Alabama hosts Michigan, Denver and Bowling Green in a quad meet that is sure not to disappoint. It’s the second quad meet in as many weeks for both the Crimson Tide and Wolverines, both of whom will be eager to improve on last week’s performances. Meanwhile, it’ll be our first look at the Pioneers and Falcons who open up their seasons tonight.
Alabama is coming off of a quad meet win, but with a score of 194.750 the Crimson Tide look to improve. The team was mainly held back in week one due to beam, tallying just a 47.700 after two falls and tight judging in regards to the new beam pause rule. The talent is there—and it’s just the start of the season—so look to see if the team can improve upon this total tonight and in weeks to come. Shallon Olsen and Emily Gaskins lead the Alabama freshmen while upperclassmen like Wynter Childers, Lexi Graber and Ari Guerra are ones to watch as well.
Michigan also had its share of mishaps at the Cancun Classic, rebounding from a shaky start on beam that consisted of the first two gymnasts falling to tally a 196.050 overall. With Alabama also having struggled last week, this meet could easily come down to who can put up the better number on beam. Watch for freshman Natalie Wojcik who had a breakout first meet that included scoring a 9.975 on her Yurchenko one and a half. Her classmates poses similar star power and will impress as well. Olivia Karas has also returned, competing vault (only a Yurchenko full), bars and beam in her journey back from an Achilles tear.
It’s our first look at Denver in 2019. The Pioneers lose just three routines from 2018 while gaining a freshman class that includes Alexandria Ruiz and Alexis Vasquez. Expect Maddie Karr and Lynnzee Brown to lead the way in the all around for the Pioneers while Mia Sundstrom should compete in the all around as well. Courtney Loper is back after missing most of 2018 for unknown reasons. According to tentative lineups, we can expect to see her on beam and floor. With this in mind, the Pioneers are poised to be a deeper team in 2019 than they have been in the past few seasons. Beam cost the team a berth to nationals last season; with new faces, can it fare better on the event in 2019? Vasquez will certainly lead the way on the precarious event, and Kaitlyn Schou won’t disappoint on the event either. Watch to see how the lineup plays out tonight, especially with what we know about Alabama beam last week.
Bowling Green also kicks off its season tonight. Jovannah East will lead the Falcons in 2019 while the team’s freshman class should soften the blow of some of the team’s losses from 2018. Of the freshmen, Tess Muir is slated to compete vault, beam and floor, Katelyn Goldstrom is expected to compete on bars and Paige Bachner is likely to compete floor per Bowling Green’s meet preview. Classmate Anna Maria-Kanyai’s status is unknown—she was seen in a boot in late-December. Especially watch for the Falcons on floor, where their choreography never disappoints.
The meet is being streamed on SECN+ if you’d like to follow along, and live stats can be found here.
Bowling Green’s tentative lineups are as follows:
VaultKatie Morsefield |
BarsKatie Morsefield |
BeamNacaida Kearns |
FloorPaige Bachner |
And Denver’s tentative lineups are:
Tentative lineups for tonight's quad meet at Alabama! #NCAAGym #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/V00tDjbUue
— Denver Gymnastics (@DU_Gymnastics) January 12, 2019
Denver’s leo for tonight:
First leo of the season! #NCAAGym #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/7SFUTZ7fjy
— Denver Gymnastics (@DU_Gymnastics) January 12, 2019
Rotation 1: Alabama VT, Michigan UB, Denver BB, Bowling Green FX
Bowling Green’s floor lineup: https://twitter.com/FalconGymn/status/1083899434503680000
Alabama
Gaskins – yfull, 9.8
Armbrecht – nice yfull, good form. 9.775
Mahoney – another yfull with clean full. STUCK. She got the Bama hammer, which is apparently similar to the stick crown. 9.825
Olsen – great DTY! Small hop, but that’s all. Gonna be a good score. 9.875
Graber – y1.5 good height and distance, just a hop forward. 9.875
Michigan
Karas UB – good shap, connects to bail; mostly good handstands; DLO, small slide. Nice routine overall! 9.85
Wojcik – nice jaeger; bail to lovely handstand; floaty double lay, some leg form and just a step. 9.825
Denver
Brown BB – nice start, missed beginning but ends with a nice gainer full. 9.7
Loper – small checks here and there; nothing major; tuck full, stuck. Nice return for her! 9.8
Sundstrom – missed start; bhs loso, small check; stuck gainer pike with the arm circle wave to keep from moving. 9.625
Vasquez – this is the freshman debut we’ve beem waiting for! long wait in between routines. front aerial bhs loso, small check and pause between aerial and bhs, leap series nice; does a Y-turn, so unique for NCAA! beautiful sissone to follow. side aerial to gainer full stuck! solid debut for her. 9.8
Karr – how is she already a junior? side aerial bhs good; hitch kick side somi solid; beat jump to straddle 3/4 maybe a slight check; stuck ro lay full to finish. 9.85
Schou – front aerial bhs loso good! nice full turn; beat jump to sheep jump solid; bhs gainer full nice landing! 9.8
Bowling Green
Lawson FX – opens with nice double pike; great flexibility on leaps; some form on her connection pass, but keeps it in bounds and lands it; did I mention I LOVE BGSU floor choreo? little low chest on double tuck but solid overall. 9.45
Beyer – OOB on first pass, great flexibility on leaps; handspring lay lay half to split jump nice; has to put hands down on doulbe tuck. 8.8
Augustine – nice combo pass, may have switched to a pike to get the lay around. good last pass, missed the rest cuz the stream is switching around so much Seemed like a solid routine overall! 9.725
East – 2.5 to lay good — so much power! looked like she was close to OOB; did a side pass too, a front 1.5; again loving the choreo; great last pass! this is why she’s their anchor. So. Good.
After 1:
Alabama 49.175
Michigan 48.975
Denver 48.95
Bowling Green 47.65
A little bit of a shaky start for BGSU on floor. Bama started well on vault and is currently in the lead. Denver had a very solid beam rotation to start its season and Michigan had an ok start as well. A little 9.7y for the Wolverines.
Rotation 2: BGSU VT, Bama UB, Mich. BB, Denver FX
BGSU VT:
We move on to vault for the second rotation of the night. pic.twitter.com/ZGrRYihApx
— BGSU Gymnastics (@FalconGymn) January 12, 2019
Bowling Green
Morsefiled VT – nice yfull. 9.675
DeMeno – solid yfull. 9.7
East – lovely y1.5. she’s their STAR. 9.75
Alabama
Dickson UB – good bail, not quite to hs; hits handstands into tkatchev, great flexibility; just a step on the dismount; that’s her sophomore debut! 9.8
Guerra – straddled jaeger, nice; bail to hs looked good to me; some legs here and there; nice DLOk just a step back 9.85
Michigan
Farley BB – ooh nice 1.5 turn. side aerial keeps it going into split jump; gainer pike, good landing. 9.65
O’Hara – secure full turn; side aerial bhs, good; split to double stag, small check; solid routine overall 9.8
McLean – the fact that she’s beaming is…not good? bhs loso is good, as is her full turn; cat leap switch side solid; jump connection to standing loso; saved the landing on her ro 1.5 9.75
Funk – good connection and extension on her leaps; side aerial to gainer full, the routine looked good from what I’ve watched! 9.85
Wojcik anchored beam at the same time as Karr floor and she did very well as well! 9.875
Denver
Sundstrom FX – opening double tuck, good landing, maybe slightly large lunge; she has the same music as last season; lay to lay full nice and controlled; popa to wolf full good; her routine is unique in the fact that she does 2 leap series to get up to difficulty rather than 3 tumbling passes.9.725
Kern – Lay lay full good; mised the start; short double back but lands; nice routine up until that last pass 9.575
Ruiz – making her college debut here! off to a solid start so far; ro 1.5 lay solid; I LOVE her choreo. good, clean, secure double pike to close. GREAT start to her collegiate career. 9.75
Schou – nice routine so far; good to see her back in action! fhs rudi split jump is lovely — she’s such a twister! great routine for her 9.825
Karr – she’s such a PERFORMER. HUGE double pike to open; 1.5 to full nice; good on leap series; nice final pass to end! 9.8
Brown – opens with her HUGE DLO. so amazing. I can’t even. nice leap connection to drop to floor, so fun! 1.5 to lay to stag jump solid; closes with a great double pike! basically stuck. Great to have her back on floor for sure! 9.875
After 2:
Alabama 98.225
Michigan 98.000
Denver 97.975
BGSU 96.275
Competition between the top three is TIGHT. Just 0.25 is separating Denver from Alabama and Michigan is just 0.025 above Denver. Beam scores are definitely erring on the low side once again in Tuscaloosa. Another good bars rotation for Bama. Vaults looked good for Bowling Green from what I saw, they’re definitely making use of what they have! Michigan will be proud of this beam performance after last week, even if the scores are lower than you’d expect for an SEC meet. Denver had another solid rotation on floor. They’ll want to work on getting some of those landings nailed down, especially in the lower half of that lineup in order to boost their scores.
Rotation 3: Denver VT, BGSU UB, Bama BB, Mich. FX
Here’s MIchigan’s Floor lineup. KARAS IS BACK. I repeat, KARAS IS BACK.
We will head over to floor next. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/VNDyYfd9D6
— Michigan Women’s Gymnastics (@UMichWGym) January 12, 2019
Bowling Green’s bars lineup: Kanyai is back!
Freshman Kate Goldstrom about to make her collegiate debut leading off the bars lineup. pic.twitter.com/NDobV78tBw
— BGSU Gymnastics (@FalconGymn) January 12, 2019
Denver
Chesnok VT – yfull with a small hop; good leadoff vault! 9.75
Ruiz to her knees on her yfull. 9.075
Schou – good yfull, sizeable hop step back but great rebound vault! 9.75
Sundstrom – nice yfull! small hop, not much at all. 9.775
Karr – basically her typical y1.5 9.825
Brown – WOW. HUGE y1.5. STUCK. great ending to vault for Denver. 9.925
Bowling Green
Augustine – gienger, some leg form; bail good; blind full to double tuck, some leg form and hop on dimsount. 9.675
Kanyai – shap to pak, some leg form; nice final handstand and then is short on blind full and then again. Didn’t finish routine. 8.275
Alabama
Gaskins – has to do an extra circle around on her mount…which the commentators just called a dismount…definitely some checks here and there; solid side aerial; gainer full with small hop. 9.25
Graber – bhs lo with a sizeable hip check; spilt to straddle 3/4 secure; Lovely Liukin, gainer full good. 9.775
Michigan
Osman FX – great start so far; little short on the lay on her combo pass but stays on her feet, just a slide back; good double tuck to close. good leadoff routine! 9.7
Farley – nice double pike to open; some form on her combo pass but pulls it around; closes nicely as well. 9.7
Wojcik – front double full to front pike good; fhs rudi straddle jump LOVELY; Loveee her lines. from what I saw, great routine! 9.8
McLean – nice opening double tuck; great routine overall so far. little off balance on her leap pass; closes with a secure double pike; another good routine for UM. 9.7
Karas – her floor debut; with full difficulty and all! Opens with her dbl arabian; switch half wolf full good; 1.5 to lay secure landing; it’s great to have her back on floor! double full to close, a little too much power, but a solid return to floor for her! 9.725
After 3:
Denver 147.000
Alabama 146.9
Michigan 146.675
BGSU 142.475
Aside from Ruiz, Denver looked good on vault for the first meet of the year. Bowling Green had a ROUGH go of it on bars and only scored a 46.2 on the event. And Michigan looked good on floor from what I saw, just some form issues and short passes here and there were keeping them down. One more to go in Tuscaloosa!
Rotation 4: Mich. VT, Denver UB, BGSU BB, Bama FX
Michigan on vault: https://twitter.com/UMichWGym/status/1083919716584951808
BGSU beam:
We will close out the season opener on balance beam. Freshman Tess Muir opening up the rotation. pic.twitter.com/v1fqtB6kDw
— BGSU Gymnastics (@FalconGymn) January 12, 2019
Michigan
Mariani VT – good yfull
McLean – just does the full, but it’s a beautiful one! flaired and all.
Brenner – stuck y1.5.
Wojcik – another gorgeous 1.5 from her!
Denver
Ruiz – BIG tkatchev; solid bail, some leg form; short on last handsdtand; nice DLO, basically stuck. great routine for her on bars! 9.875
Glynn – catches gienger, some leg form; bail looked good, but coach is blocking camera angle; stuck ftdt, team is ECSTATIC and her and Sundstrom share an emotion-filled moment. 9.825
Brown – maloney to pak, basically how she normally does it; shap half good; lovely DLO, just a small hop forward; another great routine for her! 9.85
Karr – good first hs; blind full to beautiful gienger to solid bail; gorgeous dlo, stuck with just the arm swing to stick. 9.875
Bowling Green
Beyer – we mised the beginning, but she dismounted with a unique standing loso to gainer full dismount. 9.7
Augustine – beat jump to straddle 3/4, didn’t look quite extended to me; stuck lay full dismount. I obviously missed something. 9.125
East – secure full turn; bhs loso good, just some leg form; good extension on leaps; double twist dsmt, good. good finish for BGSU. 9.65
Bachner – front toss good; a little off on side aerial to back tuck and comes off, but love the uniqueness of that! she’s just a little nervy, but ends well with just a small hop in place on her dismount. 9.1
Alabama
Great leadoff routine for Childers. 9.8
Desch – opens with a nice double pike; combo pass good, super fun! short double tuck to close, but lands it. 9.8
Mahoney – we missed the start, short double tuck that opens early and bounces forward, rolls out of it. 9.3
Armbrecht – did’t see the beginning, but nice rudi to stag jump to end. 9.875
Graber – starts with a nice full in; nice leap combo; fhs lay full lay good; closing double pike, nice and secure. 9.9
Olsen – hugeeee piked full in to open; front tuck through to double tuck secure; closes with double pike, almost too powerful but mostly hones it in on the landing. 9.9
FINAL
Denver 196.275
Alabama 196.175
Michigan 196.025
BGSU 189.675
We’ve got an upset in Tuscaloosa as the Pioneers take this one! Super close between Denver, Michigan and Alabama but the Pioneers ultimately came out on top. Scores were a little tight throughout the meet, maybe this is becoming a Bama trend? What? An SEC team with tight scoring? I just counted. Only 5 scores over 9.9 for the entire meet.
Definitely a rough meet for Bowling Green and lots to improve on for the Falcons. Michigan turned in about the same performance as last week but I think they’ll be happy with the improvements on beam especially, even if it’s not reflected in the final score. Bama still definitely had its moments on beam, but again still improved from what I saw last week. Denver remained pretty consistent throughout the meet and used its final rotation on bars to seal the deal. There’s definitely some small things the Pioneers will want to improve over the season but it’s only the first meet and it’s definitely a great start to the season for them.
A Twitter Moment of the meet can be found here.
Live Blog by Tara Graeve
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