Seattle Pacific hosts two conference rivals late on Friday night and could be in for an interesting match up against Alaska, with whom it has matched fairly evenly in scores this season. Sacramento State has been building rapidly this season after a challenging start, recording successively higher scores each of the last four weeks and could be well placed to record a valuable 193+ road score. SPU has set its first- and third- highest scores of the season in its only two home meets so far; success today means a score over 190, though 191+ is attainable on its best day. For Alaska, the target is similar though there’s more urgency for the Seawolves, who have only two more meets before regionals to register competitive totals.
Notes from warm ups:
- Darian Burns looks absolutely KILLER in floor warm up.
- Tanya Ho blends in very convincingly with all of her gymnasts.
- UAA is INTENSELY glittery.
https://twitter.com/UAAGymnastics/status/967231130989572096
ROTATION 1: SPU VAULT, SAC STATE BARS, UAA FLOOR
LAWAL – SPU: Tsuk layout, nice body position, hop in place.
NG – SAC: Great stalder to Tkachev, nice straddle back, stuck double back.
GREEN – UAA: Close to the line on second pass Rudi, keeps it in. Full twisting Shushunova is my LIFE. 3/2 punch front, great!
ZIMMERMAN – SPU: Y1/2, massive distance and a stick! By far the best I’ve ever seen that vault.
BRENT – SAC: Feet throughout but clean Maloney to bail, full in dismount with a foot shuffle.
PHILLIPS – UAA: This is like… a trumpet cover of Crazy in Love? Rudi with a big hop back.
SAN ROMAN – SPU: Good FTY, a bit undercooked but makes it work with a hop back.
SAMPSON – SAC: Nice Jaeger, missed the middle stick on a double front dismount!
FOX – UAA: Good controlled landing on opening double pike!
WIRTH – SPU: This is the FHS 2/1 vault, always SUCH fun to see. Today it’s fairly underrotated but bounds forward and keeps it under controlled. Chest down and a bit of a rebound on I think a front lay to Rudi combination?
JUAREZ – SAC: Great Jaeger to overshoot combo, another good landing. These routines are going up into the 9.8s
MILLER – UAA: Double pike, not the most controlled landing, double L turn is great though!! I saw another one of those earlier but I forget who it was. Rudi is landed great.
HUSKIE – SPU: Tsuk full with a step back and a ROAR from the crowd. When that vault is good it’s amazing.
CA. SOLIWODA – SAC: Toe to Maloney to Pak, imperfect on legs but very good. Double layout to dead stick, this lineup is flames.
MANCARI – UAA: Serious presence on this one and beautiful landings. Sticks a Rudi to close, and I have a feeling her first pass might have been a front 2/1 though I missed it due to everything happening at once.
BURNS – SPU: FTY, hangs onto landing for a second and then has to hop forward but it’s such a classy vault.
CO. SOLIWODA – SAC: Every Sac State girl is standing around bars with her arms in the air for this one. Literally no clue what’s going on but it’s a great routine, just a step back on double layout
DANIELS – UAA: Five seconds in and I’m obsessed with the movement quality. This is stunning – has to move her front foot on a double back, but stupid height. Ferrari thru tour jete 1/1 leap pass, WOW. Dead stick on 3/2 front pike, controlled step out of last pass.
Y1/2 from Spivey in exhibition, slightly under and sits it. Great Ylay with a step back from Zimmerman..
Roll back out of a double pike floor exhibition for UAA – don’t have her name, she was a late add by coach Tanya.
By the way, totally obsessed with Coach Tanya. She is so profesh with her clipboard.
SAC 48.75, SPU 48.575, UAA 48.125
So everyone basically nailed it all rotation. FOUR SPU girls just set career highs on vault. That Zimmerman vault was stellar, and Daniels on floor for UAA is a revelation – I’ve seen her in grainy streams but in real life high quality she is something else.
ROTATION 2: UAA VAULT, SPU BARS, SAC BEAM
GREEN – UAA: Handspring front tuck, deep but hangs on.
ATCHISON – SPU: Clear hip to Deltchev!!! Misses a hand on some giants and comes off 🙁 Double back with a step back, she’s so dynamic. I’m not sure I’ve seen her on bars and I love it.
MILLER – UAA: Handspring front tuck, great height and it’s stuck or close to.
BRAIDA – SAC: Nice and clean, a bit of knees on some skills. I didn’t catch too much.
Someone – UAA: Same vault, great height, step back. They changed the lineup around here, this is rostered to be Daniels but this is not her. Maybe Arbuckle?
ZIMMERMAN – SPU: Great turn combo to Jaeger, a little close and with bent arms but a catch and a nice overshoot.
SCHMEISS – SAC: Really interesting leap combo – was that a switch side 1/2 to straddle 1/4 back to straight on? Something like that, and then a straddle 1/2 later on. Gainer full dismount, landed well.
DANIELS – UAA: Nice Y layout, college stuck, had to hop back but hung on for a while.
ZIMMERMAN – SPU: Beautiful turn combo with a nice Jaeger, a little close to the bar, to a decent overshoot. She has great form, I’m really excited to watch her development.
ABRAHAM – UAA: Dead straight Y layout, great dynamics.
SAMPSON – SAC: Such a joy to watch, beautiful leg up turn, flic loso series with a midsize check. I think there was a fall later, unfortunately.
SAN ROMAN – SPU: Maloney to bail with some legs, full turn to double back with a step. Bars is a new addition for her this year and she’s getting through routines really well.
SPIVEY – SPU: Came off twice – looked like she was having a grip problem. Not totally sure what happened, but the bones of the routine were good.
FOX? – UAA: Y1/2 with a hop, good dynamic vault!
BURNS – SPU: Stupid powerful here as everywhere, toe shoot is disgustingly easy for her, Jaeger to overshoot stunning, little hop on double back dismount.
JUAREZ – SAC: Check on a front aerial, I think that was meant to be her acro series. Redoes it and falls. Now she’s down a requirement because you can’t do the same skill three times for credit. Several more falls throughout, unfortunately that was a really tough routine. What looks like a gainer Rudi dismount though, that was pretty killer.
BRANE – SPU: I love her Jaeger technique, it’s a super tight pike. Nice double back with a step forward.
CA. SOLIWODA – SAC: Needing all the veteran power to follow that and she looks steady and confident. Acro and leap series great off the top, squats a little to hang onto a full turn which is a smart move, front kickover is beautiful. Punch front full dismount with a hop straight forward, good one!
CO. SOLIWODA – SAC: In total control. Flic loso is beautiful, and then switch to totally credible sheep! Kickover front is off line, picks one leg up to hang onto it with fairly minimal drama. Flic to gainer full dismount with a hop.
SAC STATE 96.575, SPU 95.95, UAA 95.875
Both Sac State and SPU now counting a fall, while UAA is clean through so far, albeit on the less fallsy apparatus. That said, UAA has a difficulty gap on vault that it has now gotten out of the way and is still holding close. Really interested in the face off between these two.
Sac State won’t love counting that 8.9 but it could be much worse. Watching the Soliwodae bring that rotation back was pretty glorious.
ROTATION 3: UAA BARS, SPU BEAM, SAC STATE FLOOR
ZIMMERMAN – SPU: Cat leap to side aerial with a smallish check.
BRENT – SAC: Another Crazy in Love routine. Crazy power, just a step forward on the final pass.
ARBUCKLE – UAA: Error off the top – mistimes a Shap twice, doesn’t release, pops up into an arch on the low bar the second time and falls.
BRANE – SPU: Full turn with a leg up, clean through, just a bit tentative.
BRENNER – SAC: Rudi to LOSO is life and she does FOUETTE TURNS. This is such a Sac State routine, some ballet bits mixed in with some that are… extremely not ballet. I’m into it.
HYDERALLY – UAA: Beautiful handstands, full turn to Pak and catches feet on the ground. Blind change to Jaeger, loses legs in the turn but release is great. Double back and steps back, automatically points the front foot as she steps back, hello.
BURNS – SPU: Planche beam mount, I used to know which elite this was named after. Flic loso is great! Kickover to beat jump with tiniest adjustment in the middle, getting through clean. Stick on dismount, good one! 9.825 is a new career high, second today for Burns.
SCHMEISS – SAC: Front 2/1 is lovely, great extension on leaps, just did a flic loso on the floor I guess you’re a front tumbler huh?
FOX – UAA: Full turn to bail is essentially perfect, stunning double layout with a step back. Would be totally at home in any top team lineup – 9.675 is lowwwww.
SAMPSON – SAC: Presentation is stellar, had one rougher landing, 3/2 to 1/2 if she stayed in bounds it was barely, shuffles back right up to the line.
NELSON – UAA: Pike Jaeger to overshoot is beyond stunning. Would Bama put this in its lineup if it could? Yes, 100%.
SAN ROMAN – SAC: Slow on front to back connection, but nice and tidy, great side aerial. Gainer full dismount and stuck!
MILLER – UAA: Jaeger with a bit of feet, getting through clean, double back with a step back but in control.
CA. SOLIWODA – SAC: This routine is amazing fun, nails opening double back, landing a little awkward on Rudi but pushes back foot back into a lunge and it works out fine.
GREEN – UAA: Blind change to Jaeger to overshoot, a bit of leg split but not egregious. Double front dismount is DEEP but I think she manages to keep her butt off the ground.
MATSUNE – SPU: Fresh off wrist surgery and it’s still heavily taped. One arm front handspring to back tuck acro series, some leans on dance work but it’s good. Cat leap? – side aerial – tuck back full dismount. Very solid work, so exciting to have her back so soon from that surgery.
JUAREZ – SAC: Her 2/1 is absolutely stellar. Direction a bit funky on combo second pass but makes it work, fantastic extension on leaps. Rudi to Shush is lovely and she actually manages to smile in the air on the Shush.
Some good exhibition work for Spivey from SPU and Pratt from Sac State! One shaky moment from both but great potential.
SAC STATE 145.4, SPU 144.3, UAA 143.525
Sac State off of season high pace but the other two are definitely in the hunt, which is exciting!
SPU set three more career highs on that rotation. Darian Burns is on pace to shatter her AA career best, only needs a 9.475 to match it which is fairly doable from a girl with a 9.9 on this floor.
ROTATION 4: SAC VAULT, UAA BEAM, SPU FLOOR
SPU – GAUNA: Ugh obsessed with the dance in this routine. Rudi to split is great. Two passes VERY close to the lines, not sure if she’ll be called out in either case.
UAA – FOX: Clean thru acro series, bend at the waist on I think a leap pass? Step forward on 3/2 dismount, good tidy routine.
SAC – BRENT: FTY, massive with a step forward. Chest was a bit down but it didn’t need to be.
UAA – MILLER: Super steady, just short on some splits. She wings her foot prepping for skills like a dancer would, so instantly obsessed. Punch tuck front full dismount,
CA. SOLIWODA – SAC : I realize that I’m switching around whether I list the team or the gymnast first. I don’t have time to change it I’M SORRY. Absolutely gigantic FTY, I love.
ZIMMERMAN – SPU:: Ooh, her confidence on floor is tangibly improved since I was here last month. Unfortunately a step out on a double pike, but I love anyway. This is becoming a really steady reliable routine and I love it.
DURST – SPU: This is a new one on me but I like it, dynamic and powerful. She seems a bit shocked by how good her landings are, which is pretty great.
I missed a lot of Sac State vaults. Apologies, the events closest to me are just SO GOOD right now.
MANCARI – UAA: Oh the presentation on this one is STELLAR. Beautiful developpee to front aerial beat jump, splits and toe point are otherworldly.
ARBUCKLE – UAA: Nice full turn, flic loso with a lean back but FIGHTS and holds it. Switch switch side, cat leap to side aerial with another little lean. 3/2 dismount, college stuck.
ATCHISON – SPU: Rudi to straddle is great, front full front pike with a hop forward. The team is screaming its collective head off at this point. It’s her senior night, so nice to get a good one in. A little short of positions on leap series but nothing crazy, 3/2 front pike is GREAT.
NELSON – UAA: Front aerial – bhs with a leg kicked a little way up. Split split 3/4 good, flic loso back full dismount with a hop. Short and efficient, which might be part of how she scores like she does.
SAN ROMAN – SPU: GREAT double back, I know this floor music but I couldn’t tell you whose it was.
DANIELS – UAA: Hi I’m obsessed with you. Back bend mount choreo. side aerial I think with a leg up and big fight to keep it on the beam. Difficult leap series, tries the side aerial again and check again, I think that was meant to be her acro series. Gainer front full off the side, stuck. Not her day on this piece but still the winner on aesthetics.
BURNS – SPU: Front tuck thru double pike, little scoot side into lunge. Switch side to Popa to wolf full is good. She owns this floor, so fun to watch. Double tuck stuck DEAD. Nailed it.
9.85!!!
Season high, and registers a 39.15 in the AA which is almost FOUR TENTHS over her career high. Massive. Also ties Caitlin Soliwoda for the AA, which is huge. And it’s the sixth highest AA mark in school history, which is pretty spectacular.
OOB for Huskie in a floor exhibition but super dynamic routine and the crowd is into it.
FINAL: SAC STATE 194.075, SPU 192.825, UAA 191.95
Season high for UAA by almost a point, for SPU by more than a point. Such a great performance for the Falcons against two DI opponents, and a very convincing day for UAA! That’s where both teams need to be at this point in the season.
Sac State continues to be just so stylish, and resilient after some injuries this season. Counting a fall early didn’t help today but part of the difference between the last few weeks’ scores is just the deficit of competing at a DII. The Hornets visit Boise next week, which should be a much comfier RQS road score. After taking a few weeks to settle in this season, it’s not that competitive in RQS yet, but a late run at regionals isn’t out of the question with a bit of momentum.
TITLES:
Vault: Burns 9.825
Bars: Sampson, Soliwoda 9.8
Beam: San Roman 9.825
Floor: Burns, Juarez 9.985
AA: Burns, Soliwoda 39.15
Live blog by Rebecca Scally
