| GEORGIA BULLDOGS |
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| Seniors | ||
| Marissa Oakley |
UB BB |
|
| Emily Schild |
UB |
|
| Juniors | ||
| Sterlyn Austin |
FX |
|
| Rachel Baumann |
VT BB FX |
|
| Rachael Lukacs |
VT UB BB FX |
|
| Mikayla Magee |
VT BB FX |
|
| Alyssa Perez-Lugones |
FX |
|
| Megan Roberts |
VT UB FX |
|
| Abbey Ward |
VT |
|
| Sophomores | ||
| Amanda Cashman |
VT UB FX |
|
| Haley De Jong |
UB BB FX |
|
| Loulie Hattaway |
UB |
|
| Soraya Hawthorne |
VT BB FX |
|
| Freshmen | ||
| Nhyla Bryant |
VT FX |
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| Katie Finnegan |
VT UB BB FX |
|
| Victoria Nguyen |
VT UB BB FX |
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RANKING HISTORY
2020 – 12th
2019 – 8th
2018 – 7th
2017 – 12th
2016 – 6th
2015 – 9th
2014 – 5th
2013 – 6th
2012 – 11th
2011 – 9th
THE 2020 STORY
It’s difficult to do a postmortem on 2020 because we don’t know what might have happened had the season been completed, but Georgia did end up ranked quite low by the team’s standards and was likely en route to elimination in the regional final (or getting upset in the regional semifinal after counting a fall on bars, let’s be honest.) Nationals was unlikely to be in the cards. It was not a Georgia-quality season, and I don’t think that statue of Suzanne would be very pleased to hear about a double-digit ranking.
DEPARTED ROUTINES
Sabrina Vega – VT, UB, BB, FX
INCOMING ROUTINES
Victoria Nguyen – VT, UB, BB, FX
Katie Finnegan – VT, UB, BB, FX
Nhyla Bryant – VT, FX
2021 PROJECTION
Improvement.
Georgia should enjoy a net increase in total routines in 2021, most importantly on bars where some new higher-level options can lift that rotation out of the doldrums and make Georgia less vulnerable to falling out of contention in the first half of conference meets.
VAULT
2020 Event Ranking: 12
| Lineup locks: Rachael Lukacs, Abbey Ward, Katie Finnegan, Mikayla Magee, Soraya Hawthorne |
| Lineup options: Megan Roberts, Nhyla Bryant, Victoria Nguyen, Rachel Baumann, Amanda Cashman |
There’s not too much upheaval in the Georgia vault lineup this year, with only Sabrina Vega’s full departing from last year’s group, which the team should be able to replace without toooo much fuss. Rachael Lukacs will return with her DTY, Abbey Ward will return with her Tsuk full, and the prime potential for new blood comes from Katie Finnegan, who has shown a Yurchenko 1.5 as a Level 10, a vault Georgia will be eager to develop.
To improve on that 12th-place vault ranking from last year, Georgia needs at least one or two of the kinda-sorta-1.5s on this roster to come to fruition. Finnegan has a possibility, Megan Roberts vaulted a few times last season but it was inconsistent for her, and Mikayla Magee has a Jim-and-Pam situation going on with her own 1.5. If those athletes end up having to play it safe and go for fulls, Georgia is looking at a very similar vaulting outlook to last season, but if a few of those 1.5s come through, Georgia can create a nationals-competitive lineup. The best-case-scenario six here looks like Lukacs, Finnegan, Roberts, Ward, Magee, and Hawthorne, but there are a number of other reasonable fulls on the roster, and I expect we’ll see a few of them from time to time.
BARS
2020 Event Ranking: 23
| Lineup locks: Marissa Oakley, Megan Roberts, Victoria Nguyen, Katie Finnegan, Haley De Jong |
| Lineup options: Loulie Hattway, Rachael Lukacs, Emily Schild, Amanda Cashman |
Georgia’s bars rotation from 2020 can be described only as a harrowing adventure in self-harm.
In several respects, things look better in 2021. Both Victoria Nguyen and Katie Finnegan have buckets of bars talent and are expected to make the lineup, providing upgrades over the rougher routines that had to count last season. If that new duo can join the three cleaner returning routines from Oakley, Roberts, and De Jong, Georgia at least has a five that the team can feel a more comfortable with.
The problem there (besides the fact that five is not six) is the lingering impression left from Georgia’s final bars routine in the 2020 season—Marissa Oakley’s shoulder imploding for 7.800. If Oakley’s shoulder isn’t able to withstand another full season of bars routines, that would leave Georgia too sparse again. The more the team has to rely on the routines beyond that main five this season, the ones that sometimes got 9.800 last year but really should have scored 9.650s, they more likely bars is to remain a weakness.
Of course, Emily Schild also remains on the roster, someone who has the talent to be a major bars score, but she has been able to compete so infrequently these last couple years that I don’t think you can count on anything there.
BEAM
2020 Event Ranking: 8
| Lineup locks: Victoria Nguyen, Rachel Baumann, Mikayla Magee, Haley De Jong, Marissa Oakley |
| Lineup options: Katie Finnegan, Soraya Hawthorne, Rachael Lukacs |
Beam was certainly Georgia’s most aesthetically pleasant event to watch last season, and that trend should continue in 2021. Despite losing the anchor routine from Sabrina Vega, Georgia will introduce Victoria Nguyen to the fold, one of the most talented American beam workers of the last decade. Nguyen should be the score that Vega was. She has the ability to merit 10s.
Rachel Baumann, Mikayla Magee, Haley De Jong, and Marissa Oakley were all quite successful last season and should return to the lineup comfortably (we’ll see if Magee gets a more elevated position because I’d consider her the best beamer of all the returners). That’s an easy five.
Rachael Lukacs served as an effective plug in the lineup last season, though Katie Finnegan can present a competitive option that may snatch the sixth spot, and Soraya Hawthorne’s originality like her kickover from knee makes that a routine you always want to see—and one with higher scoring potential if the consistency is there. There aren’t a ton of beam routines on this roster, but enough viable options exist that Georgia should be able to withstand any unforeseen circumstances and maintain the quality from last season, or upgrade slightly.
FLOOR
2020 Event Ranking: 7
| Lineup locks: Rachael Lukacs, Soraya Hawthorne, Megan Roberts, Mikayla Magee |
| Lineup options: Alyssa Perez-Lugones, Katie Finnegan, Rachel Baumann, Victoria Nguyen, Nhyla Bryant, Amanda Cashman, Haley De Jong, Sterlyn Austin |
Floor ranked as Georgia’s most competitive event last season, which promotes confidence in this year’s lineup even though it will most feel the absence of Vega and probably has the haziest picture as to who will actually compete.
Still, Georgia’s roster is full of enough believable routines that something solid should come together. Rachael Lukacs will have the strongest tumbling, Soraya Hawthorne will return to the back of the lineup, and you ideally want those piked full-ins from Megan Roberts and Mikayla Magee in the six regularly. Alyssa Perez-Lugones carved out a nice little 9.8 niche for herself last season that should still be useful to the team this year, and Rachel Baumann was scoring similarly in her appearances.
To some extent, the situation is similar to vault, where if Roberts and Magee can compete consistently with their full difficulty, that suddenly makes Georgia’s opportunity for improvement quite realistic, despite losing Vega.
Plenty of additional options exist to fill out the lineup or replace people as needed, and any of the freshmen could see time. Katie Finnegan is a clean twister with a front 2/1, Victoria Nguyen is Victoria Nguyen as long as she can still floor (which is not a guarantee), and Nhyla Bryant has a competitive repertoire of mid-level difficulty. There’s easily the most opportunity for competitive mixing and matching on this event, which is cause for…non-terror.
Kupets was lucky that last season was cut short- it was starting to look really bad for Georgia. If she has another season of falling short of potential/talent, it will be interesting what they would do.
I don’t think we’ll get a full assessment of Georgia until they stay healthy for a year. They’ve had to many injuries for a team with role players instead of AAers. If Oakley, Child, and Cash and are healthy they’ll at least have enough bodies to rotate girls on the bars to preserve a post season line up. I actually think a healthy cash and is their most important gymnast because that gives them 9.8-9.85 lead-off as opposed to 9.75s on 3 and having to burn the Magee beam routine as a lead-off. I’m also standing Nguyen. I hope they can use her wisely.
Cashman was auto corrected to Cash…
I would consider a team that is constantly injured to also be a sign that the coach is doing something wrong. There are definitely fluke injuries and plenty of gymnasts that come in with broken bodies, but when it is happening all the time, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
I would say even healthy Schild they didn’t get to develop to be consistent or to her potential on bars. Oakley was also very inconsistent pre shoulder issues. Hawthorne who came in healthy was also bouncing all over her landings, which should have show improvement during the season but didn’t. I’d say for the healthy athletes, it was still short of potential, whether key players not being consistent/confident or execution deductions (bars, not sticking landings).
In terms of reaching potential, I would say the key players that need to get there are: Hawthorne (need to get that DTY as she’s bouncing all over the place anywhere with her FTY; floor landings; need more beam steadiness). Magee, need to move her back in the beam lineup, she is the best one. Get Cashman or DeJong to be rock beamers so they can lead off, and get the trifecta of Magee, Nguyen and Baumann at the end. Can we also get Oakley just mentally consistent please – she is the most talented one and should be getting auto 10s on beam and bars. Finnegan also can be a star, will be a test to see if she can be developed to be the high 9.8s that can set up the execution queens. Roberts should be a beast on not just bars, but also floor. These are all the key players. I didn’t mention Lucaks but only because I think she’s always been the most mentally strong one. She only needs more execution on vault in terms of consistently sticking and hopefully she can get those 9.95+ anchor scores she deserves.
Also if Schild is delivering a bars routine that really ups their potential too
The big fat UB coach made Marissa remount the bars after she was obviously injured. Fat people are so insensitive.
If Georgia wants to get back to a National Championship contender they need to start on the recruiting trail. Then fix their social media it is terrible. Lots of photos of Athens, photos
Shoots, etc. if they want people to get excited about team show some actual gymnastics. Updates on intrasquads. People want to see routines or at least 1/2 routines, not just a blip of a single element.
They need to take lessons from Florida on social media. They showed nearly full routines from every athlete on all events this week! Sad the Georgia needs lessons when they used to always be ahead if everyone in terms of promotions.