Barely. I barely know where to begin about yesterday. That was a completely thrilling, high-quality competition, as simultaneously exciting and well-executed as college gymnastics is supposed to be. Best Super Six ever? It has a good argument. That makes two of the last three seasons with incredibly close finishes, which never used to happen, especially when Georgia and UCLA were in their years of winning by a million points. Something I rail against, the margins between the scores being so small all the time without significant separation between good and great routines, is actually what leads to these finishes. So at least something good comes out of it.

As for the tie, I’m still in several minds about it. On the one hand, finishing with two winners is all a little cute. It’s a little “hooray for everyone.” Almost deflating after the exciting back and forth. I wouldn’t have been mad at them for breaking the tie. It’s sport. It’s supposed to be ruthless. At the same time, I’m so glad that Oklahoma won its first national championship that I’m basically OK with the tie. Oklahoma had an amazing competition last night – and consistently performs such clean, beautiful, confident, and creative gymnastics – so if the tie had been broken (which would have given Florida the win), it would have felt like the Sooners had been cheated out of a maiden title.

And now after that we’re supposed to focus on event finals? It’s going to be tough, especially because we’ll be paying more attention to all the people who didn’t advance to finals since there are so many major routines not competing today. If you have 16 people in beam finals, but none of them are Danusia Francis, does it make a sound? Can we at least try to make Katherine Grable’s floor go viral? The event begins at 2:00 CT. Here’s the order:

LIVE SCORES

LIVE VIDEO

In vault finals, I’m rooting for anyone who goes for the more difficult vault that they downgraded away from this season. I’m looking at you Ashleigh Gnat and Georgia Dabritz. I need to see your 1.5s. Let’s see if we can get a Brandie Jay DTY again, too. I went back and watched it again from Super Six – it happened during Savona’s floor – and she completed it so early that it was easy to mistake for a full. Big steps back, which accounted for the low score, but that’s the kind of crazy upgrade I want to see in EFs. However, the win will probably go to the stuckiest full, and there are several strong nominees. Also Grable’s ro 1/2 on pike half. That should win too. Maybe we’ll have some more ties.

The Stanfords didn’t get a great draw on bars, but I’m hoping for them to make a splash in what looks to be a Florida fest. Who would have picked only one Georgia gymnast making bars finals? More Gym Dogs made beam finals than bars finals. Gymnastics. Beam is usually the most interesting and least predictable of the finals, because it’s beam, and that should be true again. No frontrunner there, maybe Kim Jacob? It’s her best event, she’s competing late in the order, and her routine has solid difficulty.

Floor will be a strange final, another with so many top contenders not qualifying. I’m looking at Scaman, Sampson, and Grable as our most likely nominees. Wong? Milliner? There are a few solid choices, and floor always is the most controversial of the event finals when everyone is hitting all the passes. Recall that time Kat Ding won randomly, and the gymternet would have exploded if we all didn’t love Kat Ding so much?

The broadcast is beginning on this, the day of constant dancing. Bart and Kathy are recapping last night’s crazy pants. Hadn’t seen the Kim Jacob mount fall yet. That’s crazy. Both of those Alabama falls were very random. 

We’re looking at Rhonda and KJ now. Oh, see this is why I can’t be too harsh about the tie. Look at them all smiley. Do I have a heart now? Ugh. That sounds irritating.

Group 1:
Sloan – VT – Excellent stick on the yfull like she does every time. It will be hard for her to win from the first spot, but a solid start. Already more sticks than last year’s final. 9.9167

Morgan – UB – Great piked jaeger and shoots to the low bar. I saw one short handstand in there and a hop forward on the double front. 9.8375

Grable – VT – Yes you did! Another stick – two in two vaults. Great power on her ro 1/2 on pike 1/2, great chest position on landing, and legs pretty well together as well. 9.9750. Amazing. That will be tough to beat.

Courville – UB -Hits a solid jaeger, clean form on her bail as well – stick on the tuck full. We’ll probably see people later beat this, but that’s a solid foundation to beat.

Cheek – VT – Third stick in a row! Great vault – great leg form – just a little chest forward, which will bring her score down. 9.9167

Shapiro – UB – The toe point and the handstands – so excellent – “Sami’s toe point just makes me salivate” – excellent pak salto – perhaps rushed her final handstand a little – just does hang onto the stick for long enough. Great routine. 9.9250

Dabritz – VT – She does the 1.5 like I asked for. Thank you Gerogia. Hops forward so she won’t contend. No one will be able to win without a stick now after Grable’s score, but she gets points for doing the more difficult vault. 9.8667

Vaculik UB -nice hop hecht to the high bar – her gienger!! (appropriate number of exclamation points?) Another with her excellent handstands and toe point – also hangs onto her dismount. 9.9000.

Sugiyama – VT – Another very strong 1.5, small step forward. Great to see her in finals. She often gets overshadowed in that Michigan vault lineup, but she’s excellent. 9.8667

M Caquatto – UB – Very clean shaposh to a pristine bail, great form throughout but does hop back on the dismount. 9.8875

Courtney – VT – Very nice yfull – and a small step back. She vaulted amazingly in event finals last year – her best of the year. This wasn’t quite that, but strong. 9.8750

Peszek – UB – great first handstand and finishes her full turn right on top. She arches her handstand after the gienger again today – which she did in semifinals – but this time she goes over. Surprising. She’s had some mistakes at this event that we never see from her.

That’s the end of the first subdvision for vault and bars. So happy for Grable. That score will be nearly impossible to beat, but we’ll see what happens in the second group. Shapiro is our current leader on bars, but her 9.9250 is more attainable by some of the people in the second group.

Group 2:
“The scores between 9.950 and 10 should be reserved for the truly exceptional.” – Kathy. Correct.
Chatter about the possible 5-up-5-count format. If we count all the scores, we need to retain 6 routines. We shouldn’t limit the amount of gymnastics. Kathy rightly points out that counting all the scores makes all routines have the same urgency, which reduces the ebb and flow of the action. I agree with that sentiment. I like the varying stakes in the routines when a score can be dropped.

Jay – VT – Come on, if you can do an accidental DTY, you can do an on-purpose one right? Ha. OK 1.5 but one of her weaker of the season, short with a step back.

Sloan – UB – Excellent Ray, hitting her handstands, and sticks her DLO. I’ll be interested to see how they evaluate things like her flexed feet on the tkatchev that don’t get deducted during the season. That comes into account more for event finals. 9.9375

Scaman – VT – Sticks her full again – probably even better than the vault from Super Six, a more solid stick – opens out of it and nails the landing. 9.9667. In just behind Grable. 

Johnson – UB – Everything looks as it usually does except for a leg break on the bail handstand, sticks her DLO but lands squatty and has the leg separation on the DLO, so probably not as high as the others.

Mable – VT – Great yfull as most of them are showing. Nice straight body position throughout this vault – small hop on the landing, and she doesn’t open out of it the way a couple of vaulters will.

Spears – UB -Clean jaeger,perfectly solid on the bail, hits her final handstand and was going well until a big lunge back on the double arabian, which will take her out of it.

Courville – VT – She sticks it this time. This will be interesting to compare with Grable and Scaman – she’ll get the points for distance – we see the leg separation on the block and a little forward in the chest. I’d have her in third right now. Let’s see. Oooh, 9.9750. Same score as Grable. Will she be co-champion again.

Sampson – UB – Has to press up her first handstand, but the tkatchev is solid and bail is hit, one short handstand at the end – does the DLO 1/1 dismount, and a step forward. Love the difficulty, but she had errors.

Gnat – VT – Love that she returned to the 1.5, but a big step on the landing. I’d love to see her go back and try to DTY at some point because she finishes that 1.5 so early and so easily.

Jacob – UB – Solid Ray, just short on a couple of these handstands, and the most surprising part is that she didn’t stick the DLO for the first time in a thousand years. Small step back.

Kanewa – VT – And she sticks as well – very solid vault – doesn’t have the Courville distance or the amplitude to get the big, big score, but well done.

Cheek – UB – Great first hs, excellent tkatchev, great legs throughout – nails her bail – short on the final handstand – and a step back on the DLO. She had a shot at it, but too many errors there to pass Sloan.

Sloan is the bars champion. Strong routine with no mistakes. I thought Shapiro’s routine was the strongest of the group because of her better precision through the toes on all her skills, but it was close. Rheagan Courville and Katherine Grable tie for the vault title, which is the second year in a row that Courville has tied for the vault win. I would have had them 1) Grable, 2) Scaman, 3) Courville. But I’m so, so pleased at what high quality vaults we saw in finals. Last year, we had a million vaulters and only 1 or 2 sticks, but the large majority stuck this year, which is very refreshing. Well done.

Now get ready for this epic miniseries of a beam final.

Group 3:
Capps – BB – Trying to raise the level in the first routine – strong loso series, comfortable full turn, solid walkover, switch to straddle 1/4, sticks her gainer full. Solid start and should set a good foundation score here. Probably won’t contend for the win, but a good hit.

Beers – FX – Hits her DLO – she can do it with the chest more forward, though – front layout to front full – and a nice stick on the double back. It’s a strong hit routine but not necessarily a special routine, which is what it should take in a floor final. The performance and the creativity have to go with the tumbling.

Gardiner – BB – takes a wobble on her stag jump, which is a shame because she works beautifully. Nice to see her make finals without a team. Very solid walkover and loso series – hits her side somi, and a very strong double full dismount. Just the early wobble will hurt her.

Jay – FX – Lands pretty low on her full out this time – chest in the knees – but it’s stuck, front full to front layout, and she is also pretty low on her double pike final pass. A few landing errors there, so that score won’t be too high.

Box – BB – small wobble on her tuck jump full turn, hits her bhs loso – she’s pulling it together after that early wobble – secure walkover and otherwise great landings. Sticks her 1.5. Nice after the start.

Albright – FX – Is Bart the only person who calls it the “World Olympic Gymnastics Academy” instead of “WOGA”? Solid front double full, and then a 1.5 to front full – does well to keep that in bounds – completes it right to the edge – nice straddles that are fully to 180 – excellent rudi to finish. Solid. Not quite as strong as her Super Six performance but could challenge Beers’ score right now. 9.9125.

Blanske – BB – Solid three series and secure landing – bent knees there – hits her front tuck and a nice switch side to follow – sticks her double full as she has all weekend.

Wong – FX – That triple full. Great. Small small bounce? Solid on the front full to layout – like Grable, she’s one who takes regular choreography and makes it stronger because of how she carries herself. No major issues on any skills there. 9.900.

Johnsn – BB – Pretty walkover to bhs – great switch split to split – good elevation and split position – finishes with her side aerial to a stuck layout full. I would think that can move into first for the moment, pretty and solid. No wobbles like the others. Nope 9.8500. OK.

Kanewa – FX – Perfect stick on her pike full in – no question there – nailed that landing. Just had to pull around her middle pass a bit. Maybe she used up all her energy reacting to sticking vault. Secure final double pike as well – she was not going to budge on those passes. 9.9500.

Ewing – BB – Great two-footed layout. She hasn’t wobbled on that all weekend. Strong switch side as well. LSU is coming together on beam – next year should be great. This is very secure, and a stuck 1.5 dismount. Great routine. Nailed that one. Nice to see her bring that to finals. 9.8875. Three-way ties.

Jacob – FX – Another solid pike full in – controlled step back – same on the double pike – just very secure on these passes, same with the 1.5 to full dismount. She is so efficient in her movements and keeps those legs together throughout everything.

Nordquist – BB – Uh oh, huge wobble on her switch side and she comes off the beam. But now how is Kathy going to obsess over her full turn? She didn’t make a single sound about it this time. Disappointing. She pulls it together well after the fall – strong side aerial to loso, followed by a side aerial to a stuck layout full dismount. Very secure after the fall.

Schleppenbach – BB – Hits her walkover to bhs, she has very stretchy/lungey beam choreo which is different than we normally see – nice splits and a stuck loso to layout full. Kathy is not happy with Nebraska’s form on beam. She mentions it every time.

After the first group, we have a million-way tie for the lead on beam, but it’s under 9.900, so I can’t imagine that holding up for the second flight. We have a number of people who should get 9.9s in the second group. Kanewa is leading on floor over Jacob by a small margin. Kanewa got the bonus for really sticking those first and third passes. No question that she nailed them.

Group 4:
Cheek – BB – pretty full turn – excellent loso as well – that perfect switch side (just perfect – not possible to be better) – clean side aerial and good use of extended wrists after that. Sticks her gainer full. That should be in first. Great routine. I’ll even forgive her dismounting with a gainer full. 9.900.

Scaman – FX – Great DLO – better than yesterday in the control – and of course she gets bonus points from me for doing a combo pass ending in a floaty layout stepout – switch side and popa look strong – solid double tuck. Let’s see – to me her routine is stronger than Kanewa’s, but I have thought that other times this season when the scores didn’t reflect it. 9.9500. She ties Kanewa – straight 9.950s from all judges for both.

Wong – BB – Perfect two loso series, goes for the popa but bends at the waist to hang onto it. That’s a shame, so no event championships for Wong. A couple more small wobbles coming after the big one – very strong double full dismount.

Savona – FX – 1.5 through to double back is strong – she does tend to bounce ever so slightly on her landings, which the judges can interpret as lack of control – but not on the full in middle pass – great landing – just that little bounce on the double pike as well, but identical to her hits earlier in the competition.

Vaculik – BB – Great switch to back tuck – and strong on the rulfova as always – great toe point through her bhs loso series – holds her leg out on the full turn well – this is an excellent routine – was going to be great until the big hop on the double full dismount. Otherwise she could have challenged Cheek.

Tutka – FX – Nails her full in mount, and a solid layout to rudi to split to front tuck middle pass – energetic and solid on the landings, just bends in the knees on the double tuck landing – pretty much the routine we’ve seen from her all year for 9.900-9.925 – then just the issue on the last pass, so I don’t see it challenging the top.

DeZiel – BB – Starts with a walkover – then goes into the layout stepout series, some pauses here but no breaks – secure front toss – one step back on the 1.5 dismount. Solid throughout, but regular. They’ve been keeping scores pretty low, so that will probably stay in the 9.8s with the others in that gaggle.

Damianova – FX – The usual double tuck mount, not as precise on the landing as we’ve come to expect from her, a slide back there. 1.5 to front tuck and a little lunge out of that as well, we usually see her tumbling much more secure than this. Short on the double pike with a lunge forward.

DeMeo – BB – If she nails this routine, she has the difficulty to get the judges’ respect for a big score. Front handspring mount is strong as always, clean walkover, right on with her two-footed layout. One wobble after her switch split, which is the only major thing going to the dismount – very short on the double pike dismount with a lunge.

Milliner – FX – Did she just open with a pike full in just because instead of her double arabian? Go ahead on you. Front layout to front full, dismounts with the double arabian now. Big points for difficulty there, just a somewhat short landing on her double arabian with a step back. Love that she threw extra difficulty on her last routine. Love that.

Jacob – BB – No trouble on the mount now, switch to popa is very strong, excellent series with two layouts as well. If she nails this, I have to assume she’ll move into first, but then she misses her barani this time. Just can’t save it and comes off the beam. Going into this season, that barani was just so, so solid but a few misses this year. She probably would have won with a hit.

Sampson – FX – These last two can challenge the Oklahoma 9.950s. Perfect DLO – amazing control on the landing as well – just great. Front full to layout is nailed as well. She is bringing it through these first two passes. Great dance elements, and a stuck double pike as well. That could come close to the OUs. Better than her winning routine from last year? Right with it? She ties the others, but with a 10 from 1 judge.

Caquatto – BB – Kathy thinks Macko is “precious.” Ha. Strong loso series and hits her walkover well with an ever-so-slight pause before connecting to the swingdown. Tight full turn, was going very well, and then takes a step on the gainer full dismount. Just some small errors – not sticking the gainer full is a big one.

Grable – FX – Is she going to join the tie? Beat it? Awesome double arabian half out – just excellent every time – great dance elements – 1.5 to front full to stepout – just the last pass to come – solid double pike as well. Let’s see how the judges compare it to the other excellent 9.950s. Do we say she was perfect on the double pike? The replay shows it just a little low in the knees, but I’m deciding to ignore it.

Spears – BB – Cheek is still the current leader, but Spears can challenge. Great onodi to swingdown – she didn’t get to 180 there on her split leap, but she is nailing all the landings, and sticks her gainer full. Let’s see if she can pass Cheek. Just a 9.900 for Cheek, which is not insurmountable.

Grable moves into first place to win floor in her final routine. I’m not mad about it. Great for her, two event titles, and an awesome floor routine with original difficulty and excellent execution. Spears moves ahead of Cheek to win beam on the final routine. I think I would have gone for Cheek over Spears, but both strong routines with little between them.

Winners:
VAULT – Grable and Courville
BARS – Sloan
BEAM – Spears
FLOOR – Grable

So that’s our NCAA gymnastics season. Weird. Kind of wistful, isn’t it?

We’re into the land of a million trophies. Enjoy the ceremony, and thanks for a great season people. At some point soon I’ll come up with some general impressions and summations of the season. I probably still have some thoughts somewhere that I haven’t expressed. 

Here we are, old friends. You and me, on the last day. Well, the second-to-last day. But the big day. The conclusion of what everyone has been working toward all season. In a few hours, we’ll have a team champion. The meet will begin at 6 CT.

I will use this opportunity for my annual banning of the phrase “wanted it more.” They won because they wanted it more? Good thing none of the other teams wanted to win, then. Just once I would like a coach to credit victory to something honest like “we won because our gymnastics is better than that of the other teams.” I’m not holding my breath.

Here’s the rotation order for the day:

I’m done saying that I don’t like starting on floor as a rotation order for Nebraska because, counter-intuitively, they seem to be doing just fine with it. Going to the last rotation last night, they had the hardest job – behind both Utah and UCLA and finishing on beam compared to vault and bars – but performed the best, while the others did the hoppity hoppity hop on their landings.

I don’t think any of the teams should be all too pained by this order. I don’t love it for LSU because I think it’s really tough for teams to begin Super Six on an event where they need a big score, especially if it’s a weaker event for them. LSU has to hit bars much better than they did yesterday to keep up, so they can’t afford any of those telltale signs of big-meet tightness like short handstands. Last year in Super Six, LSU also started on bars, and their 49.200 was the low bars score and very much hurt their ability to contend.

I still think Florida enters as the favorite. There is just so much room for improvement on yesterday’s gymnastics, and they did manage to tie Alabama for the top score. But then again, I didn’t even mention Kim Jacob as one of the nominees for the AA title, so me . . .

LIVE SCORES

LIVE VIDEO

Prepare yourselves.

If we follow yesterday’s scores, the standings after the first rotation would be Florida 49.375, Nebraska 49.350, LSU 49.225, Georgia 49.200. All of those teams besides Nebraska should be looking for higher scores than that today. Nebraska would take that 49.350 again since that was a step up on previous meets already.

The stream is live. I repeat, the stream is live. It’s telling us to stand by. Yeah, we’re doing it. We’ve been doing it for hours . . . some of us.

The judges are switched around after the first day, so we’ll see how that influences the scoring. I thought a couple events yesterday were clearly more forgiving than others, but it’s unlikely to maintain today.

The feed is beginning. Good punctuality, ESPN. We’re gymnastics fans. If you are three seconds late for anything, we will cut your face out. We’re not some hippie soccer fans who stroll in with their dreadlocks and pencils in their hair 23 minutes late. No, sir.

Georgia’s leotards . . .

Phew. The sound of Kathy’s voice is making me less nervous. Her grace and stability are a beacon in these trying times.

We’re profiling the Milliner and Sloan falls from yesterday. “Oklahoma is clean and beautiful.”

Rotation 1:
Wait, are we starting? I didn’t even realize. It was so abrupt. Strong start for Dickson on bars – good landing on tuck full dismount. 9.900. Huge opening score.

Good, Bart told us it was a four-ring circus. I was waiting.

M Caquatto – UF – VT – Good dynamics, stuck landing. Great yfull. Big and pretty.

Reynolds – UGA – BB – Big wobble on her front tuck, bends and adjusts – and she comes off on the loso. You could tell she was so tight from the start. Here we go, Georgia.

Beautiful jaeger and bail from Jordan on bars, step back on the DLO. Solid. LSU is getting much higher bars scores than yesterday. It’s what they need.

Johnson – UF – VT – Excellent power as well, solid yfull. She can Macko have stepped up these vaults significantly since mid-season.

Ranzy – LSU – UB – Just catches that tkatchev, a couple short handstands here and there, but a nice stick on her pike open pike.

Sloan – UF – VT – There’s the stick. They’ve been stuck down in the 9.8s, so they needed that one. Meanwhile, Stephens for Nebraska is hitting floor.

Courville – UB – Lovely jaeger, hand to muscle up her cast after the shoot but got up to handstand well, fights for the stick on the landing. Solid routine but a couple places there – not quite as dynamic on her shoot. 

Hunter – VT – They need one of her good ones, and this was. It has been a while since she nailed one, but that was very strong on the 1.5, just a tiny hop in place, but it could go 9.950 along with Sloan to bring up the rotation score. And it does.  

Brown – BB – UGA – They need a big hit for her, they’re already counting some lower scores. A couple small areas, but she’s hitting so far. Bart just said Broussard went to the Olympics for Canada but corrected himself so it’s OK. Small hop on 1.5 dismount. OK, they’ll take it but they won’t gain here.

Morrison – LSU – UB – Solid piked jaeger, not huge but secure, clean bail, really hits that last handstand, and a comfortable landing. Good performance. That should score better than yesterday.

Cheek – BB – OK Lindsey, let’s get this done. Your gymnastics is too pretty for a fall. She’ll go at the same time as Blanske on floor –
small slide on the tuck full – they need to get out of the 9.8s – good leaps, well completed – another small bounce on her rudi – just needs to hold it in a little bit more. Short on her double tuck with a lunge. Pressure on Wong now. 9.850 is an overscore for those passes. 

Now Cheek – She has to get them into the 9.9s. Solid loso, amazing switch side, pretty side aerial, she looks slightly nervous but it’s not manifesting in wobbles. Sticks gainer full.

Wong – FX – I missed her triple full because of Lindsey Cheek going. Too much good at one time. She’s nailing it – and a stuck rudi to finish. Got to see the triple full on replay, and it was perfect, obvi. Could have gone higher than 9.900 IMO.

Earls – BB – Hits her three series well, strong switch and straddle 1/4, hits her side aerial to side position, lands a little squatty on her double back with a hop, but they got through the rotation. They’ll be in a hole now, though.

Wyrick on replay – she is swinging with more freedom than yesterday, less tight. Kathy points out some foot form, accurately, also a step on dismount and a borderline handstand. Also Bridgey replay, that larger hop back that we saw early in the year. 

After 1: Florida 49.450, LSU 49.400, Nebraska 49.225, Georgia 49.075
I’m hearing a lot of Grable floor music, and I approve. Just in spirit because we need it.

Most important rotation there for LSU. That’s an enormous 49.400 for the team. Florida will take that 49.450, but they could have gone higher, so advantage LSU right now. Nebraska and Georgia needed bigger scores there. Georgia looked tiii-iiight in those routines we saw, even Cheek a little.

Oklahoma is joining the competition on bars now, and they need to take advantage of the same scoring that LSU got. Alabama also comes in on floor, and it will be interesting to see how their scores compare to yesterday. LSU to beam. If they can nail beam as well, they’re in this thing.

Rotation 2:

Frost – Ala – FX – Solid DLO, (and Clark is also going on bars – oooh lands hunched over on her dismount with a big lunge). Short on her layout out of the full with a step back, solid dismount while Martin of Nebraska also has a fine vault – good power with a step back.

Hall – LSU – BB – Hits her switch side, she always looked petrified on beam, but she has improved her consistency and execution so much – check on her loso series. Double tuck with a hop back. Look at DD. LOL. Solid start.

Wong – VT – Glorious full – should score well. While Bailey goes on floor, but her double arabian got usurped by Wong’s vault. Small step to the side on her side pass – a little lacking in control I would say – finishes with a rudi with a bounce. Just a couple landing errors so far for Alabama, but nothing major. 9.875 is too high for that.

Ewing – BB – LSU – Very strong layout to 2 feet, she is following two 9.825s, (also Scaman on bars – very strong bail – one borderline handstand – and a stuck-ish dismount?) Small hop to the side on the dismount for Ewing.

DeZiel – VT – Very strong stick on the yfull, good distance – only thing is that she lands with her legs apart, but it could score equivalently to Sloan’s vault.

Brewer – UB – Great tkatchev – hits her bail very solidly – and an excellent stick on the DLO. That’s why she’s back in the lineup.

Gnat – BB – LSU – They’re hitting so far – nice walkover, switch side to straddle 1/4 are both hit – big wobble on her switch side and the leg goes up – recovers to hit the loso – hop back on double full. It will be a bit lower score. Still gets a 9.800. Hmm.

Beers – FX – Hits her DLO with good strong, solid leaps – hitting her positions – OK middle pass – I’d like to see a little more control int he step forward, but it wasn’t a problem. Big pause before her final pass – Nellie Kim would burn her for that – strong double back. Good passes overall.

Courville – BB -Nice L turn, arabian is exceptional this time – clean loso series as well, beautiful sheep. Kathy isn’t happy with the back leg on her leap. Pick your battles, Kathy. We’ll see so much worse. Has to lean way forward to keep the stick on the gainer pike, but that’s the only thing.

Jacob – FX – Strong double pike as we come to this routine. Alabama already has two 9.950s in this rotation, so there’s that. 1.5 to full finish is solid. She was a little energetic bouncy on that, but not necessarily enough for a deduction. 

Kmieciak – UB – Great tkatchev, solid bail as well, very clean, nail her final handstand, and sticks her tuck full. Excellent routine.

Milliner – FX – Sticks her double arabian, excellent, has to pull around her layout on that middle pass a bit – it’s usually higher and more solidly completed, which I’d like to see – small bounce in place on the double pike, but very strong routine.”Just a little funky,” Kathy says of her middle pass. 9.950 again, and that’s too high. There were errors.

Jordan – BB – Pretty walkover, hits her loso series. Nice splits and no problem with the position or security, small correction to balance her center of gravity on the side somi. Sticks her dismount. Well done.

Blanske – VT – Good distance on the yfull, some piking and a step back. Kathy is stealing all my comments.

Spears – UB – Beautiful jaeger, nails her bail as well, very clean handstands, just the smallest hop in place on the double arabian dismount. Strong finish to that rotation for Oklahoma.

DeMeo – Very strong double arabian, good splits and controls her 1.5 to layout. I hate the music, but she nailed this routine. Almost sticks her 2.5. Just a small shudder on the landing. That routine clearly helped bump up the later scores. Really strong rotation for Alabama, but I saw more 9.900s to the judges’ 9.950s.

After 2: LSU 98.725, Nebraska 98.500, Alabama 49.675, Oklahoma 49.500, Florida 49.450, Georgia 49.075

No one really did themselves a disservice in that rotation. Nebraska’s scores are just coming in a little low to be in contention, but LSU hit a much-improved beam rotation with fewer wobbles to put them in a solid position going into their final two events. Oklahoma nailed bars for one of those 49.5s we’ve been talking about, and Alabama got that huge score on floor.

Rotation 3:
Mooring – BB – very pretty loso series, very secure leaps. Some small adjustments here and there but nothing major. Sticks her 1.5 dismount. They’ll take that as a starting score.

Kaitlyn Clark just NAILED her yfull. Exceptional vault.

B Caquatto – UB – Excellent ray – will be one of many – strong handtands, hits her bail, finishes with a perfect hs – and sticks her DLO. Great, great routine.

DeMeo – VT -Looked like it was going to be great – excellent distance but a pretty big bounce back.

Broussard – FX – Great security on the DLO landing, but there’s still the problem of piking the second salto. Kytra looks like she is nailing bars, and sticks her double back. That’s one of Kytra’s best bars routines of the year.

Jacob – Nice vault – she didn’t need that yesterday to win the AA, but that was a strong and near-stuck landing on the 1.5. They can still knock her for height, but she’s so tiny she pulls around her 1.5 nonetheless.

Brewer – BB – a little tight on her straddle half and misses her 180, finishes with a solid double back with a step back, but a couple areas to take more than her teammates.

Beers on vault opens very well and sticks her yfull. Another great stick. Alabama, you guys.

Sloan – UB – Another great Ray, no question on these handstands – better bail than yesterday, and a stuck DLO. I’d give her that stick, but it was borderline to the salute. Maybe not.

Milliner hits her 1.5 this time, but a medium step forward, so more room to take than on some of these sticks. They’re sticking much better than last year. I kind of think this vault rotation is better than the floor rotation, but she score won’t match it.

Lovan – BB – Clean loso series, small hesitation on the walkover before connecting it to the split jump. Layout stepout to a stuck layout full. Clean, solid, hit, Oklahoma.

Johnson – UB – Another great Ray, but with better toes – hits her bail – I struggle with her DLO because it’s less clean than her other work, but just a small hop back on the landing.

Capps – BB – Kathy loves her. Of course she does, she’s a human being. Hits her loso series to sissone. We’re also seeing Earls on floor, but UGA is falling out of this quickly. Capps is fine on her walkover, a little short but pulls it around with no wobble. Clean leaps and a stuck gainer full. Oklahoma it HITTING so far.

Earls finishes with a solid double back, but it’s a day of 9.8s so far, and the leaders won’t have that.

M Caquatto – UB – Very nice shaposh with her legs together , and a great stick on the tuck full. One of her good ones. Florida just slayed that bars rotation. Great releases, handstands, form, and landings.

Spears – BB – beautiful onodi to swingdown, she is moving very well through this. Meanwhile Jay on floor is solid on her tuck full but with a slide back. Spears sticks her gainer full. It’s a fine hit for Jay. She stepped up this routine as we moved toward the end of the season, but there are landing deductions in multiple places with another slide on dismount.

We see Bailey’s stuck yhalf – just fights for it a little bit so not quite as strong as yesterday’s vault.

Clark – BB – She struggled yesterday, so she needs a recovery. Walkover to swingdown is perfect this time, fine full turn. Solid sheep jump. Oklahoma’s sheep jumps can actually qualify as sheep jumps. Hits her side somi – but also adjusts her center of gravity there – and a stuck 1.5. Another great hit. Oklahoma, you guys.

After 3: Alabama 99.150, Florida 99.050, Oklahoma 99.025, LSU 98.725, Nebraska 98.500, Georgia 98.250

Amazing performances from the top four teams so far. There’s so little in this between them. LSU is a few tenths back but right in this going to their better events. Oklahoma was amazing on beam, Florida amazing on bars, and Alabama hitting lights out. That vault rotation was excellent. It washed away the taste from the .100-.150 overscore from floor.

Rotation 4:
There’s so little break between the rotations because we are (thankfully) getting to see routines we missed in between the rotations. I can’t breathe. Huge beam rotation for Florida now.

Boyce – BB – hits her walkover to back handspring very well, strong loso series as well. She looks more fluid and is performing a bit more than in the beginning of the season. Switch to split. Sticks her gainer full. Great start.

Stephens – UB – I was going to say that her gienger is HUGE, but it was too huge, she couldn’t catch, and it looked like she banged her face on the mat. She’s fine, just shaken. Big hop on the dismount. Rough.

Spicer – BB – hits her loso – she has been that solid 9.825 for them in her career, and she’s showing that security now. The dance elements are OK but not amazingly extended. Hires hits her yfull with a small hop, and Spicer hops in place on her gainer full.

Cheek – VT – Amazing yfull again. Great and stuck as usual. Leans just a bit on the landing, but great. She gives me the fist pump that I love, always, which gives her bonus tenths.

Savona – BB – 1.5 through to double back is solid with a small slide, (Jay downgrades to the full with a large step back. Huh?) For Savona, the dance elements looked solid this time, good double pike as well. She’s a power house but just a couple small slides on those landings – hips just heading backward.

Sloan – BB – OK here we go. THE ROUTINE. Great loso. Strong walkover to bhs – you can tell she’s freaked, but she’s hitting. Great full turn, solid aerial cartwheel as well. Just the dismount. Sticks her double full. She is about to jump out of her skin with joy. Nailed it.

DeZiel – UB – They’re already counting a low score on bars, but the victory was getting here. She performs well, sticks her tuck full dismount. We didn’t see all of it, but it ended very nicely.

M Caquatto – BB – Strong loso, hits her walkover to swingdown – sort of elite-connected those forward to backward skills but fine – Switch to split. Was going great but hops on her gainer full. Macko! Stick that thing. Still good.

Johnson – UGA – VT – Solid vault, but some leg separation and lands a bit short with a hop forward.

Wong – UB – Strong full turn to excellent gienger, and finishes with a small hop on her tuck full dismount, but she’s still not giving up an inch in any of her routines at these championships.

Hunter – BB – Small check on her loso series, good switch side, hops back on the double back. OK, but it’s already a hit beam rotation. They could have had a few more 9.9s, but they’ll take this score.

Hall – FX – Good scores so far for LSU. Gets the DLO as she always does. She tends to struggle more with the final pass, as she did yesterday. Front full to layout is hit, and a much better landing today on the dismount, so that should get a strong score. I think the judge who gave Sloan a 10 for that beam routine judged the narrative more than the routine, so we’ll see what happens here. A “redemption” routine can score more.  9.950. I’m fine with that, but 1 judge gave it a 10, just like Sloan’s.

Back to Johnson on beam, clean walkover to bhs, she has been just a walking 9.900 in these championships so far, and sticks her layout full after the side aerial.

Courville – FX – Nails her double arabian, front tuck through to double back and just drops out of it like butter. And a huge stick on her double pike. Great, great routine. One of her best.

After 4: FLORIDA 148.550, LSU 148.275, GEORGIA 147.525, NEBRASKA 147.375, ALABAMA 99.150, OKLAHOMA 99.025

Florida’s 49.500 on beam has put huge pressure on the remaining two teams, especially Alabama going to bars which can be an issue for them at times, and we saw a few too many 9.8s for them yesterday. They’ll have to Kim-Jacob-stick the hell out of that rotation to keep pace with what Florida is doing. Don’t forget about Oklahoma, either, going to floor where they scored exceptionally well in semifinals. LSU got a big 49.550 but still has a gap, maybe too big of a gap, to Florida.

Was it a DTY from Jay? I admit to watching the other frame at the time, so I just went with what Kathy and Bart said.

Kathy is chatting with Rhonda. Invite me?

Rotation 5:
Bailey – UB – Great jaeger, clean bail, really trying to get those handstands as much as possible, small step back on the double back, but a solid routine. A tough behind yesterday. Great vault from Jordan as well with a hop in place this time.

DeMeo – UB – (Hall also on vault, powerful yfull with a step back) Now to DeMeo – solid straddled jaeger, hits the handstand on her bail this time, which doesn’t always happen, short on the final handstand, and a stuck DLO. Nice. 9.950? Hi, Alabama. 

Blanske on beam now – bent legs on the series a  small wobble on the turn, a yesterday stick, though. Ranzy on vault – Sticks her yfull but leans forward on landing with some form to take as well.

Capps – FX – strong front layout to front full – watch out for Oklahoma. This is anyone’s game between those three right now. LSU just falling out a touch on vault. Capps finishes with a beautiful double full to layout stepout. Excellent.

Gnat – VT – Still doing the full, huge – high – completed early – well done.

Jacob – UB – Great Ray, smallissue of feet flying apart on the bail, otherwise pretty strong, and she sticks the DLO as usual.

Jetter – UB – Good Ray as well, hits her bail, best handstands so far, but a hop forward on the double front. It will be a lower score because of the overjudging landings we’re seeing on bars today.

Courville – VT – Great distance on that yfull as always, and sticks the landing – also a lean forward on landing.

Going back to Spears on floor now, nice front double full – controlled landing, 1.5 to layout is clean as well – she doesn’t always hit her dance elements on floor as well as possible but this is one of her better routines. Solid rudi.

Clark – UB – Legs apart on the shaposh but hit, nice bail handstand – one short handstand before the dismount, sticks the dismount. A couple areas there, but a better routine than last year. 9.950. OK. Alabama will have a lead on Florida going to the final event.

Laeng – BB – They’re already counting a 9.600. Nice front tuck, Kathy doesn’t like the scores Nebraska has been getting on beam because of the leg form.

Kanewa – FX – Oklahoma is killing floor, and Kanewa just nailed her pike full in – very secure, just a tad bouncy on the middle pass, nice straddle positions hitting her 180, hips going back just a little on the double pike dismount, a little lack of control. 

Morrison – VT – Nice yfull in the air but a hop back. It’s a good meet for LSU, but not a great meet, and they won’t be able to pass the teams getting those huge scores. Can’t really knock a 197.600, though.

Scaman – FX – Just bounces back on her DLO a bit, so it will be a bit lower than the scores we have seen. Pretty rudi to loso, no problem on the switch side or popa. Strong stick on the double back, so just the small bounce on the DLO.

After 5: LSU 197.600, Nebraska 196.500, Alabama 148.700, Oklahoma 148.625, Florida 148.550, Georgia 147.525.

ACK everyone. No margin between Alabama, Oklahoma, and Florida going to the final event. Oklahoma on vault, Florida on floor, Alabama on beam. WHAT IS HAPPENING? We’re seeing Albright’s strong floor, but I can barely deal at this point.

Beam hasn’t been lower-scoring than floor or vault so far, so I wouldn’t say that’s a disadvantage. Floor has been the highest scoring event, so check out what happens to Sloan and Hunter’s scores. Alabama was in a position to win last year going to beam, and it was tough. Do we see that happening this year? I don’t.

Rotation 6:
Here we go. This is everything. Kathy with DD, she knows the deal. She’s proud but reserved. They didn’t stick enough. “Look how many teams have not won the national championship for gymnastics.” Ha.

Georgia looks very deflated, but I hope they can show off bars in the last rotation. We haven’t seen much of Sarah Patterson rubbing her hands together in maniacal glee this year, but I’m sure she is.

Boyce – FX – Solid front double full – her usual landing with a normal step, not necessarily a deduction but doesn’t nail it like some others – 1.5 to front pike is strong. Solid leaps, and a fine final rudi. Good hit, let’s check out the score.

Mooring VT – Solid form on the yhalf, small hop back. Good not great. She can stick that.

Milliner – BB – Clean walkover, wobble on her straddle jump. I’ve never seen her so that before, and she comes off! Wow. Five pressure routines coming up for Alabama. We’re seeing a floor hit from Spicer in the other window, but now Alabama’s beam routines get fascinating. 9.300, which is actually kind of high for those mistakes.

Spicer finishing on floor, small slide on the double pike but a good hit. Kmieciak vaults with a bounce in place. She can stick that, but not a bad vault but not a 9.950 that she gets sometimes.

Bailey – Pretty full turn with leg up, clean and hit loso, she works methodically but comfortably – no wobbles here. Hop back on double full. It’s a 9.900 parade on beam now.

Johnson – Excellent double arabian, stuck landing. Nice full to layout as well, she’s hitting her tumbling so well this week but just a slide on the double pike dismount – just does stay in bounds there but it was a slide.

Oklahoma gets a 49.550 on vault and finishes with a 198.175. They have set the standard and did all they could do. AMAZING stick on vault from Capps.

Sloan – FX – fine front double full but a little funky step landing – no problem. “It’s almost like the gymnasts have superseded the rules” – Bart. Yes. Kathy notes the overscoring on so many routines. Great, great double pike from Sloan, and nails the dismount as well. Great routine, let’s see what they do with it. She and Kytra both need 9.950s. 9.925.

Finishing with Scaman on vault – great full perhaps a small small slide on landing but amazing vault. Oklahoma could not have performed better today.

Hunter – FX – Great DLO and excellent control on the landing. Beautiful middle pass as always that has the added bonus of giving her routine some creativity since she’s not the performer the others are. Nothing wrong here yet, just the dismount to come – nails the open double back. Awesome. Let’s see the score because that would have been an auto 10 at home.

It is coming down to the last routine for everyone! We’re looking back at DeMeo’s hit on beam, which received a 9.900. Kim Jacob would need the 10 routine of her life for Alabama to pass Oklahoma. I WANT TO SEE IT.
It’s a 9.950 for Kytra, but Oklahoma has put the pressure on everyone right now.

KIM JACOB FALLS ON BEAM.

Bridgey would need a 9.975, otherwise it’s Oklahoma. I don’t think she has that in her. This is an awesome Super Six. Just amazing. Great first pass for Bridgey. Everything looks great so far, but just enough of a slide on the double pike. Great meet from Florida, regardless.

I don’t think that was a 9.950. I just don’t see it. She slid back on that final pass. 9.900 is OK, but I don’t see 9.950. Who wins the tiebreaker???
I just can’t with that. They have tied.

If they had a tiebreaker of going to the sixth score on each event, I believe Florida would win by .025. Let’s wait and see. I’m too stressed to do math.

ARE WE HAVING CO-NATIONAL CHAMPIONS?

We are. Florida and Oklahoma have tied with a 198.175 and are co-national champions. People with hearts and emotions are probably happy right now. I’m thrilled for both teams, but the heartless side of me wants ONE WINNER ONLY.

I have to run immediately, but I’ll have a whole heap of thoughts tomorrow.