Kentucky is in a somewhat unconventional position for NCAA gymnastics in that no competition routines were lost after last season, and no one would begrudge Kentucky retaining basically the exact same lineups for another year since they may still be the best available options.

The star of the 2018 freshmen was going to be Mollie Korth, but she ended up joining a year early, and we all know how that worked out (well). As a result, the remaining 2018 walk-on-central of a freshman class is one of supporting players and backup possibilities. None looks to be immediately muscling her way into the deep half of lineups because the team NEEDS that routine, but they do each bring a couple believable sets that could find their way into lineups if needed, or at least give Kentucky a much larger breadth of options this season.

KENTUCKY 2018
VAULT Korth – 9.910 Stuart – 9.860 Rosa – 9.840 Davis – 9.830 Dukes – 9.820 Hyland – 9.815 Kwan – 9.694	BARS Korth – 9.895 Hyland – 9.845 Coca – 9.835 Carlisle – 9.835 Stuart – 9.815 Rechenmacher – 9.810 Dukes – 9.810
BEAM Hyland – 9.915 Dukes – 9.900 Stuart – 9.855 Korth – 9.850 Poland – 9.825 Rechenmacher – 9.815 Carlisle – 9.725	FLOOR Dukes – 9.895 Korth – 9.890 Hyland – 9.870 Rechenmacher – 9.820 Stuart – 9.815 Carlisle – 9.795 Kwan – 9.575

Madison Averett

Of note, Averett has competed a front 2/1 on floor in the past, the one E pass I’ve seen from this freshman class, which could be a useful look for the lineup if they can fill out the rest of a routine.

Floor was Averett’s best routine during her run to JO Nationals in 2016, earning her best score at states, regionals, and nationals, though she also brings a complete beam routine that could hang around as a choice.

Katherine Marianos

Marianos is another who typically got her best scores on floor, bringing solid tumbling in a double pike, double tuck routine option that I could see being an option in Kentucky’s menu, but I’d also keep an eye on her vault. This is not much of a vaulting class (with the only Yfulls coming from Marianos and occasionally Harman), so if Kentucky does end up being in the market for a perfectly useful Yfull, Marianos has shown the most success with it in the past and would be the option there.

Allison Snyder

Snyder was the last to join in this class, but not for lack of gymnastics. If Marianos is the option if Kentucky needs a vault, then Snyder is the closest adaptable option if Kentucky needs someone on bars, the only member of this class showing a JO routine with a dismount that wouldn’t receive an up-to-level deduction.

Snyder also showed a reasonable double pike floor routine, though having just two passes puts a lot of pressure on the dance elements being complete and difficult. Her vault is intriguing, because it’s a handspring, though since it’s just a handspring front tuck (9.8), it would take some real upgrading to get up to competition level these days for Kentucky.

Kentucky has moved past the “hooray we anchored with 9.750!” era, which means we have higher expectations for new gymnasts on all events than we would have had even three seasons ago.

Megan Monfredi

Monfredi comes in to challenge the floor group (floor is the most believable option for the majority of this class), with a quick front tuck + round-off double tuck opening pass. Floor was nearly always her best event by many tenths in JO competition.

Mackenzie Harman

With a 2.5 mount on floor, a complete beam routine, a Khorkina on bars, and sometimes a full on vault, Harman is the one among the Kentucky freshmen for whom I wrote down notes about all four events. It would be a challenge to break into lineups, but there’s gymnastics there on each piece.

Bars was not typically a big score for Harman in JO, but with a Tkatchev, a Khorkina, and the ability to hit a handstand, there’s sculpting material there for a project. Although, she would need to connect into that dismount at the very least for this routine to become an NCAA option.