Some of the best vaulters did not qualify to Finals. I wanted to see Em Parsons from Nebraska, for example. She didn’t make it.
It’s easy for me to predict scores in the NCAA. Except on vault. Those can mystify. A “perfect” vault will score only 9.80. Yet the next girl will show a flawed vault and score 9.90. Those rules need to be revised.
Vault Finals was a let-down. The weakest apparatus of the four in Finals.
Under NCAA rules the girls qualify with ONE vault. Then are required to compete TWO “different” vaults in Finals. That format is almost always a mistake. It’s unfair. It’s unsafe. (I know some of the top NCAA coaches feel this way too.)
As a result, many of the finalists tonight had either a relatively simple second vault. Or a difficult second vault with which they are less comfortable. We saw errors and even falls.
Congratulations to those who survived the stupid regulations to get to the podium:
1. Susan Jackson, LSU
2. Kristina Baskett, Utah
3. Julie Dwyer, Auburn
full results and photos
Baskett did good and safe Yurchenko 1/1 and Yurchenko 3/2.
Coach D-D Breaux confirmed what I expected. Even the champion did not train two vaults regularly:
Susan trains one vault throughout the year. … she trained for two routines in loose foam just towards the end of the season. It was just pure athleticism.
Marcia Newby said she had not done her second vault in 4 years.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 