Typically, this is an account of the routines that received a 10 from at least one judge, but as there were just three of those in week one (ahh, a light week), I’ll take us through everything that received a 10 or a 9.950 from at least one judge. And by me, I mean Gymnastea on YouTube.
Kiya Johnson – Floor – LSU
Trinity Thomas – Vault – Florida
Haleigh Bryant – Floor – LSU
Score: 197.500
Florida edged Oklahoma to take the top spot in the season’s first rankings, largely on the strength of a beam rotation that picked up right where it left off last season. Overall, Florida recorded ten scores in the 9.9s, compared to Oklahoma’s five. Ellie Lazzari made an encouraging debut with two scores in the 9.9s, and Trinity Thomas leads the national all-around standings with her opening 39.750.
Score: 197.450
Oklahoma came up just shy of Florida but showed a complete and even first-meet performance with no counting score lower than 9.825. Freshman Katherine Levasseur led the entire team on bars with a 9.925, and Audrey Lynn—who never scored better than 9.650 on vault as a L10—upgraded to a handspring pike 1/2 to tie for the highest vault score with 9.875. Despite the second-place position, this week’s score is .150 higher than Oklahoma’s debut score from last season, which had the team in first place.
Score: 196.900
Utah will comfortably accept a near-197 performance in the first meet, a showing that encountered a few minor bugs but also featured competitive debuts from Rucker and Stanhope, on vault and floor—though with downgraded vaults, so watch that space. Unsurprisingly, beam shone as Utah’s strongest event score, even with some shaky early-lineup routines.
Score: 196.850
Alabama will be among the teams most pleased with its first-meet performance, securely withstanding falls here and there to score competitively, and keeping pace on floor even with a half-missing lineup. Sophomore Mati Waligora stole the show in her debut with a Y1.5 and a 9.925 on beam, though Shania Adams also comported herself smoothly in an all-around debut, and Makarri Doggette was excellent in her two appearances. A rough performance from Emily Gaskins may jeopardize her lineup spots as more gymnasts add back events, so keep an eye on that.
Score: 196.550
LSU isn’t ranked poorly but won’t be particularly pleased with a first-meet performance that nearly saw the team fall to Arkansas. Shaky beam routines from some unexpected characters, as well as a generally rough day for Shchennikova, took LSU’s total down, and the team required some serious saving from Haleigh Bryant and Kiya Johnson on floor to get the win (their scores were too high, but even scored normally, those routines would have been enough for the win). The sublime three-event debut from Bryant will rank as the major highlight for LSU.
Continue reading Week 1 Rankings
