[wptb id=71377]

RANKING HISTORY
2021 – 5th
2020 – 8th
2019 – 12th
2018 – 8th
2017 – 6th
2016 – 3rd
2015 – 4th
2014 – 4th
2013 – 3rd
2012 – 1st

2021 IN REVIEW

After appearing on track to take the loooong plummet to obscurity only a couple years ago, Alabama has orchestrated a resurgence, and 2021 will go down as the team’s best performance in at least a half decade. The season started in the fine-but-normal category until a mid-February upset of LSU signaled there was more going on here than expected. Alabama ultimately managed a 5th-place finish, coming just .025 shy of reaching the championship, and scored yet another major upset at the SEC Championship by knocking off both Florida and LSU.

DEPARTED ROUTINES

Alonza Klopfer – BB, FX
Jensie Givens – UB

THE NEW ONES

Alabama introduces three first years this season, and while four-event anchor stardom doesn’t seem to be the path, the team will be hoping to get key-spot contribution out of a couple of them. Jordyn Paradise finished 2nd on vault at L10 Nationals in 2021 with a Yurchenko 1.5 that Alabama will aim to get into the lineup to reconfirm the path to a full six of 10.0 starts. Her big tumbling may make for a similarly compelling option on floor with the right leap selection, and her bars results befit someone who could believably slot into that lineup as well. 

Lilly Hudson should be the type that gives the team a realistic option on four events (and she did compete all four at Alabama’s preview last week). The former junior elite has a beam that looks believable for the lineup depending on how many spots are available, a clean early-lineup-type bars routine, and beautiful twisting form on floor…if that were a thing that got rewarded ever. Corinne Bunagan competed at worlds in 2018 for the Philippines after a short venture as a junior elite in the US herself and will be looking to contribute to Alabama’s lineup or depth supply on bars and beam, with beam probably ranking as her most likely contribution.

2022 PROJECTION

Even.

For Alabama, the 2022 lineups shouldn’t be markedly different from 2021. A couple routines are gone—they’ll miss Klopfer’s beam, though it’s not irreplaceable—but the team should be getting a vault or two, a floor or two, etc, so that the overall depth increases to prevent any obvious dips in scoring potential.

Alabama probably isn’t favored to improve on that 2021 finish and make the championship this year but will remain in the next tier of frontrunners, those expected to reach nationals without too much drama. The concern about staying roughly the same in 2022 will be the potential of getting passed up by all the improving teams this year, so Alabama will be looking for a little more out of some of those juniors and seniors this year to provide those juicy surprise scoring upgrades.

BY EVENT

VAULT

2021 Event Ranking: 5

Lineup locks: Lexi Graber, Luisa Blanco, Shallon Olsen, Kaylee Quinn, Jordyn Paradise

Lineup options: Mati Waligora, Shania Adams, Lilly Hudson, Emily Gaskins, Sania Mitchell

Alabama will have more than six gymnasts on the roster capable of a 10.0-start, with the question looming as to whether enough of them can get into the lineup to keep the Tide on track with the best vaulting teams. Lexi Graber and Luisa Blanco will return with the team’s best 1.5s, both of which should rack up plenty of 9.9s, and look for Kaylee Quinn’s 1.5 to return as well, ideally joined by newcomer Jordyn Paradise (though word of a wrist injury is not ideal).

The Shallon Olsen DTY adventure doesn’t always pay off and is sometimes a 9.775, but it’s not really a situation where a difficulty downgrade would result in a better score, so just put it in the lineup and hope it’s a good landing day for at least 9.875. Mati Waligora found her Y1.5 last season for consistent 9.8s, which should be another likely choice this season. Theoretically, Shania Adams would seem a necessary option, though she was too inconsistent last season to make the championship lineup. Alabama may not need to take the risk with Adams this time unless she has found the landing.

There will be other 9.95 starts to work with, like the full from Gaskins and a Y1/2 from Mitchell, which should be 9.8-able and can slot in if any of the 10.0s don’t work out. Still, the name of the game for the top teams this year will be all 10.0 starts or bust since so many teams are realistically capable of it this year. Meanwhile, I’ve probably given up hope on the Makarri Doggette Y1.5, and I’m not happy about it.

BARS

2021 Event Ranking: 8

Lineup locks: Luisa Blanco, Makarri Doggette, Shania Adams

Lineup options: Cameron Machado, Emily Gaskins, Mati Waligora, Lilly Hudson, Jordyn Paradise, Lexi Graber, Corinne Bunagan

Bars could present a conundrum for Alabama this year because, aside from a couple massive scores at the home regional, the bars lineup was middling 49.3s most of last season and doesn’t look to have a drastic upgrade in store this season. Still, the top group of Blanco, Doggette, and Adams should get big scores (if they haven’t gone 9.9, it was a miss), which would carry the lineup to at least a fairly comfortable place.

As for the rest of the spots, Alabama will be without Jensie Givens this year and will be looking for a couple of the other returners to transform their 9.8s into something closer to 9.9s. Machado was a mainstay in the lineup last season, so expect her to return, and when Gaskins is able to go on bars, she has typically been one of the best scorers on the team with 9.9s to show for it. I’d say the goal this year should be to get Gaskins in there consistently and have Mati Waligora continue to grow into the 9.9ing bars worker she can be (even if it means going without the DLO 1/1), but all the first years will also present possibilities and wouldn’t be surprising entrants.

BEAM

2021 Event Ranking: 6

Lineup locks: Luisa Blanco, Lexi Graber

Lineup options: Emily Gaskins, Shania Adams, Makarri Doggette, Lilly Hudson, Shallon Olsen, Mati Waligora, Corinne Bugagan, Ella Burgess, Cameron Machado

Alabama’s beam should be a strong event this year, but it’s also an unusual case in that beyond Blanco and Graber, I wouldn’t feel at all confident about any specific individual making this lineup. Blanco and Graber are going to get 9.9s—10 can be an option for Blanco—but beyond them, Alabama has about four dozen maybes fighting it out for the remaining spots.

That’s not to say that all those maybes are at the same level. Reaching final-four-level success for Alabama this season will hinge on ensuring that the most talented beamers are actually hitting consistently enough to make the lineup and get the 9.9s their ability warrants, and yes I am talking about Shania Adams. Her beam execution is too strong for her to be a borderline option who misses the championship lineup or who wobbles for 9.7s. Similar is true for Makarri Doggette, who went 9.925 in the very first meet last season and ended up not making the nationals beam lineup. Alabama needs the highest-ceiling athletes in this lineup, even though there are enough beamers on this roster to make two lineups of 9.800+ scores. Those who can 9.9 are rarer geese. 

FLOOR

2021 Event Ranking: 13

Lineup locks: Lexi Graber, Luisa Blanco, Shania Adams, Shallon Olsen

Lineup options: Emily Gaskins, Griffin James, Lilly Hudson, Jordyn Paradise, Sania Mitchell, Makarri Doggette, Mati Waligora

In 2021, Alabama settled for a surprisingly low ranking on floor for a team that really has no business producing a teens-level lineup, but floor was slow to start and kind of erratic much of last season. There’s the possibility of newcomer upgrade in 2022 as Jordyn Paradise brings a double Arabian and Lilly Hudson brings the aforementioned twists. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either jump into some of the questionable spots in this lineup. 

The non-questionable spots belong to Lexi Graber, Luisa Blanco, Shania Adams, and probably Shallon Olsen. As on beam, Graber and Blanco will rack up the 9.9s, while Adams should continue to progress as a floor worker in her second season, and Olsen is too talented a tumbler not to be there. I’m sort of interested to see what “I’m no longer also training for the Olympics at the same time” Olsen looks like this season. But as on vault, sometimes all that difficulty coalesces into a 9.7 for Olsen, and that’s the kind of inconsistent scoring that kept Alabama 13th on floor last season.

In the 9.9 department, watch out for Griffin James. She finished last season with three straight 9.900s, which made a great case for her to return to the lineup this time around. That’s the kind of unexpected 9.9 Alabama needs to get floor up to a level that can beat some top-4 teams.

[wptb id=72035]

RANKING HISTORY
2021 – 3rd
2020 – 4th
2019 – 7th
2018 – 5th
2017 – 5th
2016 – 9th
2015 – 2nd
2014 – 7th
2013 – 9th
2012 – 5th

2021 IN REVIEW

The 2021 season was, in all respects, a victory for Utah. A run of 12 consecutive 197s to end the season, reaching the final four, and coming less than three tenths from a championship was a big deal. But more than a good year, the 2021 effort (continuing on from the 2020 partial season) seemed to signal a broader change of tier as Utah moved back to the big time. 

For most of the last decade+, Utah has been stuck in the secondary tier of contenders: definitely one of the top teams, favored to make Super Six, but not a likely champion, probably going to finish fifth. (Even in 2015, that second-place finish was a huge surprise rather than the expectation for that roster.) Now, Utah is starting to look like a winner again. 

DEPARTED ROUTINES

Emilie LeBlanc – UB, BB

THE NEW ONES

It has been a long time since Utah had a class this full of elites, and expect to see a big ol’ heap of routines coming out of this first-year class of four. Olympian Grace McCallum is a sure bet to deliver huge scores in college, particularly on bars and floor. But also all of the events. The noteworthy compositional development of Friday’s Red Rocks Preview was McCallum vaulting the round-off 1/2 on tuck 1/2, which we haven’t seen from her since qualification at 2018 worlds. I’m enjoying this trend of elites coming to college and not doing their Yurchenkos. It’s an interesting choice as it’s a difficult vault to stick and maintain toe point on, but if it seems more likely to get scores for her than a Y1.5…

Kara Eaker has all the tools necessary to be one of the best in college gymnastics, where the removal of some of those elite-level compositional trouble skills will allow her beautiful gymnastic ability to stand by itself without caveat. And I don’t just mean those infamous ring elements. Eaker spent much of 2021 vaulting the tucked Yurchenko 1.5, which was kind of an issue for elite but would be a great 10.0-start option for a college lineup. Obviously, best-in-the-country beam is a given, but there’s a good chance we’ll see her make all four lineups.

British elite and now Olympic medalist Amelie Morgan is another who should provide at least a possibility on most or all of the events. Because her difficulty is not going to be as high on vault and floor, I’d rank those as less likely for her, but on bars and beam—the events that got her onto the Olympic team—she’ll make a compelling case for the six. Calm and solidity on beam has been the hallmark for Morgan as an elite (so of course she was the one who fell in the Olympic TF), and you’d normally consider her a lock there if that lineup weren’t going to be so hard to make.

The lone non-elite in the group is Sage Thompson, though in terms of potential college contribution, we shouldn’t see a large gap between her and the others. There are plenty of top teams where Thompson would compete the all-around in college. Probably not this one, but do expect to see her in the final bars lineup, and floor should present a compelling possibility given the supply of E passes she has to work with.

2022 PROJECTION

Improvement.

Utah has lost so little in terms of routines, while bringing in three top-quality elites, that it’s difficult to envision this team going anywhere but up in 2022. Every lineup receives an upgrade, in some cases a significant one, and Utah will be a favorite to reach the championship again this season.

The one question is, how much room is there left to grow? Utah finished third last year and is going to be better this year but will also be running up against the likes of Florida in very much the same position, as well as defending champion Michigan, and Oklahoma, and and and…

Given the national circumstances, it’s possible that Utah gets better and finishes in the same place as last season. The realistic high for this team this season is a championship, but it’s going to take all this talent fully translating into healthy, refined lineups where skill difficulty is matched by execution and all the best scorers (*cough*, most famous names, *cough* this sport is fine) are all there at the same time.

BY EVENT

VAULT

2021 Event Ranking: 7

Lineup locks: Alexia Burch, Jaedyn Rucker, Grace McCallum, Cammy Hall

Lineup options: Lucy Stanhope, Kara Eaker, Maile O’Keefe, Cristal Isa, Alani Sabado, Amelie Morgan

Utah looks to have a pathway to six 10.0 starts on vault this year, which would be an upgrade over the 2021 lineup that started with a couple Yfulls. Four Y1.5s should return from last season with Alexia Burch, Jaedyn Rucker, Lucy Stanhope, and Cammy Hall. It’s not a guarantee—there were a number of times last season that Maile O’Keefe’s full outscored some of those 1.5s and would be the stronger choice—but the intent will be to have all of those 10.0 starts back in the six.

McCallum’s Servente (the round-off 1/2 on tuck 1/2, but that takes so long to type that it’s never going to happen in a live blog, so let’s go with Servente) will be expected to join a lineup that would also love to have an Eaker vault to round out a full complement of 10.0s. But as mentioned, O’Keefe’s full could very well get in there again, and Cristal Isa vaulted every week last season for mostly 9.8s. An upgrade to the vault score this year probably involves Isa getting bumped from the lineup in favor of a 10.0, but if all the 10.0s don’t materialize, Utah will at least enjoy the options to keep vault on pace with last year’s scores.

BARS

2021 Event Ranking: 15

Lineup locks: Maile O’Keefe, Grace McCallum, Cristal Isa, Sage Thompson

Lineup options: Kara Eaker, Amelie Morgan, Abby Paulson, Alani Sabado, Alexia Burch, Jaedyn Rucker, Lucy Stanhope

Bars is the event most in need of upgrade from last season—and most likely to get it. Maile O’Keefe and Cristal Isa are the only returners whose lineup spots should be considered safe as both are going to get at least as many 9.9s as not. But as for the rest of the lineup, it was far too 9.825y last season and needs a refresh. The best-case bars team probably has the four first-years joining O’Keefe and Isa in the final six.

We’ll definitely see McCallum, who is going big with three E elements and a full point of bonus this year. She doesn’t need nearly all of that, but the composition is infinitely manageable for her. It’s the kind of routine where, if you were to make it less difficult, you’d be adding in more cast handstands, and it would probably score lower. Sage Thompson will also stand out in this lineup for her legs-together positions on her Pak, Shaposh, and DLO. She could end up being one of the best scorers.

It’s not a definite that we’ll see Eaker here—she did not do bars or vault at the preview—but when considering a potential college routine, she has the smooth Jaeger, Pak, DLO work to make a very clean set. Amelie Morgan should provide another option (of note, she’s retaining the Bhardwaj), and we’ll see if that outscores some of the returning 9.8s, or whether Paulson, Burch, and Sabado are still part of the top-scoring six. Paulson did look like part of the cleanest six at the RRP.  

BEAM

2021 Event Ranking: 3

Lineup locks: Kara Eaker, Maile O’Keefe, Abby Paulson, Cristal Isa, Adrienne Randall

Lineup options: Grace McCallum, Alexia Burch, Amelie Morgan, Lucy Stanhope, Sage Thompson

Beam was easily Utah’s best event again last season and isn’t really in need of new routines for 2022. Too bad, you got em. Coming up with a six is going to be a real bloodbath. Clearly, Kara Eaker is going to be there. If she’s not getting 9.950+, you did it wrong. I would have also considered McCallum a 100% lock for this lineup before the preview, but she didn’t necessarily show a top-6 quality routine there. I still think she makes it and that she needs to make it. Essential for Utah’s quest to be a championship team again is ensuring that the people with the most talent and most scoring potential are actually in the lineup and able to live up to it. “Grace McCallum got the second-best beam score for the US in the Olympic team final but didn’t happen to make the Utah lineup” isn’t the path.

Amelie Morgan is showing an enjoyable round-off back handspring + layout stepout mount series that made her go up a couple notches in the Official BBS Notch Standings. As long as Utah has workable jumps for her, she makes a very compelling case. But which gymnasts do all of these new routines knock out? From last year’s final beam lineup, Stanhope will have an uphill climb to come back, and Burch may get pushed out (even though she got three 9.9s last season, a couple from the leadoff spot), but even if both become backups, that’s still seven people to cram into six spots. Eesh.

FLOOR

2021 Event Ranking: 4

Lineup locks: Sydney Soloski, Grace McCallum, Jaedyn Rucker, Maile O’Keefe

Lineup options: Kara Eaker, Abby Paulson, Lucy Stanhope, Sage Thompson, Amelie Morgan, Cristal Isa, Adrienne Randall,

Utah has a solid floor group returning, one that scored well last season, but also one that could use some upgrades from the first-year class. McCallum will surely be in the lineup given her tumbling, delivering the best scores along with Soloski and Rucker. That’s a new 9.9 right there. Meanwhile, Eaker’s ability to deliver quick and clean twisting skills should provide for plenty of pass options and another irresistible entry. We didn’t see Thompson on floor at the preview, but I would also keep her in mind as another viable first-year option. If there’s room, at least. Considering that Soloski, Rucker, and O’Keefe should all be locks to return and that Paulson was starting to go consistently 9.875 and 9.900 last season, there may not be too many openings for new athletes.

But also, given the national landscape, 9.875 is not a floor-lock kind of score anymore. It’s 9.9+ or bust. Weekly 49.500 is the expectation.

As on vault, I’d say Isa probably gets knocked out of the floor lineup this year, though she’ll remain an option. Lucy Stanhope is a compelling choice but will have to show consistency with landings to get in there, and sadly I doubt we’ll see much of Jaylene Gilstrap. She was touch-and-go last season and then appeared at the RRP in a boot. We weep for the leaps we miss.

[wptb id=71920]

RANKING HISTORY
2021 – 2nd
2020 – 1st
2019 – 1st
2018 – 2nd
2017 – 1st
2016 – 1st
2015 – 3rd
2014 – 1st
2013 – 2nd
2012 – 7th

2021 IN REVIEW

Insofar as 2021 proved to be one of those years where Oklahoma didn’t win—despite being ranked #1 heading into the postseason and recording the highest score in both the regional finals and the national semifinals—last season counts as a miss. Oklahoma is the juggernaut, the team everyone wants to beat, and we saw two critical occasions in 2021 where the typically indomitable Sooners were favored to dash the dreams of the plucky underdog—the conference championship against Denver and the national championship against Michigan—but left the door open instead.

Still, you know, four consecutive 198s to end the season and an NQS of 197.944. What a bad job.  

DEPARTED ROUTINES

Anastasia Webb – VT, UB, BB, FX
Evy Schoepfer – VT, BB, FX
Jordan Draper – UB, FX

THE NEW ONES

There is some hand-wringing over whether the Sooners can keep up the quality this year because they are the lone championship contender to have lost measurable routines from last season, losses that include their top all-arounder and 8 of the 24 routines from nationals. The other top teams are almost entirely adding, but Oklahoma is definitely subtracting as well.  

These concerns could prove to be unfounded because of Jordan Bowers. Bowers has the capability to hit the ground running and just fully be Anastasia Webb, getting those same types of scores in the all-around and mitigating what currently seems like a massive loss to the lineups. While Bowers’ leaving elite a few years ago means she doesn’t currently have the name recognition of some of the other elites starting NCAA this year, she has everything necessary to become national all-around champion.

Oklahoma will also look to get multi-routine contribution out of Danielle Sievers and Moorea Linker. That neither gymnast competed at Oklahoma’s intrasquad last weekend could…present an issue since the Sooners’ are absolutely relying on specific routines from both of them. Time will tell there. Ideally, both Sievers and Linker will bring Yurchenko 1.5s to ensure that the vault lineup is full of 10.0 starts again, as well as floor routines with wow-factor E elements to upgrade a six that didn’t live up to expectations last year. Beautiful bars handstands are another hallmark of both of their routines that look like reasonable bets for a lineup as long as there’s room, and beam will be an option as well. Sievers’ double tuck dismount there could set her apart.

Don’t expect to see as much from the other three new athletes, but Caitin Kirkpatrick could be the next in that long line of walk-ons from Bart Connor’s who suddenly makes the beam lineup and is amazing. That’s her closest event. Amy Weir is probably also closest on beam (dismounting a back tuck full from the side), while bars would be the project event for Madison Snook to get her into a lineup at some point.

2022 PROJECTION

Regression.

Oklahoma in 2022 provides one of the most challenging characterizations because on the one hand, the atmospheric circumstances are less encouraging than usual for the Sooners given the quality of athlete that Florida, Utah, and UCLA is bringing in with all that post-Olympic-season glow, combined with the critical routines the Sooners have lost. If there’s a year when it’s actually safe to predict Oklahoma not winning, this is the year.

On the other hand, this Oklahoma first-year class seems pretty under-the-radar in its talent level, featuring three athletes who profile as college gymnastics stars, potentially in the all-around. If Oklahoma has Bowers, Sievers, and Linker all going, you see the pathway to replacing all of last year’s lost scores, and then some, with reasonable improvements on a couple events as the team 198s all over the place again.

But because Oklahoma is somewhat heavily reliant on people who haven’t gone before and/or who didn’t appear at all at the intrasquad, there’s more room for things to go not perfectly, even if the team remains a favorite to make the top four. 

BY EVENT

VAULT

2021 Event Ranking: 3

Lineup locks: Olivia Trautman, Jordan Bowers, Allie Stern, Katherine Levasseur

Lineup options: Danielle Sievers, Audrey Davis, Moorea Linker, Audrey Lynn, Sheridan Ramsey, Danae Fletcher, Meilin Sullivan, Emma LaPinta, Ragan Smith

Oklahoma’s pathway to a top-scoring vault lineup looks pretty clear once again, with a definite possibility of six 10.0 starts and a few to spare. Olivia Trautman is always going to have to be managed in her numbers, but she can get 10s when she’s there. Allie Stern brings OU’s top returning Y1.5 week-to-week from last year, Levasseur went every meet last season with her Y1.5, and Bowers looks like a lock to join the lineup with her Y1.5. Oklahoma has two 9.950+ vaults to replace from last season, so the Bowers addition is critical.

The 1.5 from Dnaielle Sievers is very clean with top-3-in-the-lineup potential, and both she and Moorea Linker received 10s for their vaults in L10 this year (there’s a bonus in L10 so your Y1.5 doesn’t have to be perfect to get a 10). Audrey Davis vaulted weekly last season, sometimes with a full, sometimes with a 1.5 that got a couple 9.9s, so expect to see her again, and Oklahoma will also count on getting Audrey Lynn back with her handspring pike 1/2. Lynn vaulted once last season before getting injured, but she’s back now and should provide another 10.0 start to keep the lineup pretty full of them even when everyone can’t go.

Two athletes who didn’t compete last season—Sheridan Ramsey and Danae Fletcher—both showed Yfulls at Oklahoma’s intrasquad that seem like perfectly reasonable options and should see some time as needed during the season.

BARS

2021 Event Ranking: 4

Lineup locks: Jordan Bowers, Audrey Davis, Karrie Thomas, Katherine Levasseur, Ragan Smith

Lineup options: Moorea Linker, Danielle Sievers, Olivia Trautman, Danae Fletcher, Bell Johnson, Meilin Sullivan, Madison Snook, Vanessa Deniz

I’d rank bars as Oklahoma most exciting event in 2022, with Audrey Davis’s anchor set now joined by Jordan Bowers, who has been strewing 10.0-level routines all over the internet this preseason. Here, Oklahoma shouldn’t suffer a loss in scores compared to last year. Given how many locks there appear to be for this lineup, it’s going to be a tough one to break into, even for very talented bars workers. Katherine Levasseur went into the 9.9s six times last season, while Karrie Thomas did so five times, feats which should keep both of them toward the top of the depth chart. Ragan Smith will surely return to the lineup as well, seeing as it’s Ragan Smith and all, even though her NQS last season was, gasp, below 9.9.

That’s already pretty much the entirety of a lineup, and it does not include Linker or Sievers, both of whom had L10 routines that looked ready to be translated to college without major adjustment. Also don’t overlook Olivia Trautman for the final bars lineup. Because it’s theoretically her #4 event, bars can seem like an afterthought, but she’s absolutely in the 9.900s conversation. Even though we didn’t see her last season, Danae Fletcher is another who has the content and amplitude to make it into the Oklahoma bars lineup, and Meilin Sullivan (returning from missing 2021 with COVID) excelled on bars as a L10 gymnast.

BEAM

2021 Event Ranking: 2

Lineup locks: Ragan Smith, Carly Woodard, Audrey Davis, Olivia Trautman, Karrie Thomas

Lineup options: Jordan Bowers, Jenna Dunn, Katherine Levasseur, Danielle Sievers, Moorea Linker, Caitlin Kirkpatrick, Vanessa Deniz, Meilin Sullivan

Beam may end up the event with the least turnover from last year, which would suit Oklahoma just fine as that 2021 group fulfilled the Oklahoma beam legacy of being the team’s strongest lineup. Only Anastasia Webb doesn’t return from last season’s final beam lineup, and given the replacement option of Karrie Thomas, who probably would have been in that championship beam lineup if healthy at the time considering the 9.9s she had been getting, Oklahoma could be in a good place on beam even with entirely returners.

But also I’d 100% have Jordan Bowers in this lineup. She’ll need to be up there with Carly Woodard and Ragan Smith getting the weekly 9.9s to keep this event on top. Audrey Davis should only grow into the beam lineup in her second season, and Olivia Trautman has been the lineup-steadying leadoff for her entire career. Jenna Dunn, who acted in the leadoff role last season when Trautman wasn’t available, should see time once again and provide a realistic final-lineup option. Levasseur is very capable on beam and may see time as she continues, though she competed only once last season for 9.125. Linker and Sievers are probably in that same category. It could happen, but it will be tough to stay in this lineup for anyone who isn’t 9.9ing.    

FLOOR

2021 Event Ranking: 6

Lineup locks: Olivia Trautman, Ragan Smith, Jordan Bowers

Lineup options: Danielle Sievers, Emma LaPinta, Moorea Linker, Katherine Levasseur, Bell Johnson, Danae Fletcher, Audrey Davis, Carly Woodard, Vanessa Deniz, Meilin Sullivan

Oklahoma finished 2nd to Michigan in the final last year for two reasons: Michigan bringing better Yurchenko 1.5 landings on the day, and Oklahoma’s early floor lineup looking uncertain and 9.8y by comparison. While the vault situation was more a day-of, “that’s sports” scenario, the floor lineup was sparse for Oklahoma pretty much the entire year and is most in need of renovation for the 2022 season if the Sooners are to avoid a dip.

Oklahoma’s floor could be very strong in 2022, but that strength is dependent on a number of touch-and-go options. Olivia Trautman is the best FX worker on the team but was not able to compete floor in 2020 and competed in only the final four meets in 2021. Ideally, she’ll be there when it matters, but her routine hasn’t been an all-the-time kind of thing. The next-best FX worker on the team, Ragan Smith, had to check out of floor in early February last season, and neither Trautman nor Smith appeared on floor at the intrasquad, joining absences from Linker and Sievers, two others who really should be in a best-case Oklahoma floor lineup. If all four of them can go, this lineup will be a treat, but if there are gaps, it could suffer from some of the same sparseness as last season. Jordan Bowers will have to carry a lot of responsibility here.

In terms of options, keep an eye on whether Oklahoma can get Katherine Levasseur, Danae Fletcher, and Audrey Davis into the lineup this season. None of these three sophomores competed floor in their first season, which may not bode well, but they all had the goods to be realistic floor lineup members last time we saw them compete in L10. As for the other returners, I expect Emma LaPinta and her 3/1 to see plenty of time, Bell Johnson could return as well after making the final lineup last season, and though Carly Woodard is mostly a beam specialist, she has been giving “floor routine in a pinch if you need it” the last couple years.