College Week 9 Doodads and Whatnots

Table of contents:
NQS Leaders
Regionals Bubble
Ranking Changes
Meet Upsets
Record Breakers
Postseason Outlook


Top 25 NQS Breakdown

The top 25 teams and the origin story of how their rankings came to be. The RTN rankings are not yet dropping the additional home high for teams with 6 home meets (Missouri), so presumably that will only be taken into account at the end.

RankTeamNQS
1Oklahoma197.94285
Drop High198.425
Drop Low197.425
Count198.200, 198.125. 198.175,
198.075, 197.975, 197.550,
197.500
This Week197.975 (Count)
2LSU197.83571
Drop High198.325
Drop Low196.850
Count198.200, 198.050, 197.975,
197.925, 197.675, 197.525,
197.500
This Week197.975 (Count)
198.200 (Count)
3Alabama197.58571
Drop High197.950
Drop Low197.275
Count197.950, 197.650, 197.600,
197.500, 197.475, 197.475,
197.450
This Week197.600 (Count)
197.650 (Count)
4Florida197.51666
Drop High198.050
Drop Low196.500
Count197.725, 197.700, 197.575,
197.575, 197.425, 197.100
This Week197.700 (Count)
5UCLA197.38214
Drop High198.150
Drop Low196.950
Count197.725, 197.675, 197.550,
197.425, 197.325, 197.000,
196.975
This Week196.950 (Low)
6Georgia197.29285
Drop High197.675
Drop Low196.875
Count197.650, 197.550, 197.325,
197.275, 197.200, 197.050,
197.000
This Week197.275 (Count)
7Missouri197.20000
Drop High197.550
Drop Low196.825
Count197.500, 197.425, 197.275,
197.225, 197.200, 196.925,
196.850
This Week197.425 (Count)
8Arkansas197.16071
Drop High197.700
Drop Low195.975
Count197.475, 197.450, 197.250,
197.225, 197.125, 196,900,
196.700
This Week197.225 (Count)
9Michigan197.14583
Drop High197.475
Drop Low196.375
Count197.425, 197.375, 197.225,
197.100, 196.975, 196.775
This Week197.475 (High)
10Stanford197.09583
Drop High198.150
Drop Low196.400
Count197.725, 197.225, 197.100,
197.075, 196.975, 196.475
This Week198.150 (High)
11Michigan State196.90416
Drop High197.525
Drop Low195.675
Count197.300, 197.250, 197.125,
196.900, 196.625, 196.225
This Week196.625 (Count)
12Utah196.86071
Drop High198.025
Drop Low195.725
Count197.425, 197.300, 197.200,
197.125, 196.625, 196.450,
195.900
This Week197.200 (Count)
13Minnesota196.82142
Drop High197.700
Drop Low195.075
Count197.275, 197.150, 197.075,
197.050, 196.950, 196.775,
195.475
This Week197.700 (High)
14Clemson196.55000
Drop High197.025
Drop Low195.925
Count196.900, 196.875, 196.550,
196.525, 196.300, 196.150
This Week
15Cal196.53928
Drop High196.950
Drop Low195.550
Count196.875, 196.875, 196.800,
196.825, 196.350, 196.050,
196.000
This Week196.875 (Count)
16Penn State196.46786
Drop High197.250
Drop Low196.000
Count197.225, 196.725, 196.525,
196.275,196.225, 196.125,
196.075
This Week197.225 (Count)
17Auburn196.46428
Drop High197.250
Drop Low196.050
Count197.150, 196.825, 196.700,
196.275, 196.150, 196.075,
196.075
This Week196.150 (Count)
18North Carolina196.45714
Drop High196.750
Drop Low195.900
Count196.675, 196.525, 196.525,
196.400, 196.375, 196.375,
196.325
This Week195.900 (Low)
19Iowa196.43571
Drop High197.225
Drop Low194.825
Count197.025, 196.775, 196.725,
196.475, 196.400, 196.000,
195.600
This Week196.475 (Count)
20Ohio State196.40833
Drop High197.075
Drop Low195.750
Count196.850, 196.625, 196.425,
196.300, 196.250, 196.000
This Week196.425 (Count)
21NC State196.40000
Drop High197.150
Drop Low195.575
Count197.125, 196.625, 196.575,
196.125, 196.100, 196.075,
195.875
This Week197.150 (High)
22Kentucky196.35416
Drop High197.325
Drop Low194.325
Count197.125, 197.025, 196.800,
196.475, 195.775, 194.925
This Week197.025 (Count)
23Denver196.28750
Drop High196.950
Drop Low195.850
Counting196.600, 196.575, 196.525,
196.100, 196.000, 195.925
This Week196.100 (Count)
24BYU196.08214
Drop High196.975
Drop Low195.200
Count196.575, 196.300, 196.300,
196.025, 195.975, 195.725,
195.675
This Week195.975 (Count)
25Oregon State195.98214
Drop High197.250
Drop Low194.525
Count196.600, 196.375, 196.300,
195.825, 195.775, 195.550,
195.450
This Week197.250 (High)

Drop Zone Watch

Who’s currently making the postseason top-36 cutoff, and who is set to be jettisoned in a fit of spring cleaning for the April meets

LAST IN

26Southern Utah195.868
27Maryland195.808
28Utah State195.741
29San Jose State195.664
30Arizona195.636
31Nebraska195.621
32Arizona State195.518
33Central Michigan195.375
34Air Force195.321
35Penn195.235
36Washington195.200

FIRST OUT

37Ball State195.193
38Rutgers195.168
39Towson195.153
40Pitt195.150
41Illinois195.118
42Kent State195.117
43Western Michigan195.032
44New Hampshire194.975
45Texas Woman’s194.957
46Boise State194.950

Changing It Up

The most significant ranking movement from week 9

–Iowa State moves off the rankings forever
The worst case scenario was realized today as Iowa State announced it has eliminated the women’s gymnastics program entirely. Or, sorry, “reimagined the women’s sports lineup.” See, your team isn’t dead. It’s just been creatively reimagined as not alive anymore.

Of course, we still haven’t received any explanation beyond “complex internal conflicts between individual teammates, coaching staff members, and parents.” OK, you’ve just described every sports team ever. If it’s that bad, then you clean house and hire a new coaching staff, facilitate transfers for anyone who needs to get out of the situation, tell the parents to redirect this same energy into a book club or clothing drive now, and try again. You don’t treat the program like a neck mole you’ve finally decided to have removed.

There’s no way a sport that’s perceived as valuable to a university would ever be shuttered for **um, I think she was mad** so it’s not hard to extrapolate this to all other women’s gymnastics teams as a warning shot not to make too much trouble. Strap on your leo, pose for the camera, and behave quietly. If you have any kind of “conflict,” then that’s going to be our excuse to do what we wanted to do anyway and ditch your losing-me-$$$$$ team rather than making any actual effort to fix the problem. The sad extra outcome is an all-too-familiar chilling effect in which people are afraid to identify unacceptable situations for fear it will become an excuse to take the whole thing away from everyone.

–The fight for regionals seedings
Annnnnnyway. The teams that still exist are trying to get a top-16 seeded position at regionals, and the only major shift toward the top of the rankings this week saw Auburn drop out of the seeded positions to #17 after scoring 196.150 at Oklahoma. Penn State moved up into the top 16 with another top-5 score in program history, a home 197.225 at the Big Ten Or So Quad.

If the season finished this way, Auburn would go into the LSU/Cal regional semifinal as an unseeded spoiler.

–Washington onto the bubble
Washington dropped from #34 to #36 this week after a 194.425 at that same Penn State quad, now occupying the final qualification position for regionals, sitting just .007 ahead of Ball State. Ball State, Rutgers, Towson, and Pitt are all still in half-tenth range of a spot at regionals.


Who’s Upsetting Me Now?

Meet winners who defeated teams ranked ahead of them (at time of meet)

#46 Boise State defeated #31 San Jose State, #32 Arizona State (and #49 Sac State)
And none too soon. Boise State rounded out the weekend with a Sunday victory at San Jose State for the team’s first 196 of the season. Boise State is on the verge of dropping out of regionals contention (10 spots below the cutoff) but is currently sticking around thanks to that 196…as long as another one comes this weekend.

#28 Utah State defeated #26 Southern Utah
Utah State put up the third-best score in school history at 196.875 to defeat Southern Utah on Monday. It…barely counts as an upset because these teams are evenly matched, but Southern Utah was at home and ranked two spots ahead, so there you go. The hosting situation gives it the edge over other “upsets” where the slightly-lower-ranked home team won:
#13 Minnesota defeated #15 Michigan State
#38 Pitt defeated #37 Ball State
#67 West Chester defeated #65 Bridgeport

The other big upset in the non-meet winners category was #48 West Virginia finishing 2nd at the Towson quad, ahead of the hosts #38 Towson. At this point last season, West Virginia was also ranked #48 and went on to make a magical push to get to regionals at the very last second. Again?


Record Breakers

Notable record-breaking (or tying) scores from week 9

Oldest Record Broken
Stanford’s all-around record of 39.825 was first set by Larissa Fontaine on February 21st, 2000. While is was subsequently tied (by Natalie Foley, Lindsay Wing, and Elizabeth Price), Sanford’s all-around record had stood at 39.825 since that day in 2000. Until Anna Roberts scored 39.875 last Friday to break it.

Oldest Record Broken (runner-up)
Erin Roe of Ursinus smashed the team’s old all-around record by going 38.950 at the Towson quad meet, besting the mark of 38.675 that had originally been set by Kaelin Ruoss in 2015.

Team Event Records
Florida 49.800 BB
Yale 48.900 VT

Team Event Records (tied)
Stanford 49.600 VT
Southern Utah 49.325 VT

Individual School Records (tied)
Skye Blakely 10.000 BB for Florida
Kailin Chio 10.000 BB for LSU
Kailin Chio 10.000 BB for LSU again
Anna Roberts 10.000 VT for Stanford
Maggie Slife 9.925 VT for Air Force
Erin Roe 9.825 VT for Ursinus

Team Total Top 5s
Stanford 198.150 (#2)
Air Force 195.825 (#2)
Whitewater 194.025 (#2)
Utah State 196.875 (#3)
Penn State 197.225 (#4)
Ursinus 191.775 (#4)

All-Around Top 5s
Cara Wong 38.100 for Gustavus (#4)


If It Ended Today

If the season ended today, the regionals draw would be

#1: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Michigan, Penn State
(@ Kentucky)
#2: LSU, Missouri, Stanford, Cal
(@ LSU)
#3: Alabama, Georgia, Michigan St, Clemson
(@ Arizona St)
#4: Florida, UCLA, Utah, Minnesota
(@ Oregon St)



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