THE 2019 STORY There’s much for Michigan to be proud of from its 2019 season. The team came back from missing nationals entirely in 2018 to finish 2019 in 5th place, which quietly ranks as Michigan’s best result of the decade. In fact, Michigan hasn’t done better than 5th since Elise Ray was a freshman. You wouldn’t necessarily have picked that coming in to 2019, but it was a historically good finish.
And yet, it’s difficult to escape the disheartening “and none for Michigan bye” postseason feeling because Michigan’s score from the afternoon semifinal would have advanced to the top 4 out of the evening semifinal, beating Denver by a couple tenths. It’s an old story. Michigan always seems to be in the wrong session at the wrong time. Would have advanced to nationals from any other regional. Would have advanced to Super Six from the other semi. The best team not to make [insert round here]. It’s kind of a thing for Michigan.
THE 2019 STORY 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd. The continuation of LSU’s eternal 2nd-place journey somewhat obscures the reality that finishing in 2nd in 2019 was an excellent result and an over-performance based on how the season had gone. LSU wasn’t supposed to finish as high as 2nd, but UCLA was sort of eh in the final (and Florida bombed regionals, which helped take a contender out of the way), and LSU snatched the opportunity.
So while 2019 will inevitably get filed away in the “sigh, LSU can never win a championship” folder, that was actually a really good finish for that team.
Thursday, December 5 6:30pm MT – Arizona State – Maroon & Gold –Web Stream
Friday, December 6 4:00pm ET – Towson – Black & Gold 6:00pm ET – Ursinus – Red & Gold 6:30pm ET – William & Mary – Green & Gold 7:00pm ET – Maryland – Red & Black 7:00pm ET – Rhode Island – Maroon & Gold 6:30pm CT – Oklahoma Intrasquad 6:30pm CT – La Crosse v. Winona Exhibition 7:15pm CT – LSU Gym 101 – SEC+ Stream 7:00pm PT – Sacramento State – Flipfest
Saturday, December 7 12:00pm CT – Iowa – Black & Gold 12:00pm CT – Gustavus Adolphus – Black & Gold Meet 4:00pm ET – Michigan v. CMU v. EMU v. WMU Exhibition – BTN+/Flo 4:00pm ET – New Hampshire – Meet the Team 6:00pm CT – TWU – Holiday Spectacular
Sunday, December 8 1:00pm ET – Kent State Intrasquad 1:00pm ET – Ball State – Red & White 12:00pm PT – Cal Intrasquad 2:00pm AT – Alaska – Green & Gold
B. The Only One He Ever Feared
Simone announced yesterday that she’s going to be headlining her own post-Olympic tour next year—with just a few cool people and you better be one of them beyotch.
THE 2019 STORY It’s been a while since Stanford was truly competitive on a national stage, and those years of Stanford suddenly turning great for the last couple meets of the season and surprising everyone to make Super Six are beginning to feel like a vestige of a different era.
Stanford’s 22nd-place finish in 2019 should be regarded as an encouraging improvement over the previous two seasons with fledgling sprouts of new growth emerging, but it still ranks as one of the weaker results in program history. Stanford’s 2020 focus will not be on replacing last year’s routines or keeping pace with that performance but on improving every event.
