“Is this LSU’s year?” they say every year. Given the relative paucity of lost routines and a number of expected contributions from significant freshmen…if not now, then when?
| Returning Routines – LSU | |
| VAULT Gnat – 9.965 Ewing – 9.905 Hambrick – 9.880 Finnegan – 9.835 Cannamela – 9.835 Macadaeg – 9.790 Priessman – 9.750 |
BARS Finnegan 9.915 Hambrick – 9.905 Zamardi – 9.875 Priessman – 9.869 Gnat – 9.727 Cannamela – 9.663 |
| BEAM Finnegan – 9.915 Gnat – 9.895 Macadaeg – 9.890 Hambrick – 9.885 Ewing – 9.870 Priessman – 9.725 Cannamela – 9.603 |
FLOOR Gnat – 9.980 Macadaeg – 9.950 Kelley – 9.885 Hambrick – 9.880 Ewing – 9.865 Finnegan – 9.692 Zamardi – 9.517 Cannamela – 9.050 |
That’s already a pretty solid batch of routines, with only bars showing some troublesome holes. Enter Ruby Harrold.
Stalwart of the quadrennium for the British, Harrold made teams because of her ability to deliver a believable TF routine on three different apparatuses, but the showpiece of her gymnastics has always been difficult and interesting bars composition.
Girl, you Zuchold the crap out of that Schleudern.
Harrold’s biggest obstacle in getting huge, huge scores on bars was always that, because she went for major difficulty, her form became a sack of damn crazy in places. Let’s just address the Bhardwaj in the room before we go too far. A skill like that would destroy her NCAA score, but at the same time, I do think Harrold needs to retain a solid chunk of that unique elite composition to make this a true standout, end-of-lineup, 9.9-even-on-a-bad-day routine. If it’s just “shaposhjaegerbye,” I will sigh the world down.
All of which is to say, I know Jay Clark and I have our differences because of his fundamentally abominable worldview, but if the Zuchold-Schleudern doesn’t stay in Ruby’s routine, we really are done forever. Continue reading 2017 Freshman Preview: LSU