Balance Beam Effect on NCAA Championships Finals:
… As we all know, the stupidest rule in all of NCAA gymnastics requires gymnasts to suddenly perform two vaults in event finals.
Either they need to do away with the second vault and just have them perform the same vault twice, or they need to require potential qualifiers to perform a second vault in Semifinals, like we currently see in elite.
Both of those solutions would eliminate the insufferable parade on non-10.0 vaults in finals. …
That’s dangerous. Chucking a second vault you don’t train regularly.
And Vault is almost always the most disappointing Women’s Final. It was again in 2012.
… In a final marked by only three athletes attempting two 10.0 vaults, Kytra Hunter came out on top. The 2012 AA champ came up with a near stick on her Yurchenko Layout 1 1/2 and then landed a Yurechenko Layout Full with a large step to secure the win. She outpaced Bama’s Diandra Milliner, who threw the same two vaults for 2nd. Georgia’s Kat Ding stuck a solid Yurchenko Layout full and then added a tucked version (with a step) for 3rd. Defending champ Marissa King had a low landing on her Tsuakahara Layout Full, after landing a Tsukahara Layout 1 1/2.
“Everyone on vault doesn’t really have another vault, so everyone feels the same about it. They’re all confused. It’s kind of hectic.” — Rheagan Courville on the two vault rule in NCAA event finals, to The Daily Reveille
“I don’t train it at all. But in the last week, we’ve been doing one or two in practice. I’m really scared of that vault (Yurchenko full). With the one and a half, I can spot my landing but that is harder for me to do with the full,” Hunter said. “I just went out there and did whatever I could.” — Kytra Hunter on her NCAA winning second vault, a Yurchenko full, to The Orlando Sentinel
Click PLAY or watch Kytra Hunter on YouTube.
In regular competition, Vault is often the most boring apparatus. Judges don’t discriminate well between an endless series of Yurchenko 1/1s.
EliteAthlete10 on College Gymnastics Board makes some recommendations for improvement – Solution to Separating Vault Scores
Leave a comment if you’ve an opinion on how to improve NCAA Vault.
Those gymnast admissions come from Examiner – The quotable NCAA Championships
Gymnastics Coaching.com 