Alabama: Not Invincible … Oklahoma: Can they stay undefeated? … UCLA: Finding consistency … Florida: Don’t count them out … Georgia: Needs a road win …
The winning team at Championships must hit 24 for 24.
UCLA I’d call the favourite. But can they hit 24 routines under pressure?
If you believe in momentum, pick Oklahoma. It seems to be their year.
I think Alabama has a good chance to hit 24 routines. If they do, it will be tough to beat the Tide.
One of the feel good gymnastics stories of the year. The big comeback of Hollie Vise for Oklahoma. She competed the all-around for the first time in her College career, scoring 39.600.
As a trivia side note, when I started my first gymnastics website (for Kyle Shewfelt in 1999), I identified Hollie’s as the best gymnast website online. It’s almost unchanged today, 11yrs-later. I still like it.
… She seems to have peaked in the RQS time frame climbing up the list rapidly the last month or so. Sarah’s RQS for individual events has her ahead of Susan on BB and FX, tied on UB with Susan being ahead in Vault. The total season average has Susan in the lead 39.525 to 39.358 for Sarah. Vanessa Zamarippa actually has a higher season average than both but is tied for second RQSwise with Susan.
The RQS (Regional Qualifying Score) results in some surprising rankings. Here’s how it’s explained by GymInfo:
… Qualification for regional competition is based on a team’s and an all-around competitor’s six best regular-season-meet scores, of which three must be away. To obtain the regional qualifying score (RQS), the high score is eliminated and the remaining five scores are averaged. …
Therefore, if you have 3 meets away in which you got high scores, your ranking may be higher than if all your highest scores were at home meets.
Kristina Vaculik is getting much love for finishing in the top 3 on all four apparatus. Many, including me, were disappointed she was injured in 2008, unable to be selected for the Olympics. It’s nice to see her continue with international success.
BATON ROUGE — LSU All-American gymnast Susan Jackson earned the No. 10 spot in ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the night on Monday after her acrobatic, unique first “pitch” at a recent LSU baseball game.
The nation’s No. 1 ranked all-around gymnast, Jackson stood in front of the pitcher’s mound and performed a series of one-handed back handsprings toward home plate while holding the ball in her left hand.
Jackson stopped just short of the home plate dirt where she proceeded to turn around and flip the ball to LSU freshman infielder/catcher Matt Fury.
SportsCenter anchor Josh Elliot remarked, “That may be the greatest first pitch I have ever seen in my life.” …
One of the biggest complaints about College Gymnastics is that only 4 teams have won, ever. If that continues, why not put UCLA, Alabama, Georgia and Utah in the Final Four (starting 2011) automatically. No need to run the regular season.
It would be great for the sport to see Oklahoma win. Go Sooners!
The second biggest complaint about College gymnastics is the high scoring. Yet I feel the alternative (F.I.G.) rules are far worse. An example from this past weekend’s ScAmerican Cup:
… Aly Raisman’s beam score was LUDICROUS. I’m surprised the commentators didn’t make a bigger deal about that routine. She did one of the most perfectly executed routines I have seen from ANYONE in a really long time, all as a virtual rookie on live television. Not even a hint of a wobble on a single skill, and a NAILED a brand new double Arabian dismount. I would say that was probably the most impressive “rookie” routine I have ever seen before, and the judges rewarded her with a whopping 9.15 E-Score.
What in the world were they watching? Then, Rebecca Bross, whom everyone knew was going to win anyway, nearly falls on her full turn, has a couple of jittery bobbles in between her skills and minor checks on the side somi and front tuck, and then takes a huge lunge forward on her dismount, and receives a 9.1 E-Score. It really is unbelievable. If Bross’s routine was a 9.1, then Raisman’s was a 9.85, not a 9.15. It’s a perfect example of the biggest problem in judging today…an absolute REFUSAL to reward perfect routines with high execution scores, particularly on the women’s side. Those judges should be fired. …
In a meet that lived up to its billing as one of the most exciting of the season, No. 1 Alabama fell at No. 2 Oklahoma, 197.950-197.275. The meet stayed tight into the final rotation in front of a crowd of 2,529 at the Lloyd Noble Center. The score was a school record for the Sooners and the Crimson Tide’s fifth 197-plus score of the season.
“Throughout the season I can only evaluate teams that we compete against on that night, and I can tell you that Oklahoma is the best team that we have competed against this season,” UA head coach Sarah Patterson said. …
More adversity for Georgia as Shayla Worley is out with ankle injury. Grace and her team will have to keep smiles on their faces facing a team that hit every routine last weekend.
For the first time ever an Alabama meet will be televised live, with Mr. Comanichi doing commentary. Bama fans are already going nuts this season, anticipating a good shot at winning Championships.
OK, truth is … the best competition this weekend will be the American Cup Men’s Meet, one of the best fields ever.
Andrew does have some questions about who can qualify for this competition, however. For example, Kimberley:
… I didn’t realize that gymnasts 18 and over could compete in this competition. Kimberly Jacob won her “Level 10” session at the Circle of Stars Meet in Indiana, but she has competed as a senior gymnast since 2007. In fact she competed in the SENIOR US Nationals in 2008 and 2009, placing 17th and 12th, respectively. She is 18 and will be competing for Alabama this fall. I thought the Nastia Liukin Cup was for “up-and-coming” Level 10 gymnasts? I did look at the rules at the Circle of Stars Meet, and it said that the winners of the Level 10 sessions, regardless of age, would qualify for the Nastia Liukin Cup. …
They should somehow change the selection criteria for the second annual to truly bring in up-and-coming Level 10s. Kimberly’s career, for example, is already fixed. She doesn’t need this additional experience.
