RANKING HISTORY
2021 – 1st
2020 – 5th
2019 – 5th
2018 – 13th
2017 – 10th
2016 – 11th
2015 – 7th
2014 – 10th
2013 – 7th
2012 – 13th

2021 IN REVIEW

I mean…the championship. So that counts as a good season, right?

Michigan was supposed to be a strong team in 2021, a season where reaching the final four and maybe getting a 198 for the first time seemed like an exciting outside possibility that all the cool kids were predicting beforehand. But Michigan wasn’t supposed to be that good. After losing the Big Ten Championship, it seemed like a familiar story was playing out where a talented Michigan squad would dribble off to about 5th place in the end. Instead, Michigan turned out to be the only team that improved in April and truly brought its very best possible gymnastics to nationals. Yada, yada, yada…the championship. 

DEPARTED ROUTINES

Lauren Farley – BB
Anne Maxim – UB

THE NEW ONES

Michigan’s trio of newcomers is a talented group with major L10 accomplishments, but we’ve also barely seen anything from them in the preseason exhibitions because of residual injuries, which has led to fairly reserved expectations for how much they will contribute in 2022.

Jacey Vore is a Jaycie Phelps gymnast—it was a whole Jaycie thing—and also one of the strongest L10 competitors in her age group. Vore won her division as a junior at 2019 L10 nationals and went on to place 2nd at the 2020 Nastia Cup, largely thanks to a near-10 on vault. A series of injuries meant that Vore barely competed after that 2020 Nastia Cup, but when back completely, she should be able to provide at least an option on all four events, and probably a couple lineup routines. At Michigan’s most recent preseason meet, she appeared in the exhibition spot on bars and beam, looking like a believable borderline lineup member on both.  

Abigael Vides spent some time in elite in 2019, qualifying to US Classic, before returning to L10 for the 2021 season, when she ultimately placed 10th AA in her division at nationals. While floor tumbling is probably Vides’s standout attribute, she also vaults a Y1.5 and has a bars routine that’s easily translatable to college gymnastics. She’ll contend anywhere, and if we had seen her perform at all in preseason meets, she’d be a pick for a couple lineups.

Ashley Lane hasn’t competed a whole lot as a senior but was a standout junior in L10. It may be difficult to break into the competition group on this team, but she should provide a beam option, and even though she hasn’t competed bars since 2018, she has a beautiful Shap 1/2 if Michigan can find the full routine composition to put around it.

2022 PROJECTION

Regression.

In terms of routine quality and scoring, the most reasonable expectation is that Michigan stays at exactly the same level as last season—as long as every healthy person currently on this roster remains that way—with lineups that look largely identical to 2021. That 2021 team…won the championship, so there’s not exactly some pressing need to reinvent anything. Michigan should remain a 198 team that ranks in the top couple spots in 2022. But, last season’s victory also means anything that isn’t a second championship counts as regression.  

College gymnastics is going to be better in 2022 than it was in 2021, and it’s going to be harder for any team to win this year. If Michigan repeats, this would count as an even more impressive accomplishment than last season’s win.

BY EVENT

VAULT

2021 Event Ranking: 1

Lineup locks: Sierra Brooks, Natalie Wojcik, Gabby Wilson, Naomi Morrison, Abby Heiskell

Lineup options: Abby Brenner, Reyna Guggino, Jacey Vore, Abigael Vides, Jenna Mulligan, Nicoletta Koulos

While Michigan’s 2021 squad was not the first ever to bring six Yurchenko 1.5s to the party, that championship season will be remembered for Michigan’s perfection of the strategy, putting forward a final lineup with stickable, 9.950-able Y1.5s from start to finish, vaults that really could have been arranged in any order you wanted.

Essentially, the only question about Michigan’s lineup right now concerns Abby Brenner, whose Y1.5 has been a mainstay for the entirety of her career but who also missed the end of last season on vault with injury. Given how successful the vaulting team was to finish the year, it’s not a sure thing that Brenner returns to the six. She’ll certainly be in contention, though, probably vying with Reyna Guggino for that final spot since it’s tough to see anyone on the Brooks, Wojcik, Wilson, Morrison, Heiskell train getting bumped out right now. But…at least one person with a good 1.5 won’t make the final six.

And maybe more. As for the new athletes, we haven’t seen them vault at all during the preseason, but Jacey Vore had an exceptional Y1.5 in L10 that would theoretically be an equivalent contender for this lineup, if not a frontrunner. Even if we don’t end up seeing Vore break into this difficult vault group in 2022, keep her in mind for future seasons as there will certainly come a time when she is needed/the star on vault. Similar is probably true for Vides, who also has a 1.5 waiting in the wings. With all these options, Michigan should remain one of the best vaulting teams in the country in 2022, and probably the preseason favorite for best vaulting team.

BARS

2021 Event Ranking: 3

Lineup locks: Natalie Wojcik, Sierra Brooks, Abby Heiskell, Abby Brenner, Gabby Wilson

Lineup options: Naomi Morrison, Jacey Vore, Nicoletta Koulos, Abigael Vides, Ashley Lane

Michigan will have to make at least one change to its final bars lineup from last season because Carly Bauman is out for the year with an Achilles injury. Bauman got useful 9.8s toward the end of last season, but Michigan will not view that routine as irreplaceable. The replacement could very well come from the returning roster since Naomi Morrison, who competed bars twice last season for 9.8s but wasn’t needed for the final lineup, has looked pretty good so far, showing a top-6 routine at both of Michigan’s streamed preseason meets. Nicoletta Koulos has been out with an arm injury this fall but is on the road back and may also make the final lineup here given how well she did when needed last season.

Beyond the question over that one spot, it’s quite likely that we’ll see the returning five all reaffirm their places this season since no one seems to be elbowing them out of the way. Bars was strong enough last season that Michigan shouldn’t really worry about keeping things the same. Again, Jacey Vore is knocking on the door of this lineup and could be a challenger to Morrison and Koulos for the open spot, and Vides should be a possibility, but both will have to fight for it.

BEAM

2021 Event Ranking: 4

Lineup locks: Natalie Wojcik, Sierra Brooks, Abby Heiskell, Gabby Wilson

Lineup options: Reyna Guggino, Naomi Morrison, Jacey Vore, Nicoletta Koulos, Abigael Vides, Ashley Lane, Abby Brenner

Since both Lauren Farley and Carly Bauman won’t return to the beam lineup this season, Michigan has some replacement work to do, with beam currently looking the least settled and least predictable of the four events. Of course Wojcik and Brooks will be back with the top routines on the team, and if Abby Heiskell’s beam performance at nationals didn’t clinch her a full-time spot in the lineup this season, then literally nothing could.

Beam is Gabby Wilson’s least sure event in that it will sometimes be a 9.7, though I don’t necessarily see anyone knocking her out of the six. It’s possible, but right now she still looks like the choice. Much of the reason Wilson looks like a lock is that there are only four currently active gymnasts on this roster who’ve ever hit a beam routine in competition, and she’s one of them. There will need to be some new on beam.

Michigan certainly has plenty of nominees for new, and one worth keeping an eye on is Reyna Guggino. Guggino has already outperformed pre-college expectations to a massive degree on vault and seems poised to be one of those athletes who randomly adds a new unexpected event every season. This year, you’d think it would be floor, but beam might pull an upset. Guggino didn’t compete beam last season and wasn’t a beamer in L10 (9.2 was a great beam day for Guggino in club), but so far she’s looking like a realistic lineup member.

Perhaps a routine comes from Naomi Morrison, who didn’t compete beam last year but could, or even Abby Brenner, who has been showing routines in preseason despite previously having an EEEEK relationship with beam. Vore should present a possibility here as well, and this seems like Ashley Lane’s most likely event to make, but a lot of that is still up in the air. Filling out the remaining spots in the beam lineup with more than just “well, she could go for 9.825” will be critical for Michigan’s repeat hopes.

FLOOR

2021 Event Ranking: 12

Lineup locks: Sierra Brooks, Gabby Wilson, Natalie Wojcik

Lineup options: Abby Brenner, Abigael Vides, Naomi Morrison, Abby Heiskell, Nicoletta Koulos, Reyna Guggino, Jacey Vore, Ashley Lane

Before the postseason last year, floor seemed like it would be Michigan’s undoing. It was the problem-child on multiple occasions, including most significantly at the Big Ten Championship. Wojcik and Wilson had both missed a couple times, Brenner got injured, and there didn’t seem to be high-scoring solutions to pick up the slack in the early spots. In the end, things turned out great, which could mean that the athletes who saved the day in the postseason last year, Abby Heiskell and Nicoletta Koulos, are the answer for 2022 as well. Both went straight 9.900+ in each of the last four competitions despite never having scored better than 9.850 on floor before and despite Heiskell not having hit the 9.8 mark on floor in two years. 

If that’s the new normal for them, why not? But, Michigan has a decision to make whether that’s the direction to go because I also imagine that the team wants to get Abigael Vides into that lineup, when she’s able, with her fantastic full-in. Floor could be a huge score for her. Michigan will also aim to get Abby Brenner’s full-in back to the lineup, and even though Naomi Morrison didn’t make the final lineup last year, her tumbling ability would put her easily into the top six on this team. Perhaps with another year under her belt, she’ll find the consistency needed to get into the group.

All three of those E-passers are legitimate contenders to join Brooks, Wilson, and Wojcik, the returning locks. Michigan will absolutely need them to avert the regular season floor problems that had the team ranked just 12th on the event last year—and also to ensure that winning a championship doesn’t hinge on people performing out of their skin for scores they’ve never received before.

 

RANKING HISTORY
2021 – 4th
2020 – 2nd
2019 – 10th
2018 – 3rd
2017 – 3rd
2016 – 4th
2015 – 1st
2014 – 1st
2013 – 1st
2012 – 2nd

2021 IN REVIEW

Well, the regular season went great. Florida started out as preseason #1 and maintained that ranking through every week of the season, going undefeated right up until the SEC Championship. It was at that point that the wheels feel off. At least 2 of the wheels. Maybe 2.5. At SECs, Florida counted a fall on bars to go sub-197 for the first time all year and place 3rd, which ultimately foreshadowed a nationals performance where Florida was nearly upset by Cal in the semifinals, then went on to finish a distant 4th in the championship after a beam disaster.

It’s still 4th place, but in a season where Florida was #1 all year long and at minimum co-favorites to win the championship, if not outright favorites, that’s not an acceptable or satisfying result and reflects a Florida team that has simply not brought its best gymnastics to the postseason, year after year. It’s telling that Florida’s best result of the entire Rowland Era came in the season which was halted before the elimination meets.

DEPARTED ROUTINES

Jazmyn Foberg – VT

THE NEW ONES

Florida has gone for an all-leads, no-cameos first year class for the 2022 season, where the only tentativeness in prognostication comes because there flat-out isn’t room for all of them to compete all the events they should be doing in college.

Fortunately, Morgan Hurd is now officially on campus at Florida so we no longer have to pretend we aren’t sure what she’s up to. Because Hurd just arrived, unlike the other first years who have been training with the team for a while, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Florida takes it slowly with her. Late December/January arrivals often don’t burst into the AA in that very first meet.

That Hurd has four-event, college-star ability is a given, and Florida’s strongest possible beam and floor lineups will have Hurd hanging out toward the end of them, if not wearing a tiara of made out of the teeth of her conquests in the anchor position. The same is very much true of bars, where Florida is most in need of new options, though Hurd’s recent and less-recent history with Poison Elbow—a clear and heinous act of QAnon sabotage—may mean that expectations are slightly more reserved there. We’ll have to see about vault, which was never exactly Hurd’s bestie and may not end up being her most urgent routine on this squad.

As for Leanne Wong, coming right off her 2-medal performance at worlds, she has been looking ready to kidnap all of college gymnastics and get away with it in training videos thus far. Her 10.0-start round-off 1/2 on pike 1/2 (Podkopayeva) vault is looking sublime, and at this point it would be a surprise not to see her competing the all-around for this team, getting 9.9s anywhere and everywhere. Her gymnastics will translate particularly well to college composition. There’s just so little to be annoyed by.

Oh it’s just Riley McCusker, joining Hurd and Wong in Florida’s first-year class. The People’s Olympic +1 will be at her most essential on bars, where she should provide a starring routine that’s at minimum top-3 in the lineup, if not top-1. Ideally, Florida will also get a top-quality beam out of McCusker (though there are about 50 top-quality beams on this team), and a competitive floor would be a great bonus. In terms of floor for most of these first years, we’ll have to see how things shake out as far as the needs of the team, injuries, resting, and whatnot. They all would be great on floor, but do you need to push that for 12 weeks, and can you?

In that regard, Sloane Blakely, who took the elite-to-L10-champion path will be essential because it’s probably unrealistic to expect to get ALL THE ROUTINES from Hurd, Wong, and McCusker all the time. In most years and on most teams, Blakely would be a lock for the all-around, and even on this team, this year, she seems realistic for any event. The most likely and most important event for Blakely will be vault, where her Y1.5 will surely get into the six, but don’t be surprised to see her pop up anywhere as needed for 9.850+.

Walk-on Bri Edwards placed 8th AA at L10 Regionals this year, so she isn’t just some local. Her viable Yfull would make a lot of vault lineups, but we probably won’t see her on this team. 

2022 PROJECTION

Improvement.

For most of last season, Florida was already the best team in the country, and now this 2022 Florida team has retained its entire postseason lineup from 2021 while adding a veritable bushel of some of the top gymnasts ever to do college gymnastics. This roster boasts 9 world/Olympic medals, which is second all-time behind only the UCLA teams with Kocian and Ross. Florida shouldn’t just get better this year; Florida should get a lot better, and that’s in comparison to a team that already had a near-198 NQS last year. Real talk: Florida has no business not winning the championship in 2022.

That’s why no team faces as much pressure this year as Florida does. Another season where Florida is great, then great, then great, then great, then…3rd or 4th place just isn’t going to cut it. If you can’t win with this squad…? But the comparison to those UCLA teams with Kocian/Ross is a good one because while UCLA won the championship in 2018, that roster didn’t win every year. It takes more than just having the most talented team.

BY EVENT

VAULT

2021 Event Ranking: 4

Lineup locks: Trinity Thomas, Nya Reed, Leanne Wong, Savannah Schoenherr, Sloane Blakely

Lineup options: Payton Richards, Ellie Lazzari, Megan Skaggs, Morgan Hurd, Alyssa Baumann, Riley McCusker

Florida will expect to put up a complete lineup of 10.0 starts (complete with a reinforcement option or two) in 2022, allowing several of the Yfulls or questionable 1.5s that had to compete last year to move to backup status. That should help avert some of those lower vault scores that hurt the Gators toward the end of 2021, when the team went sub-49.4 in each of the last five meets.

The Y1.5s from Trinity Thomas, Nya Reed, and Savannah Schoenherr were best on the team last year and will be expected to return to the lineup in 2022, with their most likely partners in crime being the Podkopayeva from Leanne Wong and the Y1.5 from Sloane Blakely, both of which should be considered locks at this point given what we’ve seen from training. Payton Richards struggled to get her Y1.5 back last year, but that has previously been a good option for Florida and could return as a sixth vault, though Ellie Lazzari is also working an upgraded Y1.5, which should fight it out with Richards for a spot in Florida’s ideal vaulting lineup. 

As far as others go, you wouldn’t at all mind putting the Yfull from Megan Skaggs in there because it tends to score so well, but it is just a Yfull so it may not be part of the theoretical best lineup even though it’s a possible 9.900. That scenario, with more 9.9s than necessary, allows Florida to be pretty much as conservative as it wants with possible vaults from Hurd and McCusker and probably doesn’t need to try to force the Baumann 1.5 anymore.

BARS

2021 Event Ranking: 5

Lineup locks: Trinity Thomas, Riley McCusker, Leanne Wong, Morgan Hurd, Megan Skaggs, Savannah Schoenherr

Lineup options: Sloane Blakely, Ellie Lazzari, Gabrielle Gallentine, Alyssa Baumann, Payton Richards, Leah Clapper

Florida should receive its biggest individual event boost on bars in 2022. The team had heaps of trouble filling out the final spot or three last season, whether it was the attempt to get Alyssa Baumann in there, or Payton Richards being hit and miss, or Leah Clapper early in the season, or Ellie Lazzari at the end of the season, or Gabby Gallentine being sometimes great occasionally sometimes. Beyond the sure three of Trinity Thomas, Megan Skaggs, and Savannah Schoenherr, it was never clear who was going to be in the lineup and whether that was the right choice or a disaster.

This year, most of those athletes who were in and out of the lineup in 2021 will probably be relegated to backup positions. If you’re not absolutely necessary, you’ll find yourself without a spot in the lineup because there’s just too much necessary at hand.

Health permitting, Riley McCusker, Leanne Wong, and Morgan Hurd will join Trinity Thomas as the most talented bars workers on the team, a key phalanx of four routines with unimpeachable form if Florida can actually pull it off. Of the remaining returners, Skaggs and Schoenherr are the strongest and most reliable bars workers with the best case to come back and fill out a high-class six, but expect to see appearances from several of the others. Gallantine and Lazzari both have the talent to be countable scores here—and the capability of becoming more reliable in their second years—and this is one of the many events where Blakely should make a case. 

BEAM

2021 Event Ranking: 1

Lineup locks: Trinity Thomas, Leanne Wong, Morgan Hurd, Alyssa Baumann, Riley McCusker, Ellie Lazzari

Lineup options: Leah Clapper, Megan Skaggs, Sloane Blakely, Payton Richards, Savannah Schoenherr, Sydney Johnson-Scharf

Florida’s beam will be perhaps the hardest lineup to make in all of college gymnastics. Case in point, an athlete who got an actual 10.000 last season in Leah Clapper doesn’t even seem like a lock to make the lineup this year given all of the absolutely necessary routines coming from both returning athletes and new athletes. In terms of pure scoring potential (ignoring lineup position and all that), the top three returning beam routines for Florida would probably be Trinity Thomas, Alyssa Baumann, and Ellie Lazzari, so if you add Leanne Wong, Morgan Hurd, and Riley McCusker to that…it’s, um, uh, already six.

Of course, Leah Clapper can go with the #2 returning beam score, and Megan Skaggs got 9.9s all over the place last season, so I would anticipate seeing plenty of them in 2022, and quite possibly in the final lineup since Florida projects to have at least eight 9.9+ers here. If a routine like Hurd or McCusker doesn’t end up panning out, Florida has the athletes to throw in there without losing much, if anything, in projected scores.

This year’s depth may mean there’s no spot for Payton Richards, who struggled with her consistency at the end of last season, but she’ll be around as a choice with the likes of Sloane Blakely. Basically, there should be enough beamers for Florida this season that they don’t have to throw someone like Schoenherr in there at the last second, though she did get 9.8s when asked last year. 

FLOOR

2021 Event Ranking: 1

Lineup locks: Trinity Thomas, Nya Reed, Alyssa Baumann, Leanne Wong, Sloane Blakely, Morgan Hurd

Lineup options: Megan Skaggs, Ellie Lazzari, Payton Richards, Riley McCusker, Leah Clapper, Sydney Johnson-Scharf, Halley Taylor

Florida managed the #1 ranking on floor last season, though that won’t necessarily translate into an intact lineup in 2022 because there were times when the floor six seemed nearly as unsettled as bars. Certainly, the routines from Trinity Thomas, Trinity Thomas, and Trinity Thomas will be critical (you may replace those second two Trinity Thomases with Nya Reed and Alyssa Baumann if you must), but I wouldn’t feel certain about anyone else beyond that trio returning to the lineup.

On floor, it’s worth being more reticent about expectations for the 2021 elites, so this is an area where Sloane Blakely and her double Arabian will be a must, and Megan Skaggs and Ellie Lazzari should also return to see plenty of time. They were under-the-radar 9.9s last season with Lazzari reaching that mark five times and Skaggs doing so in each of the final four meets. Though if everything goes perfectly, Skaggs and Lazzari may not have places in the final floor lineup because Florida’s ideal six would surely feature Morgan Hurd and Leanne Wong in important positions. A theoretical lineup with Thomas, Hurd, Wong, Reed, Blakely, Baumann would warrant a #1 national ranking on floor once again.

RANKING HISTORY
2021 – 12th
2020 – 3rd
2019 – 3rd
2018 – 1st
2017 – 4th
2016 – 5th
2015 – 11th
2014 – 8th
2013 – 4th
2012 – 3rd

2021 IN REVIEW

Typically, more alarm bells would be ringing on the heels of one of the weakest results in UCLA program history—12th place and a regionals exit—but…that was exactly what we all expected to happen in 2021. UCLA had just graduated its most decorated class ever, and the intended replacement class all deferred a year because of the COVID times and delayed Olympics, leaving a one-season talent gap. The team did what it could in 2021 with those who were available.

Now, if that kind of result repeats in 2022, then hello alarm bells. 

DEPARTED ROUTINES

Nia Dennis – VT, UB, BB, FX
Savannah Kooyman – UB, BB
NIcki Shapiro – BB

THE NEW ONES

Phew, deep breath, here we go, it’s a lot. This year, UCLA brings in a first-year class to rival the best this team has ever had, joining the pantheon with the class that started in 2001 after the Sydney Olympics and the class that started in 2017 after the Rio Olympics, both of which won at least one national championship in their time. You could very nearly make a whole top-10 team out of just this first-year class.

Jordan Chiles is fresh off her Olympic silver medal and will look to star in the all-around for this team with lineup-leading scores on all four events. Chiles is among the rare few for whom the DTY in college seems a legitimate possibility for vault, and she’ll have a Mary Poppins bag of difficult tumbling that she can also land well to produce an anchor-quality floor routine. Those should be her best college events, though given UCLA’s returning roster, it may be the crisp routines Chiles delivers on bars and beam that become the most important. She retained the double pike beam dismount at Meet the Bruins, and even though it hurt me in the sacrum, it’s another possible standout element without too much risk (for her), even on one of her “lesser” events. 

Now let’s talk about Brooklyn Moors, the floor worker of a generation, who will be a vital delight in that lineup and is also working a 10.0 start handspring pike 1/2 that looks competition realistic and absolutely essential for this team. Check and check. Bars and beam always seemed an inch away from being off the rails for Moors in elite and are therefore less certain for college, but definitely possible—and potentially ideal if this team is to reach its peak. Her toe point and leg form on bars, her elegance and originality on beam, are precious resources. 

There were multiple years in there when Emma Malabuyo looked like she was on the fast train toward a “two exhibition routines and a medical retirement” college career, so the fact that she had such a strong elite season in 2021 and has showed up providing legitimate lineup-ready-in-mid-December-even-though-this-is-UCLA routine options on all four events is a huge win for this team, and all of us. Most importantly, Malabuyo will provide an undeniable beam routine that can get preposterous scores, but bars also looks like a very strong choice.  

Emily Lee would be the highlight of the class most years and has college-star gymnastics on all four events, though the torn Achilles from Olympics Trials has put a wrench in our expectations, at least in the short term. The timing of the injury was such that it shouldn’t necessarily jeopardize the entire season for her, but I’m not forming any expectations for vault and floor this year. Bars should come back first, and at her best, Lee is going to be one of the highlight beamers on this squad.  

Injuries ultimately derailed what looked like it was going to be a sure-thing spot on the Tokyo team for Ana Padurariu, and that will continue to influence her college career and expectations of how many events she can compete. Still, she is a casual world beam silver medalist that UCLA would be best suited having in its final lineup with so many high-quality skill options, and bars should at least present a possibility.

It will be interesting to watch the path of Alexis Jeffrey on this team because she’s someone who probably would have competed the all-around, or at least three events, last season. Her scores would have counted all over the place. This year, there’s a possibility that the team is so deep that she gets relegated to backup status, though her bars routine at Meet the Bruins looked lineup ready and would have been in the six if that were a real meet, so keep an eye on that. As for Mia Erdoes, she may not compete on this team but does have some Sara Ulias vibes in her bars ability. 

2022 PROJECTION

Improvement.

Welcome to the fool’s errand of ever attempting to preview a UCLA season. Can you preview smoke? Can you bottle the wind? Who even knows what’s going to happen with these lineups. It’s always an adventure. But, given the down year in 2021 and the immense talent UCLA brings in this time around, improvement on last season’s performance is a given. Even the barest minimum expectation for 2022 is more than just improvement.

Now, whether this improvement takes the form of a team that reaches the final four—which is completely doable for this roster and should be treated as the legitimate aim—will be a matter of just how much gymnastics UCLA gets out of this first-year class. Because it needs to be all of it. If this class is constantly semi-injured, “taking time to make the college adjustment,” popping up here and there and not really doing the AA or competing every meet, it’s going to be a long season where the Bruins are scraping by to try to make nationals. If, however, they’re healthy and hitting and contributing ~50% of the team’s final-lineup routines, then reaching the championship is realistic.

BY EVENT

VAULT

2021 Event Ranking: 8

Lineup locks: Jordan Chiles, Chae Campbell, Brooklyn Moors, Kendal Poston

Lineup options: Sekai Wright, Pauline Tratz, Emma Malabuyo, Alexis Jeffrey, Margzetta Frazier, Katie McNamara, Emma Andres, Emily Lee

UCLA has lost its best-scoring vault from last season—the Yurchenko full from Nia Dennis—but the fact that a Yfull was the team’s best vault (even an excellent one like Dennis’s) tells us that there is room to improve, and requirement to improve in 2022. Essential for that improvement, UCLA will be looking to add 10.0 starts from both Jordan Chiles and Brooklyn Moors to the business end of this lineup to increase the likelihood of getting high 9.8s and 9.9s from a few more positions. Settling for 9.825s into the middle of the lineup is not a recipe for a competitive vault total.

With them, Chae Campbell will surely return since her Yfull was outscoring most 10.0 starts last season, and the Bruins will likely continue leaning on the handspring pike 1/2 from Kendal Poston. Poston’s vault doesn’t get the very highest scores, typically because of chest position, but should score well enough week-in, week-out to be useful. Ideally, the Y1.5 from Sekai Wright will be available when it matters, but Wright has not been able to compete consistently over her career, so some other fulls will be called upon to fill positions, both in a final lineup and throughout the season. I remain partial to Pauline Tratz’s Yfull as the best option in terms of position and distance, but Emma Malabuyo looks like she’s bringing a clean possibility, and Alexis Jeffrey will be in the mix as well. UCLA probably wants to be able to shift Marz Frazier’s full to backup duty this year because the built-in pike deduction will keep it from scoring at the level they need, but it remains a viable option. 

Also keep in mind that transfer Katie McNamara brings a 10.0-start round-off, full-on back tuck. It’s tough to score well with that vault because of amplitude, but she did go as high as 9.875 for Washington last year, but UCLA should be interested in trying to continue developing that vault as a different look and additional 10.0.

BARS

2021 Event Ranking: 10

Lineup locks: Margzetta Frazier, Norah Flatley, Jordan Chiles

Lineup options: Frida Esparza, Sara Ulias, Emma Malabuyo, Alexis Jeffrey, Chae Campbell, Brooklyn Moors, Ana Padurariu, Emily Lee, Kalyany Steele, Sara Taubman, Mia Erdoes

UCLA is fairly spoiled on bars this year with a ton of very believable choices, which means it’s going to take some work to figure out who is not just a good 9.850 (there are plenty) but who is a trustworthy 9.9. Among returners, I’d feel confident only in Marz Frazier, who is still going to be the best and most refined bars worker on the team in 2022, and Norah Flatley, who didn’t get to compete much last season but whose bars work is just too damn lovely not to be in there. A successful UCLA bars in 2022 means that those winning spots are the ones with the most wonderful form, not just the ones whose routines you’re least scared of. 

I wouldn’t be surprised to see more returners than just Frazier and Flatley, but it will depend on how many spots end up being available and who is sticking enough to earn them. Frida Esparza is at her best on bars and should score well enough to be a very useful lineup member, Chae Campbell was always dependable for 9.850 in the leadoff spot last year, and Sara Ulias pretty legitimately became the #2 bars worker on this team last season. All three will see at least some time.

As for the new ones, Jordan Chiles should be a lock here. She doesn’t get as much attention for her bars because her elite D score wasn’t the highest, but her efficient, legs-together position on her piked Tkatchev to Pak is the foundation of a very good college score. Bars is also one of Emma Malabuyo’s most likely events, and as mentioned, Alexis Jeffrey is making a very good case. Any of these gymnasts could realistically knock out a Campbell or an Ulias from the lineup if they show 9.9s in their early opportunities. Meanwhile, if Brooklyn Moors can get consistent composition with a workable dismount (her elite dismount probably wouldn’t get the college scores), I like her for this lineup because her Shap + Pak and toe point has always been a dream. In the wonderful form department, she’s up there.

How much UCLA improves on bars in 2022 remains a question, but this isn’t going to be a season where Pauline Tratz is asked to do a bars routine and then it’s literally the third-best one, so some improvement is a given. 

BEAM

2021 Event Ranking: 19

Lineup locks: Norah Flatley, Emma Malabuyo, Jordan Chiles

Lineup options: Emily Lee, Ana Padurariu, Samantha Sakti, Brooklyn Moors, Chae Campbell, Frida Esparza, Alexis Jeffrey, Margzetta Frazier, Kendal Poston, Katie McNamara

More than anything, UCLA has to get it together on beam this year. Last year wasn’t good, even by the standard of that depleted roster, and (nearly) an entire refresh may be in order. There are fully six lineup routines in this freshman class if needed.

Of course, Norah Flatley must return to the lineup since she delivers the team’s best-executed routine, though she may have some competition in that department from Emma Malabuyo, whose routine is looking excellent and ready for a place of honor in the six. It’s one of the few sure-thing spots among these lineups that still look so up in the air. Jordan Chiles should be a given here as well, though beyond that, there’s not a lot that seems obvious.  

A healthy Emily Lee is going to be a dream on beam, so hopefully we’ll see that this year, and this is Ana Padurariu’s most likely lineup as well. Padurariu’s rodeo(?)-themed beam routine is packed, currently with more bonus than required, which should allow for adaptation as needed during the season. The story for Brooklyn Moors is similar to bars where, with the right composition, this routine can be a winner since her only weakness on beam in elite was whether she was going to hit.

As for returners, I was pleased to see a compositional change for Samantha Sakti at Meet the Bruins, ditching the standing layout stepouts for something that looks more hitable. That move could reclaim her place in the lineup for the 2022 season. I would also keep Chae Campbell in the front of the pack here. She really started to find her confidence on beam at the end of last season and that should translate to continuing high scores. I’d imagine that the influx of new and exciting beam means that returners like Frazier and Poston and Esparza may not be called upon this year—even though Frazier had a breakthrough beam year last season as she stepped up her comfort and consistency on the event—but they’ll be right in the mix as options.

There really should be 9.9s sitting on the sidelines this year because there are more than six believable 9.9 beams on this team. 

FLOOR

2021 Event Ranking: 6

Lineup locks: Brooklyn Moors, Chae Campbell, Jordan Chiles, Margzetta Frazier

Lineup options: Pauline Tratz, Emma Malabuyo, Norah Flatley, Sekai Wright, Emma Andres, Alexis Jeffrey, Chloe Lashbrooke, Katie McNamara, Sara Ulias, Emily Lee

Floor was UCLA’s best event last year and has no business being anything other than the team’s best event this year (and possibly the best floor in the nation) given the level of impressiveness among this lineup’s stars. That also makes this lineup a little easier to put together because there are more gymnasts here who absolutely, definitely, must, no question, certainly, completely be in this lineup.

Brooklyn Moors is the floor performer of the decade (at least), and whether she ends up competing her Podkopayeva in college is almost incidental because she could cough as two of her tumbling passes and still warrant a 10. Jordan Chiles will be right up there delivering huge tumbling passes, while also no longer having to do things like a double wolf turn to create an elite floor routine. Just the good stuff. Contrary to what Tom Forster might have said, Chiles has never done anything resembling a college floor routine before, and being fully unleashed to do college floor for the first time should suit her well. 

Among returners, Chae Campbell had the best floor on the team last season both choreographically and skill-ographically, went 9.9 in over 80% of her routines, and really the only question for her this year is whether she’s going to get a 10 yet. It will be a huge score pretty much every single time. The final link here and most important task on floor this year is to get Marz Frazier some routine composition that lives up to her floor ability. Last season, she was out there with fantastic tumbling, performance quality and star presence that few could ever dream of, and then this deduction-burger of a jump combination. How is she supposed to go viral if she’s getting 9.850? These are the questions.

With that four, UCLA can cruise to huge numbers, and as for the rest, I like Pauline Tratz as a frontrunner to return to the lineup. She was also the most prepared and best-looking one on floor at Meet the Bruins. Speaking of MTB, Norah Flatley showed up going, “Hello triple full,” which moved her up several places in the depth chart for a routine that previously looked unnecessary to force along because her bars and beam are so much more important. That may still be true, but she’s an option here, as is Emma Malabuyo, who is currently showing simpler composition but doing it very cleanly for the kind of routine that would go 9.925 at home with a double tuck just to piss off Utah. Very reasonable options all, and more beyond that.        

RANKING HISTORY
2021 – 7th
2020 – 9th
2019 – 11th
2018 – 9th
2017 – 16th
2016 – 7th
2015 – 18th
2014 – 16th
2013 – 28th
2012 – 49th

2021 IN REVIEW

The main goal for Cal in 2021 would have been to return to nationals after barely missing out in 2019, so mission #1 accomplished. That Cal matched the program record with 7th-place finish, capping off a season in which the team also tied the all-time NCAA bars record with a 49.825, scored 198 for the very first time, and got its first individual national champion with Maya Bordas on bars, only reinforces what a successful year it was. 

DEPARTED ROUTINES

Alma Kuc – UB

THE NEW ONES

Cal is looking at a high-quality new class of five, all of whom should provide multiple event options, if not multiple final-lineup routines. This class is somewhat under the radar because of all the elite names scattered around the country, but there are a bunch of 9.9s lurking in this group. 

Madelyn Williams spent some time as an elite in 2017 and 2018 and made waves for her beautiful extension on bars and beam, which she continued to L10 when she won nationals in 2019. The COVID seasons proved more of a struggle for Williams, but if she can compete in college like she did in L10 in 2019 (and intrasquad videos seem to indicate that she can), then we’re looking at possible all-around contribution from her, with some of the highest scores on the team on bars and beam.

Another who excelled in the L10 ranks in Mya Lauzon, coming one bars fall away from an AA medal in her division at nationals this year. Her most important contribution will be a Yurchenko 1.5 that could be tops on the team, but she’s similarly good on beam and looks believable to make the lineup on any event.

Ella Cesario, meanwhile, is a 2019 L10 champion on bars whom you’d consider a sure bet if it weren’t just so hard to get into this bars lineup. Cal will probably also want to get a floor out of her because she has some strong tumbling options. Another the team will like to see on floor is Abbey Scanlon, a long-time elite who can bring out the big passes and match them with the kind of leaps that also make her beam look compelling. Jordan Kane has not enjoyed the L10 results of the rest of the class, but there’s some real gymnastics there. She certainly has the tools on beam and can twist up a storm on floor.

2022 PROJECTION

Improvement.

Cal was hoping only to add routines this year to an already strong roster, but the Achilles injury to Kyana George that will keep her out of the 2022 season means that lineup-best scores do need replacing on floor, vault, and beam. That will undermine to some degree how much the roster can grow this season, but even so, Cal should enjoy an overall increase in depth and the introduction of enough top-quality routines to keep the team knocking on the door of the big time.

During this half-decade of firsts, something Cal has yet to do is reach the national championship in consecutive seasons. That will be the absolute expectation for this team that shouldn’t experience a backslide from last year’s results.

BY EVENT

VAULT

2021 Event Ranking: 9

Lineup locks: Nevaeh DeSouza, Mya Lauzon, Milan Clausi, Andi Li, Nina Schank

Lineup options: Maya Bordas, Natalie Sadighi, Abi Solari, Madelyn Williams, Ella Cesario, Elise Byun

Now, 10.0 starts aren’t everything on vault, but with all of these top teams sniffing around the possibility of having a full lineup of 10.0s, Cal may struggle to keep pace with what the popular girls table is doing. Ultimately, it was that 49.150 on vault more than anything else that kept Cal from being able to upset Florida in the national semifinals last year. Two developments will be essential to Cal staying close enough on vault in 2022: 1) Getting Mya Lauzon into this lineup. Her Y1.5 is high and clean in the air and should score very well. 2) Getting Milan Clausi back to her previous vaulting level. She has gone 9.950 for her Y1.5 before, but she didn’t have that vault last season, and Cal definitely missed it. If those two are joining Nevaeh DeSouza’s returning Y1.5, Cal will at least have the tools to stay in sight of the top teams. If not, vault could be a problem this year.

There will be some Yfulls in the lineup, so Andi Li and Nina Schank seem like clear bets to return given how well they were both scoring for stuck fulls toward the end of last season—9.850s and sometimes 9.900s. Natalie Sadighi made the final lineup last year and could again, Maya Bordas will always be an option, and Madelyn Williams should be able to provide a full around a similar level in terms of the options to fill out a lineup. Plus the requisite note that if Abi Solari can go, she does have that handspring pike 1/2 at a 10.0 start, but it has been a long time of ifs with that vault.

BARS

2021 Event Ranking: 1

Lineup locks: Emi Watterson, Nina Schank, Maya Bordas, Andi Li, Nevaeh DeSouza, Madelyn Williams

Lineup options: Maya Green, Gabby Perea, Mya Lauzon, Ella Cesario

When the national bars champion is the #3 lock in a lineup, things are probably going pretty well. Cal ranked first on bars last season and certainly has the potential to repeat the feat in 2022. The lineup does lose some by not having Alma Kuc, who didn’t compete every week but could go over 9.9 on her day, or the option from Kyana George (who wasn’t in the final six in 2021), but should have the routines to replace those scores pretty comfortably. 

Among the returning gymnasts, Watterson, Schank, Bordas, Li, and DeSouza should all be locks for the lineup and, when they stick a dismount, will be expecting a bare minimum 9.900, if not 9.950. That quintet went 9.9+ on 48% of bars routines last season. They simply don’t give away handstand deductions. Much like watching Oklahoma on beam in the years when Oklahoma was just emerging as the new threat, Cal has figured out exactly what works on bars and is going to do it more beautifully and satisfyingly than the others and dare you to find a deduction.  

In terms of a sixth member of the lineup, I’d favor Madelyn Williams to join the gang because she has those same satisfying handstands going for her and will put up an extended, deduction-minimal routine. But, Maya Green has gone a number of times for good scores and would make the lineup on most teams, Mya Lauzon should present a solid option, Ella Cesario has a huge Ray, and don’t look now, but Gabby Perea is doing bars again. I’d say it’s not a definite yet, but she has a realistic, full-composition routine that can score well.

BEAM

2021 Event Ranking: 9

Lineup locks: Nevaeh DeSouza, Andi Li, Maya Bordas, Milan Clausi

Lineup options: Mya Lauzon, Emi Watterson, Abbey Scanlon, Madelyn Williams, Gabby Perea, Jordan Kane, Talitha Jones, Nina Schank

Cal had a good season on beam last year, especially in terms of showing solidity when it counted, not missing any routines or dropping under the 49.4 mark at any of the elimination meets. Not having Kyana George this year will hurt as she really ended up finding her beam legs in her senior season for almost exclusively 9.9s, but the first years are good enough on beam that Cal should be able to continue to improve there. It will be harder to make this lineup in 2022. 

As for those first years, Mya Lauzon looks pretty undeniable for a beam lineup given the quality of her acro series, Scanlon is potentially compelling here with an efficient routine, and we really shouldn’t be denied Williams’ leaps, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of them make a lineup that also has five returners from last season who all look like they should return. DeSouza and Bordas were the most likely to get 9.9s last season, so you want them back, Li really started to develop her beam as the season progressed and seems like she will only grow into higher scores in her second season, Clausi has been the reliable mainstay at every meet all the time always (36 for 36 career on beam), and when Watterson is performing confidently, she might have the highest scoring potential of them all. 

So Cal is spoiled for choice here. This is more options than the team has enjoyed in the past, allowing the opportunity to pick and choose not just who has beautiful ability or who can stay on a beam in a meet, but who can do both. Ideally at the same time even. Also, maybe find some way to get Gabby Perea into the lineup this season. I don’t care if it requires a harpoon and a pulley system.

FLOOR

2021 Event Ranking: 6

Lineup locks: Milan Clausi, Grace Quinn, Maya Bordas, Nevaeh DeSouza, Andi Li

Lineup options: Ella Cesario, Abbey Scanlon, Madelyn Williams, Mya Lauzon, Nina Schank, Maya Green, Jordan Kane, Abi Solari,

Cal’s 6th-place ranking on floor last season was incredibly important for a team whose primary weakness in recent seasons had been underpowered floor work that was too easy to give a 9.775. Those 9.775s from the first two spots were eradicated in 2021. Cal will, however, still have to watch out for being a little too mid-range-9.8y this season given the expectations for 2022 floor scoring, and this is where not having that auto-9.950 from Kyana George will hurt the most. 

In that regard, Andi Li’s performance will be crucial this year. She started to find her floor at the end of last season (she didn’t go lower than 9.8875 for an actual hit), and getting her in there consistently for 9.9s as a lineup leader is required to keep this group competitive. In the interest of adding some bigger passes to the team, Cal will want to get Ella Cesario and her piked full-in working if she’s able to go (she did not compete in 2021), and Abbey Scanlon has the possibility of a DLO in what should be a full-package floor routine complemented by easily extended leaps. That’s where the new, improved scores might come from.

Milan Clausi will definitely return, probably still the best tumbler on this team, and Grace Quinn has made herself necessary by suddenly entering her 9.9 era in the second half of last season to become the team’s second-best floor score. Nevaeh DeSouza should be considered a similar lock even if she’s double piking instead of doing her more difficult options, and Maya Bordas is pretty much always good for a 9.850. Right alongside them, Mya Lauzon and Madelyn Williams should provide very clean options for D-pass routines that can score quite well. In sorting through these possible floor routines, Cal will have to decide whether it’s more important to go big, or whether a lineup of precise-double-pike will continuing doing the job.