1. Oklahoma Sooners
Average: 197.713
Previous ranking: 1
Oklahoma expanded its advantage in the #1 position this week following a nation-leading 197.975 at Metroplex. That’s the second-highest score of the young season, just behind Oklahoma in first and just ahead of Oklahoma in third. The story we’ve come to know. Maggie Nichols returned from missing the previous meet to compete bars and SURPRISE beam for 9.975 after not being in the initial beam lineup. Of note, Oklahoma recovered from the previous week’s performance to hit five good floor routines, the reintroduction of Bre Showers seriously solidifying a group that will become six strong again once Nichols returns to replace Draper.
2. Florida Gators
Average: 197.492
Previous ranking: 3
Florida just managed to leapfrog UCLA this week by four thousandths of a point on the strength of a superb three-event home performance against Kentucky—with a little Carol-infused 9.9ing for luck. The bars and beam rotations are going to be the highlight of the Florida team this year, with fewer built-in deductions for leaps on beam (and crisper handstands on bars) than nearly any other team. Vault is still not there, as is a common tale at this point, and we did definitely see the absence of Nya Reed showing in those vault and floor lineups despite the big total.
3. UCLA Bruins
Average: 197.488
Previous ranking: 2
UCLA dropped a hair behind Florida this week following the traditional perfectly-fine-but-kind-of-flat late January road performance. A 197.225 is still an acceptable score—if this counts UCLA’s annual bad road meet, they’re way ahead of the curve—but the team really only found its footing at the very end with the Ross and Ohashi beam routines that were finally up to the level we’d expect of this squad. The rest of the meet was short final passes and bouncy vaults that often took away a tenth from the potential score. We’re going to have to keep an eye on that Kyla Ross 1.5 again after she struggled the last two meets, this time “the Chamber of Secrets has been opened”-ing her way backward right into the vaulting table. That first-meet stick may have overpromised.
4. Utah Utes
Average: 197.238
Previous ranking: 4
Utah’s season-high 197.375 at Arizona State kept the team comfortably in 4th place this week, still needing a big break-out score to challenge the top 3 but safely ahead of LSU in 5th. For another week, Utah will chalk this one up as normal, acceptable, and a good progress point, but won’t be writing sonnets about this performance. You could see the fatigue creeping in with Skinner landing short on two passes on floor, which she doesn’t do. Though as is part of Utah’s approach this year, these are not final lineups, with every event waiting for someone new or some new difficulty (Reinstadtler was on only bars this week), so Utah will say that if it’s getting 197.375 on the road with B+/A- lineups, that’s solid for the end of the first month.
5. LSU Tigers
Average: 196.981
Previous ranking: 5
LSU will breathe easier having defeated Alabama in Alabama over the weekend. Even though I would say the performance was not dissimilar to the one against Florida the week before, the team will feel like the ship has been righted after this zero-fall victory. Floor is still an issue. As D-D mentioned after the meet, they have to get Desiderio hitting to be as competitive as they need to be, and who the sixth member of that lineup will be is still a big old question mark. Vault was fascinating, wasn’t it? I would say four of the six vaulters did the absolute best vaults they can possibly do (the inconsistency of the scores within that lineup of six, I can barely even talk about) in a lineup that was without Edwards and Priessman this week. Some real “is the 10.0 start worth it?” decisions to make as we go.
Continue reading Week 4 Ranking Notes
