Friday Live Blog – March 6, 2020

Friday, March 6
Scores Stream
7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT – [23] Illinois @ [13] Kentucky LINK SEC+
7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT – Maryland, George Washington @ Towson LINK FREE
7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT – Cornell, Southern Connecticut @ Rutgers LINK  
7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT – Bowling Green, Penn, West Chester @ Temple LINK FREE
7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT – Illinois State @ Northern Illinois LINK NIU($)
7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT – Air Force, SEMO @ Lindenwood LINK FREE
7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT – Gymnix Senior Team & AA LINK FREE
7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT – Iowa @ [20] Iowa State LINK ISU($)
8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT – Nastia Liukin Pinksplosion Starring Nastia as Nastia LINK Oly
8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT – [6] LSU, [17] Arkansas, Centenary @ TWU LINK FREE
8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT – [5] Michigan @ [1] Oklahoma LINK FSOK
9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT – Stanford @ [4] Utah LINK FREE
9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT – Arizona State @ [24] Arizona LINK FREE
9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT – [17] BYU @ Utah State LINK FREE
10:00pm ET/7:00pm PT – [12] Washington @ [14] Oregon State LINK FREE

Among the first group of meets, Illinois/Kentucky is the ranked matchup, but keep an eye on what Northern Illinois gets up to as well. Currently, NIU is well back in 42nd, but another 196 this week would be enough to gain some ground and get into the regionals conversation. George Washington, as well, will be looking for a season-high 196 in the early action, though GW’s peak score is not as high as NIU’s. Both are currently well on the outside of regionals spots and need a huge result.

Gymnix is really leaning into this whole TWO SEPARATE opening ceremony performances thing. The Mag 7 during the Atlanta gala vibes are strong.

Continue reading Friday Live Blog – March 6, 2020

Things Are Happening – March 6, 2020

A. Coronastics

Here’s the latest rundown on the status of events in reaction to the coronavirus:

  1. A day after the US announced that it’s too scary to go to Italy, the Jesolo competition officially self-canceled. Fear not, that weekend was already packed with NCAA regionals and the Tokyo world cup (maybe…), so you won’t suddenly be left with no gymnastics excuses to get out of doing things.
  2. The US also said there will be an alternate competition opportunity at camp that weekend for those American gymnasts who would have gone to Jesolo, and I don’t know what that means. You don’t get an international assignment in Italy, but to make up for it, you have to spend a weekend in Indianapolis…?
  3. Doha has announced a 14-day quarantine period for those entering Qatar from China, South Korea, Egypt (?), Iran, and Italy. This was announced 13 days before qualification begins at the Doha Apparatus World Cup. So that’s not ideal.
  4. Vanessa Ferrari said on the socials that the Italians won’t be going to Doha as a result. That has potentially huge implications for the Olympic floor spot, but if the Italians do end up competing in Baku the week right before, they can still lock most other competitors out before Doha. People like Bachynska and even Pihan-Kulesza will nonetheless feel like a door has been cracked open slightly.
  5. Doha also announced that its world cup event will be held behind closed doors. Attendance is expected to remain constant at zero.
  6. All other FIG events are currently slated to continue as scheduled, and everyone (except Russia) successfully arrived at the American Cup. But if anyone falls, it’s the coronavirus’s fault.
Continue reading Things Are Happening – March 6, 2020