This Women’s College gymnastics season has been the most exciting in years, but hurry up with the Conference, Regional and National Championships.

Manual on Handstands thinks that one of these 5 teams will win the Team Championships 2010:

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.

Who do you predict to win? Leave a comment.

Gymnastike has up-to-date team rankings with video links, if you want to compare.

How sweet after all the troubles she’s known.

Click PLAY or watch Hollie’s Bars on Gymnastike.

(via Aunt Joyce – Ms. Vise If Ya Nasty)

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.

Check it out – HollieVise.com

Susan Jackson has been atop this list all season. By what mathematics has Sarah overtaken her?

Susan’s not missed a routine all season, so far as I know. This seems an error.

top 25 all-around gymnasts

Update – Quentin explains:

… 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.

Floor – VACULIK, Kristina (CAN) – (5.3) = 13,950
Floor – PIHAN, Marta (POL) = 13,950
Beam – SOLOVYEVA, Tatiana (RUS) – (5.8) = 14,775

Vault – Fahrig, Matthias (GER) – (7.2/6.6) = 16,112
Parallels – HOSHI, Yosuke (JPN) – (6.2) = 15,425
H Bar – Zonderland, Epke (NED) – (6.9) = 15,825

More results, video links and commentary:

• GYMmedia – World Cup Cottbus: 2nd Final Day Men

• GYMmedia – Canadian Kristina Vaculik – most successful gymnast in Cottbus!

• Gymnastics Examiner – Kristina Vaculik wins two more medals as Cottbus competition concludes

• Couch Gymnast – YEP, I WAS RIGHT….VACULIK ROCKS!!!

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.

Click PLAY or watch Kristina’s Floor on YouTube.

Simple tumbling. But very pretty gymnastics. As Couch Gymnast says, she’s going to be a wonderful College competitor.

U-M knocks off #5 Georgia 196.375-195.800

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.” …

LSU Sports

They just beat #1 ranked Alabama.

Why are so few pundits predicting OK to win?

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. …

Andy Thornton

Andy likes Raisman’s beam (video) more than I do. But his criticism of F.I.G. judging is totally valid. They box Execution scores atrociously.

Who’s routine do you like better?

Click PLAY or watch Elyse on YouTube.

Grace Taylor’s most recent 10.0 Beam is on GeorgiaDogs.

Thanks for the updated link, Marcus.

But I love it.

This may be the best NCAA season ever. So many teams have proven they can put up big scores.

The Gym Dogs sent a crystal clear nation to the collegiate gymnastics world Saturday afternoon; that they are truly back amongst the nation’s elite.

With its 197.900-197.875 win over No. 3 UCLA at Stegeman Coliseum, Georgia proved to the nation it can compete, and defeat, anyone at anytime. …

Gym Dogs edge UCLA with stellar score

How did the rankings end up after this weekend’s action?