Did you think it couldn’t get weirder than week one? No? Well you are sorely mistaken. From balked vaults to repeated routines, it was another wild weekend in NCAA gymnastics. But with over 35 meets over five days, it might be hard to keep track of everything wacky thing that happened. We break it down for you. And, new this week, check out The DIIIsmount, weekend recap that highlights DII and DIII competitions.
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No. 1 LSU at No. 7 Florida |
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| Full Results | LSU: 197.250 | UF: 197.125 | ||
| VT: Priessman 9.925 | UB: McMurtry 9.925 | BB: Gowey 9.950 | FX: Hambrick 9.950 | AA: Hambrick 39.550 |
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After a charged two hours of competition Friday night, the Tigers took home the win over the Gators by just over a tenth. Florida started out ahead after the first rotation, despite a mishap with Rachel Slocum’s vault. Balking on her first attempt after finding that her steps were off, Slocum essentially chucked her second attempt, throwing a handspring front tuck and falling to boot. Alex McMurtry bounced back to close the rotation with a 9.9 for her gorgeous Yurchenko full. LSU dialed in the landings one after another on bars, but they too had a mishap as Ashlyn Kirby overarched her bail in her first bars performance, forcing the Tigers to count Sarah Finnegan’s uncharacteristic 9.775. Rotation two was where LSU made its move, as Lexie Priessman nailed a near-perfect full-twisting Yurchenko for a 9.925. Florida couldn’t quite find the landings on bars that its opponent did and had to drop a fall from Megan Skaggs.
Florida came back strong on beam thanks to Rachel Gowey’s career-high 9.95. The Tigers, energized by the appearance of a fellow LSU sports team who had come to cheer them on, performed at an incredibly high level for an away team in the middle of 9,500 chomping Gator fans, leading them to a 49.35 event total on floor. The team capped off the rotation with senior Myia Hambrick, whose 9.95 on floor earned her the event title. Before the final rotation, the teams were only separated by 0.150, a gap usually easily overcome by the strength of Florida’s home floor performances. However, despite the huge 49.425 the Gators put up, ending with a pair of 9.925s from Baker and Skaggs, LSU hung onto the lead. Hambrick, Finnegan and Erin Macadaeg all earned scores of 9.9 or higher, and the freshmen did their part as well, with Christina Desiderio and Reagan Campbell both hitting their routines.
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Elevate the Stage: No. 2 Utah, No. 4 UCLA, Stanford and Washington |
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| Full Results | UCLA: 197.200 | Utah: 196.975 | UW: 195.725 | Stanford: 195.350 |
| VT: Price, Skinner 9.950 | UB: Ross, Skinner 9.950 | BB: Price 9.850 | FX: Skinner 9.975 | AA: Skinner 39.700 |
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This was the first of four Elevate the Stage competitions of the season and a great occasion for these top Pac-12 teams to compete on podium. The final scores took a ridiculously long time to be calculated, to the point where Stanford had to leave to catch its flight. But in the end, the Bruins were the clear winners with a score of 197.200 to Utah’s 196.975. The Bruins had a slow start on balance beam, which was overall the lowest scoring event of the evening. Katelyn Ohashi did make it back into the lineup for the first time this season, and transfer Brielle Nguyen made her UCLA debut as lead-off and scored 9.825. Floor and vault were the highest scoring events for the Bruins with 49.400 on both because…UCLA is a vault and floor team now apparently. The Utes looked stellar across three events, but it was ultimately balance beam and some start value issues that ended up costing them the win. Mykayla Skinner continued to lead the team, scoring the highest all around mark in the nation so far with 39.700. MaKenna Merrell-Giles was also a key contributor for the Utes on all four events with a solid 39.450 AA score, a 9.900 on vault and a 9.950 on floor.
This was the second competition of the weekend for the Huskies, but they looked consistent and confident across all events. Vault ended up being their highest scoring event of the night with a 49.100, which was a pleasant surprise as it is usually one of their weaker events. Junior Kristyn Hoffa made her return on vault and floor after tearing her ACL last season, and Hailey Burleson and Evanni Roberson were key all arounders for Washington. Stanford started off the competition strong and looked to potentially be in the running for the win, but the Cardinal only put up five athletes on bars and were forced to count a fall and a few low scores for an event total of 48.075, its only event below 49. Elizabeth Price was the absolute highlight for the team and of the competition, staying in the all around race with Skinner until the very end. Price recorded a 39.650, scored a “perfect” 9.95 on her flawless Yurchenko full, and won the vault (tied with Skinner) and beam titles. Freshman Kyla Bryant was another crucial contributor for the Cardinal, scoring a 39.300 in the all around with a 9.900 on bars.
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No. 3 Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan |
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| Full Results | CMU: 194.525 | EMU: 194.125 | ||
| VT: Pedrick 9.875 | UB: Plaksa, Valentin 9.875 | BB: Clements 9.900 | FX: Hilliker 9.850 | AA: Pedrick 38.725 |
Central Michigan traveled to Eastern Michigan to compete in its first MAC matchup of 2018. The Chippewas took hold of the lead after the first rotation and never looked back. Though it is important to note that while the Chippewas walked away with the team title, the Eagles improved upon their week one score by a full point. The highest scoring event of the day for both teams was the uneven bars. Eastern Michigan notched a 48.9 while Central Michigan scored a 48.825. Gianna Plaksa of CMU scored a new career high of 9.875 to earn part of the bars title alongside EMU’s Lacey Rubin. EMU’s redshirt sophomore Carly Clark also scored a new career high on bars with 9.700 performance.
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No. 29 Ohio State at No. 5 Michigan |
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| Full Results | UM: 197.550 | tOSU:194.925 | ||
| VT: McLean 9.950 | UB: Townsend, Zaziski 9.900 | BB: Brown, 9.900 | FX: McLean 9.975 | AA: Zaziski 39.450 |
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The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is a big one in many sports, and the Wolverines and Buckeyes carried that exciting atmosphere into the gym for this Big Ten contest. With a contingent of iscarlet-clad fans in the stands, Ohio State put up a solid performance that was nearly two points better than its final mark from a week again in Los Angeles. Head coach Meredith Paulicivic’s floor routines stood out, and her team performed them so well, even the Crisler Center crowd was excited about them. Beam was a struggle for the Buckeyes, though, and it was the only event where they didn’t improve their total from week one. However, despite these errors, Ohio State is a team to look out for and has the potential to grow throughout the season.
Michigan put together an incredible meet, scoring the highest total of any team throughout the first two weeks of competition. Oklahoma tied the total on Monday at Georgia. It all started with a lights-out vault rotation, including three stuck (or nearly stuck) Yurchenko 1.5s from Syd Townsend, Emma McLean and Olivia Karas. On bars, the Wolverines counted no score lower than a 9.85, and Lexi Funk, McLean and Karas topped the stellar floor rotation with three 9.9+ scores to easily take the win. The home scoring in this meet was not out of hand—Michigan truly put up a top five quality meet. Watch to see whether the Wolverines can put together this complete of a competition in their first away contest at Illinois next weekend. If they perform this well away from home, the Wolverines may be nearly unstoppable this year.
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No. 6 Kentucky at No. 11 Arkansas |
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| Full Results | UK: 196.950 | Ark.: 196.525 | ||
| VT: Korth 9.950 | UB: Coca, Wellick 9.900 | BB: Carter, Dukes 9.900 | FX: Korth 9.900 | AA: Korth 39.525 |
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In an SEC battle, Kentucky bested Arkansas on Friday, but not perhaps by the margin expected. This wasn’t so much due to Kentucky underperforming but more to Arkansas’ renaissance, exceeding its first week score and the scores of many “superior” schools, such as Georgia or Nebraska. Kentucky’s strong performance was headlined by hits on every event, as a Wildcat won or tied for each event title. All around star Mollie Korth was especially on her game, scoring a 9.95 on vault, tying her for the nation’s best score on the event this year. There’s still room for improvement, certainly, but this Kentucky team could finally be strong enough to break through to nationals.
Though the Cats put up a strong performance, the real surprise here was Arkansas. Clearly more comfortable on home turf, the Gymbacks’ event scores were never more than 0.25 behind their opponents’, keeping the meet close throughout the evening. Redshirt freshman Sarah Shaffer found her confidence after some mishaps last week and scored a 39.325 all around, beginning with a big 9.875 on vault and finishing strong with a team-best 9.85 on floor. Freshman Sophia Carter had another strong showing on beam this week, going 9.9 for the second week in a row. And super senior Amanda Wellick continued pushing forward on her comeback trail, winning the bars title with a 9.9 and scoring 9.825 or higher on all three of her events. There was some doubt after the first week against LSU, but if Arkansas can take this strong home performance on the road, this season will likely be one of its best showings in years.
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No. 27 Air Force at No. 8 Denver |
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| Full Results | DU: 196.800 | Air Force: 191.750 | ||
| AA: Brown 39.250 | VT: Karr 9.9 | UB: Chesnok 9.925 | BB: Schou 9.95 | FX: Sundstrom 9.95 |
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The Air Force Falcons traveled to Denver for a matchup with the Denver Pioneers on Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers managed a 196.8 team score despite counting a fall on bars after both Mia Sundstrom and Maddie Karr fell. The Pioneers put up just 5 vaulters and 5 girls on floor after Glynn scratched floor. Still, floor was the Pioneers’ highest scoring event of the meet with a 49.450 team total, led by Sundstrom’s 9.95 and Nikole Addison and Karr’s 9.925s. Junior Kaitlyn Schou recorded a career high 9.95 on beam to take the event title on an event in which the Pioneers scored 5 routines over 9.8 to tally their second-highest event total of the day at 49.325. Brown’s 39.250 all around total came on a day that she had been battling illness, according to head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart, making her performance that much more impressive. The Falcons recorded scores of over 48 on three events, with bars being their highest at 48.725 and floor not too far behind at 48.650. Davis led the team with a 38.350 in the all around, highlighted by a 9.850 floor routine that gives Lloimincia Hall-esque vibes in the choreography department. The team suffered from a beam implosion to end the meet, a bad end to an otherwise solid day for the Falcons. All but two Falcons fell on beam in a rotation that had more than just falls. The meet was briefly paused after Falcon gymnast Riley Hill fell twice and had to stop her routine after suffering a cut and/or injury to her toe. In the end, the Pioneers took this one in their home opener in front of a record crowd of 4,634. The team’s 196.800 is a full point ahead of their score in Arizona at the first meet.
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Georgia at No. 9 Alabama |
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| Full Results | Ala.: 196.525 | UGA: 194.525 | ||
| VT: Guerrero 9.900 | UB: Winston 9.925 | BB: Winston 9.900 | FX: Winston 9.900 | AA: Childers 39.325 |
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Unsurprisingly, former Georgia head coach Suzanne Yoculan’s first trip back to Tuscaloosa after coming back as volunteer assistant coach under new head coach Courtney Kupets Carter was a dramatic affair. From judges missing vaults to potentially serious injuries and multiple falls on multiple events. The meet started with a bang, not even allowing fans to ease into the action. Alabama’s Maddie Desch vaulted before the green flag was raised, causing one judge to miss her performance. After some serious side eye and frustration radiating off Alabama head coach Dana Duckworth, Desch went again, but was forced to take a half-point deduction. On bars, Georgia only put up five competitors as Haylee Sanders was out with the flu. But the Gym Dogs hit each routine, building scores with each one. Later on vault, Alabama’s Lexi Graber also had a fall, forcing the Tide to count a miss and head into rotation two trailing Georgia. But things didn’t get any better from there. Georgia’s Rachel Dickson was off on her vault and crashed onto her side, miraculously coming out uninjured. The Gym Dogs then moved to floor, where both Sydney Snead and GiGi Marino fell, the latter injuring her foot and having to be carried off the floor. The team wrapped things up on beam, falling three times. Alabama, conversely, had a pretty solid meet after the initial vault fiasco, nailing bars and beam, thanks to big scores from Kiana Winston, and improving on its floor rotation from a week ago.
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No. 10 Arizona at No. 12 Iowa State |
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| Full Results | ISU: 195.450 | Ariz.:194.975 | ||
| VT: Young 9.900 | UB: Sievers 9.875 | BB: Young 9.925 | FX: Schneider 9.875 | AA: Young 39.450 |
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The Cyclones recorded yet another win this season by defeating Arizona 195.450 to 194.975. They were led by senior all arounder Haylee Young, who won the title with a score of 39.450 and tied her career high on beam (9.925). Kelsey Paz and 2016 NCAA vault qualifier Meaghan Sievers also competed on all four events. This is the second week in a row Iowa State has beaten a ranked opponent, and it now improves its record to 4-0 in 2018. The GymCats had to readjust their lineups early on following the injury of sophomore Jenny Leung, who was set to compete on vault. Despite the adversity, they were able to hit 24 for 24 routines, led by senior Madison Cindric, who was once again the sole all arounder for Arizona. She scored a 39.025 for third place. The highlight of the competition for the GymCats, though, was undoubtedly Schneider’s floor routine performance, which earned her a 9.875 and the event title.
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No. 13 Temple and William & Mary at No. 24 Towson |
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| Full Results | Towson: 194.725 | Temple: 191.575 | W&M: 190.475 | |
| VT: McKellar 9.800 | UB: McKellar 9.825 | BB: Arduino 9.900 | FX: Cahalan 9.875 | AA: McKellar 39.150 |
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Temple and Towson went head to head for the second week straight while William & Mary opened up its season Sunday in Maryland. The Tigers home-opener was all about revenge after falling to Temple at the Little Boston Invitational last weekend. They delivered consistent performances on all apparatuses to not only win the tri-meet with a huge 194.725 but its individuals took home each event title as well, including Mary Elle Arduino’s huge 9.9 on balance beam. The Owls began the competition slow but were able to hang on through the next three rotations, ending on the uneven bars, where last year’s freshman phenom Daisy Todd was back in the lineup. The Owls placed second with a respectable 191.575, but will look to match the success of their opener during week three action. Not to be overlooked is William & Mary: Though it fell to fellow-ECAC member Temple, it posted its highest season-opening score since 2015 thanks to junior Aaliyah Kerr’s strong floor performance and the collegiate debut of all arounder Katie Waldman, who placed third on three different events.
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No. 14 Arizona State at No. 16 West Virginia |
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| Full Results | ASU: 196.475 | WVU: 195.975 | ||
| VT: Koshinski 9.900 | UB: Leonard-Baker 9.925 | BB: A. Szafranski 9.900 | FX: Leonard-Baker 9.900 | AA: Leonard-Baker 39.475 |
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Since Jay and Jess Santos took over the Arizona State gymnastics team in 2016, the progress the Sun Devils have seen is astronomical. Today’s showing was yet another record-breaking performance that displayed the full potential of this new and re-energized squad. Both ASU and WVU were tied after the first rotation, but the Sun Devils were able to take the lead ever so slightly at the halfway point. From then on, they held onto the lead, even extending the margin, and cruised to victory with a gorgeous beam rotation, their highest scoring event of the day that was highlighted by a handful of career highs from Justine Callis (9.800), Cairo Leonard-Baker (9.825), Katelyn Lentz (9.875) and Ashley Szafranski (9.900). The Sun Devils were stellar the entire competition, scoring a 49 or above on all four events. Leonard-Baker is shaping up to be a game changer for the program, as she won the all around with a big 39.475 that included a 9.925 on bars and a 9.900 on floor. WVU also had a great showing and improved on its season-opening score by nearly 1.5 points. The Mountaineers stayed in the race and were consistent throughout, hitting all six routines on vault, bars and beam. Zaakira Muhammad was the sole all arounder for the Mountaineers and scored 39.350 for second place. Muhammad shone on balance beam with a unique standing layout to two feet to layout two feet series, while teammate Kirah Koshinski won the vault title with a 9.900 for a nearly stuck Yurchenko 1.5.
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California at No. 17 BYU |
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| Full Results | BYU: 196.025 | Cal: 194.350 | ||
| VT: Bennett 9.850 | UB: Hortman, Kuc 9.850 | BB: Van Mierlo 9.900 | FX: Douglas, Hortman 9.900 | AA: Van Mierlo 39.175 |
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Nebraska at No. 17 Penn State |
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| Full Results | Neb.: 195.550 | PSU: 195.050 | ||
| VT: Crouse 9.950 | UB: Bonsall, Tsang 9.900 | BB: Williams 9.925 | FX: Tsang 9.900 | AA: Tsang 39.425 |
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Bridgeport at No. 19 New Hampshire |
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| Full Results | UB: 192.950 | UNH: 191.750 | ||
| VT: Toci, O’Leary 9.800 | UB: Doran, Diggan 9.825 | BB: Lauter 9.875 | FX: Watkins 9.825 | AA: Campbell 39.000 |
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No. 20 Maryland, No. 33 Northern Illinois and Winona State at Minnesota |
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| Full Results | Minn.: 194.200 | Md.: 194.025 | NIU: 193.575 | WSU: 184.750 |
| VT: Barber, Bixler, Loper, Potts, Ramler 9.775 | UB: Lu 9.900 | BB: Ramler 9.925 | FX: Thomas, Williams 9.800 | AA: Ramler 39.000 |
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No. 21 N.C. State at North Carolina |
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| Full Results | NCSU: 194.650 | UNC: 194.375 | ||
| VT: Hislop 9.875 | UB: Nettles 9.800 | BB: Grantham 9.850 | FX: Hislop 9.950 | AA: Grantham 39.200 |
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Utah State at No. 22 Bowling Green |
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| Full Results | BGSU: 194.825 | USU: 192.975 | ||
| VT: East, Ward 9.850 | UB: Estrella 9.800 | BB: DeHarde 9.875 | FX: Ward 9.875 | AA: Varnadore 38.475 |
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Missouri at No. 23 Auburn |
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| Full Results | AU: 196.625 | Mizz: 194.875 | ||
| VT: Bower, Day 9.875 | UB: Cerio, Moss 9.900 | BB: Milliet 9.925 | FX: Day 9.900 | AA: Tucker 38.950 |
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No. 26 UIC at Western Michigan |
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| Full Results | WMU: 193.425 | UIC: 192.975 | ||
| VT: Baddeley, Underwood 9.775 | UB: Harrison 9.850 | BB: Underwood 9.800 | FX: Underwood 9.850 | AA: Underwood 39.150 |
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No. 30 Iowa at No. 28 Michigan State |
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| Full Results | Iowa: 193.400 | MSU: 192.900 | ||
| VT: Ortiz 9.775 | UB: Westney 9.875 | BB: Hogan 9.850 | FX: Mitchell, Shirley 9.775 | AA: Mitchell 38.950 |
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Oklahoma at No. 28 Georgia |
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| Full Results | OU: 197.550 | UGA: 196.600 | ||
| VT: Dowell 9.950 | UB: Nichols 9.925 | BB: Dickson, Babalis, Showers 9.900 | FX: Dickson, Dowell, Jackson, Vega 9.900 | AA: Dickson 39.500 |
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No. 34 Illinois State at No. 36 SEMO |
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| Full Results | SEMO: 193.300 | Illinois St.: 191.175 | ||
| VT: Brawner 9.775 | UB: Bates, Brawner, Wiggle 9.725 | BB: Bates, Cooke 9.700 | FX: Brawner 9.825 | AA: Bates 38.950 |
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Illinois, No. 37 Southern Connecticut and Yale at Rutgers |
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| Full Results | Illinois: 195.100 | Yale: 191.550 | RU: 191.525 | SCSU: 187.650 |
| VT: Meeks 9.825 | UB: Balthazor, Howell 9.875 | BB: Balthazor, Hodan, Shank 9.875 | FX: Howell 9.800 | AA: Groden 38.875 |
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Ball State, Cornell and Penn at George Washington |
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| Full Results | GWU: 195.300 | Ball St: 191.725 | CU: 190.550 | Penn: 190.325 |
| VT: Drouin-Allaire 9.925 | UB: Zois, Winstanley 9.825 | BB: Winstanley 9.900 | FX: Drouin-Allaire 9.875 | AA: Winstanley 39.425 |
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Brown at Rhode Island |
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| Full Results | Brown: 188.400 | RIC: 174.550 | ||
| VT: Green 9.550 | UB: Hansen 9.850 | BB: Hansen 9.600 | FX: Green 9.800 | AA: Murphy 36.300 |
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Centenary at Kent State |
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| Full Results | KSU: 195.050 | Centenary: 178.875 | ||
| VT: Williams 9.775 | UB: Stypinski 9.900 | BB: Stypinski 9.875 | FX: Stypinski 9.900 | AA: Stypinski 39.375 |
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Cortland at Alaska (Friday) |
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| Full Results | UAA: 188.825 | SUNY-Cortland: 182.675 | ||
| VT: Filipski 9.550 | UB: Nelson 9.750 | BB: Nelson 9.800 | FX: Fox 9.700 | AA: Fox 38.375 |
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Cortland at Alaska (Sunday) |
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| Full Results | UAA: 190.975 | Cortland St.: 183.200 | ||
| VT: Filipski 9.675 | UB: Miller 9.825 | BB: Schulz 9.750 | FX: Fox 9.775 | AA: Fox 38.725 |
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Lindenwood at SEMO |
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| Full Results | LU: 194.650 | SEMO: 191.900 | ||
| VT: Brawner 9.825 | UB: Mitchell 9.875 | BB: Bates, Jones 9.800 | FX: Jones 9.850 | AA: Bates 38.250 |
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Oregon State at Pittsburgh |
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| Full Results | OSU: 194.850 | Pitt: 194.125 | ||
| VT: Brechwald 9.825 | UB: Colussi-Pelaez, Gill, Conrad, Brechwald 9.775 | BB: Dessaints 9.850 | FX: Yanish 9.875 | AA: Brechwald, Gill 38.925 |
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Southern Utah at Boise State |
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| Full Results | Boise St.: 196.225 | SUU: 194.350 | ||
| VT: McBride 9.900 | UB: Remme 9.875 | BB: Remme 9.875 | FX: Remme 9.875 | AA: Remme 39.425 |
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UC Davis at Seattle Pacific |
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| Full Results | UCD: 193.125 | SPU: 191.325 | ||
| VT: Kessler 9.750 | UB: Hebert 9.725 | BB: Hebert 9.850 | FX: Burns 9.800 | AA: Hebert 38.950 |
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Washington at Sacramento State |
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| Full Results | UW: 195.350 | Sac St.: 191.500 | ||
| VT: Burleson 9.875 | UB: Brent 9.800 | BB: Burleson 9.875 | FX: Roberson 9.825 | AA: Burleson 39.275 |
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