I watched it but by the time I’d finished watching the other videos I forgot lol. Keely had a great bar routine. But I dunno, something about it…something was missing. But her leg form on her dismount was swoon worthy!!!

  11. I saw tiny errors in almost every one of these “perfect” 10’s. Yes, it’s nitpicky, but I’m weird and think a 10 should be perfect. Like, you know, Wofford’s bars.

    1. Nina floor – LOVE her routine, love that she gets the big numbers coming from a smaller school.
    Leg separation on DLO.
    2. Bugs vault – Loose legs, crossed feet.
    3. Sloan beam – I’m with Omar – back leg low on leaps. Otherwise perfection.
    4. Kennedy floor – Tumbling – absolute perfection. Not sure about that switch 1/1. In the top five here for me.
    5. Chase beam – She is so often perfect, but not so here. Landing on front ariel-arabesque was a bit off, hesitation between loso and beat jump (does that matter if she doesn’t need the connection?)
    6. Bugs floor – Tumbling landings and amplitude are perfect. But, again, leg form.
    7. Beers vault – Another top five pick for me. Perfect form, landing. Amplitude not the best.
    8. Rogers vault – major leg sep on entry, feet far apart on landing. And, Ebee’s vault that day was more perfect and got, what, a 9.95? At Stanford? Yeah, I can’t let that one go. Really good vault, Brittney, but not perfect.
    9. Danusia beam – I wanted to vote for her. This is my fave routine of the bunch (possibly in all of NCAA last season), but as mentioned, little hip check on loso.
    10. McMurtry bars – Foot form throughout. Good swing, though.
    11. Sloan floor – Yeah, that hop on last pass. As with her beam, where she is on, she is ON. She knows how to nail a routine. I’m kinda on board with the 10 fest of her career.
    12. Nordquist – Shame on Minnesota for not finding footage of her 10 to upload!!!
    14. Keely Kmieciak – Got my vote. This is literally the only routine where I did not see a deduction. Except I couldn’t tell about the last handstand from the camera angle.

    1. Also I think it was Hughes who had leg separation on every one of her back handsprings…And Nordquist’s 10 was definitely not a 10, I don’t remember it exactly but remember thinking & seeing on twitter how it wasn’t a 10 (but loving it for my fantasy team haha), the judges kind of cornered themselves into giving it–it was the best routine of the lineup.

  12. I picked Danusia because her routine showed originality and difficulty. From her mount to her Y turn to her outrageous dismount, she displayed skills and artistry at a higher level than the others. I disagree that there were little checks or Karolyi legs.

    Yes, you can give a ten to a routine that is done flawlessly while fulfilling the requirements to be judged out of a ten. But to be the best ten, you need to do something special.

  13. I voted Sloan beam, though, in hindsight I agree with the observation of < 180 on leaps.

    Spencer, will you share your vote with us? (Obviously the only opinion that matters.)

  15. I voted Sloan beam as well. I remember that meet and there were a lot of crazy high scores given to Florida in it. But I really believe no matter the day or the judges, that would’ve scored a 10.

    1. I love Nina, but why all the votes for her routine then? It has form issues on more than one pass. I know it’s fun and original and has difficulty, but it isn’t the cleanest of all the performances. Popularity?

  16. Putting aside which routine is the best (entertainment, style etc) The ones that were the closest to perfect were Bridget on Beam, Kennedy on floor, and Keely on bars. The others either had visible errors or form issues. Nitpicking those three, I think you could argue Bridgets split/feet landing the dismount, Keeley’s last handstand and full in form. On Kennedy maybe the split. I think the winner is Kennedy if were going by actual least deductions. But the best routines were Danusia and Nina.

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