ESPN has a photo stream including:
Utah’s Kristina Baskett competes in the floor exercise individual event during the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships on Friday, April 27, 2007, in Salt Lake City.
(AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
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the SUPER 6 NCAA Teams
Well, it was an honour to watch this competition.
This is gymnastics done right.
I feel international FIG coaches have a lot more to learn from the NCAA than visa versa.
The fans love it. TV loves it.
The SUPER 6 is thrilling. Congratulations to everyone.
That said, NCAA women’s scoring is an insult to any sentient being. Why don’t they improve it?
If you judge the competition over again on video using any sensible set of rules, you’ll get a different result. Certainly Florida would be at least second.
Still, I fell Georgia deserved to win. Despite injuries to two key team members, they pulled it out. Great bars and vault.
Florida starts strong 1st rotation Super 6
I predicted Georgia would win.
But they have their work cut out after the first rotation!
Florida hit BIG on beam. Cory Hartung has the best routine at Championships, I feel. (Regardless of scores.)
Fantastic.
The No. 1 University of Florida gymnastics team advances to the NCAA Super Six team final after posting its highest score ever, 197.40, in NCAA Championships competition.
For the first time this season, the Gators didn’t finish or tie for the top position in the team standings. Georgia won the NCAA Championships Session I Team Qualifier at 197.70, its third-highest team score of 2007. Florida’s runner-up total of 197.40 is the highest ever in NCAA Championships’ competition and the top road mark ever for the program.
Utah Fans are keen
Chinese Acrobat Show photos
Ann Lovell, who has lived in Asia for 8 years, posted a terrific series of visuals. Great colours.
The Beijing Chinese Acrobat Show features the countries top gymnasts, many whom are just children.
host UTAH wins NCAA qualifying flight
Only the top 3 teams from this second qualifying session advance to the Super 6 Team Finals.
Utah Fan favourite Kristina Baskett started with a fall on FX. The loud home crowd grew nervous.
But the Utes really impressed me. They got stronger as the evening progressed.
Actually, the second session was notably weaker than session one. Consistency, difficulty and artistry were not as stunning. There were fewer HITS and STICKS overall.
But the Super 6 is “sudden victory”. Everyone starts over from zero.
It’s going to be a great fight.
new media artist Pam Rocks
Who does Cirque du Soleil boss Guy Laliberté call when he wants something “special”?
Pam Rocks of Moment Factory.
Directing insane multimedia shows and events is all in a day’s work for Rocks.
She describes some of her favourites to plan: Guy Laliberté’s private parties (a.k.a. “test runs” for the Cirque du Soleil), which have involved a “virtual Guy” and a 100-foot dome turned into a smoking pumpkin, crystal ball, enchanted forest and “rocking cathedral.” …
Currently, most of Rocks’ contracts (about 70 per cent) come from the “New Adventures department” at Cirque du Soleil, a place where the interactive arts (video, lights and live performance) are pushed to extremes, and where there’s room to play under a big budget. …
Those in charge of lighting and special effects are at least as important as choreographers.
Courtney Kupets – felt like a little kid
The top AA score in the NCAA TEAM competition (first session) was Courtney Kupets of Georgia.
She was solid as a rock.
But that’s not how she felt:
Question: “Talk about your all around performance, since it looks like you’re on your way to another individual title.”
Answer: “I was kind of nervous today. I felt like a little kid competing for the first time. As a team, we really got into it and today was all about the team and what I could do individually to help the team.”
The pressure is unbelievable in the qualifying round.
teams qualifying to NCAA finals
After the first of 2 qualifying sessions three teams move on to finals:
Team ranking results.
A few wobbles and missed landings made the difference.
Florida was definitely my favourite team to watch: energetic, artistic, enthusiastic.
But Georgia was more polished, I thought, More exacting.
Congratulations Nebraska! They had dynamite tumbling and vault.
WOW. What a meet. I could not be more impressed with NCAA Championships and the young women who qualified to get here.
making sense of NCAA scores
I learned a long, long time ago how to keep track of the insanely high scores.
Simply drop the 9:
9.75 = 7.5
9.825 = 8.25
9.95 = 9.5
Easier to keep straight?
NCAA meets are more about the show than accurate ranking of the athletes. More a performance than a competition.
Thankfully the judges have given very few impossible 10s over the past 2 years.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 