Sunday, March 1
1:00pm ET 10:00am PT	SCSU @ Cornell	SCORES	ESPN+
1:00pm ET 10:00am PT	Bowling Green @ Kent St	SCORES	FREE
1:00pm ET 10:00am PT	Ithaca Rhode Island Springfield @ Utica	SCORES	FREE
2:00pm ET 11:00am PT	NC State W. Virginia Ursinus @ Towson	SCORES	FREE
2:00pm ET 11:00am PT	Cortland @ Brown	SCORES	ESPN+
2:00pm ET 11:00am PT	Arkansas @ Missouri	SCORES	SEC+
4:00pm ET 1:00pm PT	LSU Alabama Arizona N. Carolina
4:00pm ET 1:00pm PT	Utah @ Denver	SCORES	($)
4:00pm ET 1:00pm PT	Michigan St Illinois Rutgers @ Minnesota	SCORES	BTN
5:00pm ET 2:00pm PT	Arizona St Boise St Sac State @ San Jose St	SCORES	FREE

I’m eager to check in on the status of Utah and Denver, currently ranked 12th and 21st respectively, which is odd and unfamiliar territory for both teams.

Earlier today, Missouri defeated Arkansas 197.425-197.225. This is Missouri’s 6th home meet of the year, so they’ll have to start dropping an extra home high (last week’s 197.550) and then another overall high (197.500 from Jan 30), so this score becomes their highest counting score of the season.

Also, LSU is heading down the street for the secret podium road meet no one can watch. “Live broadcast or it doesn’t count for NQS” is my political platform.

Rotation 1

Hargraves – VT – Denver – yfull, very strong start, good stick, good layout, good open, just a little lower leg form at the end. 9.875

Smith – UB – Utah – possible tight first hs but out of frame – pak, very clean – toe on to van leuween, small leg sep – toe on to toe pike 1/2, holds stick, chest a little forward. Good. 9.825

Kasparian – VT – Denver – yfull, also good, small hop back, not the most dynamics but solid layout position. 9.825

Raposo – UB – Utah – maloney to clear hip to pak, leg separation on pak but smooth – van leeuwen, legs together solidly – DLO, fairly significant bounce back. 9.775

Reidenbach – VT – Denver – yfull, little bounce back, but most distance of the fulls so far, able to open out of it. 9.775

Ryssman – UB – Utah – higgins to piked jaeger, nice – arch on hs, pulls it back, pak, hit – really struggles on 1/2 turn on low, goes over the wrong way and has to recast – hits hs on high – DLO, good form, stuck. 9.725

Hewitt – VT – Denver – yfull, small hop, has the distance but flatter off the table on this one with more pike than the others, off direction on landing. 9.800

Zirbes – UB – Utah – good first hs – blind to very high jaeger, great feet but closer catch with elbows – hits pak, loses a little rhythm so cast 1/2 on low isn’t right on top – good hs on high – FTDT, stuck, nice finish. 9.875

Brusch – VT – Denver – yfull, very good height, has the open position, small hop back. 9.900

Padurariu – UB – Utah – good hs on low – toe on to maloney to bail, legs together well – strong hs on high – toe on to toe pike 1/2, basically holds the stick, not quite showing the finish position control, but very clean on the bars. 9.900

Bhatia – VT – Denver – y1.5 lands shorter, lunge back to save it. Her warmup vault was sooooo good, but this one is under-rotated and the step back. 9.750

Neff – UB – Utah – good hs on high – clear hip to high jaeger, also close on catch with bent elbows – precise bail position – a little short on final hs – DLO 1/1 is stuck again. And it’s 9.950

After 1
Utah 49.325
Denver 49.175

Utah got a little scraggly in the middle of that bars rotation but through with a solid total. Zirbes and Neff could have been hit more strictly for those close release catches, and they’ll know this isn’t a postseason level bars performance yet. I thought Padurariu was the strongest one. Very nice.

Denver through a comfortable vault with a useful score. Would have loved a landing from Bhatia, but solid fulls overall. In general, they’re showing better maintained layout position than a lot of the fulls we see, so that should be able to get them reasonable vault scores even with yfulls. Should.

Rotation 2

Winger – VT – Utah – y1.5, pretty large bound forward on landing, some knee position. 9.800

Kastl – UB – Denver – hits hs on low – toe on to maloney to pak, good amplitude, legs looked together – 1/2 turn on low, up to vertical, slight loss of back position at the beginning – giant full, past, into double tuck, larger bounce forward. 9.775

Zirbes – VT – Utah – y1.5, shorter landing from her, step back to save, didn’t have her usual distance. 9.725

Kasparian – UB – Denver – toe on to maloney to pak, good feet – 1/2 turn on low, slightly past – over balances her cast handstand on high and falls – resumes with giant full to double tuck, step to the side. 9.225

Johnson – VT – Utah – y1.5, pretty solid, one tenth hop forward, some knee position and direction. 9.825

Rorich – UB – Denver – short first hs – blind to jaeger, hit, loses some foot form on catch – bail, legs together, good hs, nice – shorter hs on high as well – DLO, little bounce back

Smith – VT – Utah – Omelianchik, nailed it, just a little lean forward to control the stick. 9.925

Bhatia – UB – Denver – solid first hs – toe on to maloney to pak, hit – closer to vertical on 1/2 turn on low – borderline hs on high – DLO, loses some leg form in the air and a step back. 9.800

Glynn – VT – Utah – y1.5, also struggles to control her landing, big bound forward, little foot cross in the air. 9.675

Brusch – UB – Denver – short first hs – toe on to maloney to pak – 1/2 turn, has the vertical but feet crossed some – hits hs on high – DLO, hop back. 9.800

Neff – VT – Utah – Y1.5, nice one – hop forward but not much else. 9.875

Cooley – UB – Denver – toe on to Ray hit, very slightly close but not much – bail, just a tad past vertical on catch – DLO, good stick, some pike to start, loses some foot form, but solid landing. 9.925

After 2
Utah 98.475
Denver 98.325

Utah struggled to control a number of those vault landings so ended up with only 49.150, the same as Denver’s number on bars. Denver was able to drop the fall but the lineup has a few too many form things to get into the crazy scores, and Cooley was the only stick.

Rotation 3

Cooley – BB – Denver – bhs loso loso, keeps it on the beam, wobble but holds it – switch, arm circle through to split jump with another wobble – full turn – bhs gainer full, a little low, holds the stick with lean.

9.650. Looks like one judge did not give the dance combo and one did.

Glynn – FX – Utah – front 2/1, well done, dance out but shows control in it, some leg crossing – switch ring to switch side to popa, lands a little under at the end of the combo, so they might decide to see that – back 1.5 to layout is a struggle, low on the layout with a stagger stumble and steps OOB. 9.575

Rutter – BB – Denver – side aerial to 2 feet into split jump, good clear split position – full turn – switch, wobble before her split jump as well, so we have another combo question – bhs loso, wobble lean – 1.5 dmt, saves the stick well despite landing back on her heels. 9.700.

Johnson – FX – Utah – DLO, large bounce back, looks like she just stays in bounds – switch ring – front tuck through to double pike, shows strong control on landing, chest down – switch side 1/4 into straddle 3/4, clear over-turn on the attempted switch side to popa. 9.775

Steeley – BB – Denver – aerial, nice – bhs los, lands super crunched over and falls – Melissa looks very “I’m smiling while snapping a bunch of pencils in half” in the background – another pretty big wobble on split ring jump – gainer full, stuck. 9.175

Neff – FX – Utah – front 2/1 to 1/2 to double stag, pretty comfortable – switch side 1/4 into pike full shushunova – Alissa Moerz bringing back the piked shushunova full and getting it named after herself a few years back, the influence that had – back 1.5 to front 1/1, slides forward, looks like she stayed in bounds. 9.875

Hargraves – BB – Denver – full turn, good style – front aerial, foot was a little off and kind of shuffled it before bhs, did keep moving a little slowly but the foot movement in between – switch, into split 3/4, lean back wobble – split jump 3/4 is hit – front gainer full, holds onto the stick

Zirbes – FX – Utah – front 2/1, shows control on landing, nice – switch 1/2 to popa to knee, pretty – back 1.5 to front full, maybe a little large on the step but a strong one – stag ring. 9.950 goes high for me but a pretty routine

Judges conference on Hargraves. Another SV disagreement, so they must have been out of range as well on this one. One judge had 9.7 start, moves up to 9.8

They get to 9.725 for Hargraves.

Gallen – BB – Denver – bhs loso, secure landing, good height, slight knee position – switch to switch 1/2 to beat, has the rhythm, no combo question – full turn – gainer pike, chest way down and an arm circle. 9.725

Smith – FX – Utah – front 2/1 to front tuck, pops right up on the front 2/1 but secure front tuck landing – split ring to cat leap 1.5 to wolf hop full like she’s getting ready for the 2004 Olympics – rudi to loso, smooth. 9.925

Aamold – BB – Denver – full turn, check – side aerial to bhs, good – switch to split jump, secure – aerial to beat, also smoothly connected – gainer pike, stuck. That was very good after the full turn. 9.850. If she were famous that would have been 9.925.

Curtis – FX – Utah – DLO, solid control on landing, legs a bit apart in the air – front tuck through to switch side+ into popa – front full to front full, good rise on second element, controls step. 9.925.

After 3
Utah 147.925
Denver 146.875

Utah pulled it together for the last four floor routines to get closer to the kind of number they’d expect on 49.450. Still, when their peer teams are going 197.975, any rotation that isn’t 49.5 is kind of a miss.

Denver had one fall and a full combination nightmare on beam (judges signaling to Utah not to try anything weird with Neff’s routine) to go 48.650.

Now it’s 48.550. Just lost another tenth on Hargraves’ routine as both judges resolve on 9.80 SV.

Rotation 4

Gantner – BB – Utah – forward roll mount – bhs loso, secure – switch switch 1/2, a little under split, keeps arms going into split jump – full turn – 1.5 dmt, little hop to the side. 9.775

Gallen – FX – Denver – double tuck, bounce back – switch to switch side 1/2 to straddle, hit – front lay to front full, good rise, lands slightly back on heels. 9.800

Zirbes – BB – Utah – candle, good – bhs loso, hits it, chest a little off but just a small slide of foot back – hitch kick to switch 1/2, hit, turned out in the hips but fairly solid 180 – gainer tuck full, stuck. 9.825

Hargraves – FX – Denver – front lay to rudi, good rise on second element, chest down at the end to land – tour jete 1/2 to popa, Mia Sundstrom calls it a tour jete 1/1 to straddle 1/2, which I didn’t think she was trying but it was exactly in between – back 1.5 to lay, solid control. 9.800

Ryssman – BB – Utah – bhs loso, good leg position, not super high but enough to keep the form – switch to side somi, secure, lower amplitude on switch – 2/1, hop back. Lovely form, doesn’t get that high on elements though. 9.825

Rorich – FX – Denver – front tuck through to double tuck, quick hop to present – switch side 1/2 to popa, pulls around – music stops, Idina was like, I’m sorry no – double pike, little slide back – straddle. 9.900

Padurariu – BB – Utah -wolf double, controls with some creative arms – aerial, connects to bhs, good front leg position in aerial – sissone – split jump to sheep jump, hop forward correction – gainer pike, small hop. 9.875

Bhatia – FX – Denver – front 2/1, loses form at the very end with a crossover step, good amplitude – switch 1/2 to split jump full, control, good clear initial landing positions – nice back leg/foot on butterfly – rudi to back lay into straddle is controlled. 9.825

Neff – BB – Utah – side aerial to bhs, nice – side aerial 2 feet, secure – split to straddle 1/4 shushunova, solidly connected – out turn – high gainer full, good stick. Very well done. 9.950

Reidenbach – FX – Denver – whip 1/2 to rudi, controls step back – switch side 1/2 to straddle, under turns the switch side 1/2 – double tuck, nice foot positions, chest up, controls step, good finish. 9.900

Winger – BB – Utah – bhs loso loso, good lift, secure – switch to split, shows clear 180s, verrry slight foot hesitation in between – full turn – gainer full, big chest down lean forward to try to hold the stick. 9.800

Cooley – FX – Denver – front lay to a rudi to a straddle jump that slow-motion traveled backward all the way OOB – switch ring 1/2 to split – back 1.5 to front lay, solidly under control

FINAL
Utah 197.200
Denver 196.100

Both teams ending up with kind of an “OK, buuuutt” total here. Utah gets a hit meet out there without counting any major errors for a total over 197, but it’s not the big wow 198 that can undo earlier scores. It’s a lower total than last week when they counted a fall on beam. Denver gets over 196 even with a trouble beam, which is a solid comeback, but it’s still just a low 196 which is not going to help them attack the seeded spots.