It’s Mary Emma here ready to live blog another meet! The three highest ranked teams met earlier this season with West Virginia coming out on top, followed by Pitt and Utah State.
West Virginia has been holding steady in the rankings, coming in at No. 27 for the last three weeks. Since it has been scoring pretty consistently, it will be in danger of dropping in the rankings as we head into RQS territory because lower ranked teams will be able to drop their really low scores. This makes breaking back into the 196s here all the more important.
Pittsburgh was able to add Haley Brechwald back into the bars lineup last weekend after having to field just five athletes on that event for the last several weeks. While the lineup still made some errors, it was great progress. Look for Pitt to continue to build upon that as we enter the second half of the regular season.
Utah State has yet to break into the 195s and just missed out on breaking that number for the last two weeks, scoring a 194.975 each time. The Aggies will want to reach that milestone here, as they are in danger of being passed by lower teams when RQS kicks in.
Cornell broke 194 for the first time last week and will look to build on that performance. It currently sits in seventh in USAG standings (the top eight qualify full teams).
Rotation 1
WVU: vault, USU: bars, Cornell: beam, Pitt: floor
Pitt is wearing the sparkly script Pitt ombre leos today!
Le Varnadore (USU) – beautiful shaposh, handstands look good and sticks dismount
Merwin (WVU) – Huge bounce forward on y half
Waldron (WVU) – small hop on y full
Tun (WVU) – big y full wit a small hop back
Brett (Pitt) – good double back to open, little short on front lay but saves it, a good rudi to close
Kaufman (WVU) – good y full, a tad short and hops forward
Bullitt (USU) – nice jaeger, and good handstand on bail, hop forward on dismount
Koshinski (WVU) – y 1.5 with a small hop forward, should still score well
Herzeg (Cornell) – good front aerial to BHS series, beautiful splits! good on punch front with a small wobble but covers, hop forward on dismount
Bochenek (Pitt) – good rudi to open, little short on double pike, and a good third pass to close
Ward-Sessions (USU) – huge piked jaeger, sticks full in dismount!
Petrikis (Pitt) – huge double pike and almost goes OOB but saves it, good front lay to front full, and good double back to finish.
Lo Varnadore (USU) – nice shaposh, good on straddle back, small step on dismount
Spivey (Pitt) – great 2.5 to punch front to open, good double back, and nice rudi to finish. Great routine!
Green (Cornell) – wobble one front aerial and has to repeat for series credit, good, step forward on dismount. She kinda reminds me of Jade Carey for some reason?
After 1: WVU 48.925, USU 48.900, Pitt 48.850, Cornell 47.900
We have some fierce competition at the top! WVU, USU and Pitt all within less than a tenth of each other! Cornell looks to have had a solid beam rotation with no falls, so yay!
Rotation 2
Abarca (WVU): short on bail, huge gienger! small step on dismount
Spivey (Pitt) – good y full with a step back
Combs (WVU) – great shaposh to pak, and stuck dismount!
Ceccarini (Pitt) – hand slipped and crashes, walked away okay though
Kaufman (WVU) – good tkatchev, very nice handstands, littles short on last one though, sticks DLO dismount
Herbine (Pitt) – y half with a large step forward, will have to count though
Brechwald (Pitt) – sticks yfull! Great!
Tun (WVU) – huge jaeger, little short on bail, sticks DLO!
Bochenek (Pitt) – good y full but with too much power and a rather large step back
Marler (WVU) – good piked jaeger to shootover, hop back on dismount
Petrikis (Pitt) – huge y full with a small bounce back
DeHarde (USU) – beautiful fron aerial to beat jump, great BHS LOSO series, small hop on dismount
Ceccarini looks to be going on vault again, not sure if she’s exhibitioning or if they are letting her redo vault from earlier? good y full with slight chest down
Briones (USU) – good front aerial to back tuck, a little slow on connection, so we’ll see if they give it to her, sticks dismount
According to the commentators, a flash went off when Ceccarini vaulted the first time, so they let her go again.
Ward-Sessions (USU) – great floaty BHS LOSO series, sticks double back dismount, great routine!
After 2: WVU 98.100, USU 97.850, Pitt 97.500, Cornell 96.225
Great bars rotation from WVU! Also looked like USU had a good rotation on beam (I unfortunately missed most of it). WVU extends its lead, but USU hot on its heels and Pitt not too far behind.
Rotation 3
Bochenek (Pitt) – nice gienger, a little leg sep on bail, step back on dismount
Bullitt (USU) – good double back to open, little short on front lay but saves it, missed the last pass
Miller (Pitt) -nice jaeger to open, good bail, small hop on dismount
Maughan (Cornell) – huge y full with a large bounce back
Brechwald (Pitt) – noce jaeger, great on bail, sticks DLO! nice!
Prescott (Cornell) – falls on hs front pike (?) 1/2.
Dugan (Pitt) – huge gienger, good bail, small step back on dismount
Horning (WVU) – wolf turn to open, falls on front aerial and repeats for series, good recovery
Brett (Pitt) – huge gienger! little short on bail, sticks DLO! best bars rotation from Pitt this season!
Webster (Cornell) – nice y half with a hop forward
Collins (Pitt) – nice handstand, good bail, good tkatchev, small hop on dismount. That was definitely her best routine of the year!
Abarca (WVU) – good BHS LOSO series, great side aerial, sticks dismount
Pitt just broke 49 on bars! Season high by a mile.
Ward-Sessions (USU) – HUGE full in! Huge 1.5 to front lay, almost can’t control it, and a huge double pike to finish.
WVU counting a fall on beam now. Where’s Koshinski?
Sell (WVU) – good full turn to open, she looks really confident, beautiful BHS LOSO series, small wobble on front aerial, stuck gainer pike to close!
Briones (USU) – good rudi to open, she’s having fun with her choreography! good front lay to front full to finish
After 3: USU 147.025, Pitt 146.525, WVU 146.025, Cornell 144.375
Utah State and Pitt on pace for season highs if they have their normal vault and beam rotations. West Virginia opened the door there having to count a fall on beam (again, I ask, where was Koshinski?), but let’s see if they can bounce back on floor!
Rotation 4
Linnen (WVU) – beautiful front double full to open, her lines are so lovely, beautiful rudi to LOSO to finish
Brechwald (Pitt) – good front arial to BHS, slight wobble on front toss but covers well, and sticks dismount!
Le Varnadore (USU) – great y half with a small step back
Robatin (Pitt) – front aerial to BHS good, beautiful front toss to scale, step back on dismount
Kaufman (WVU) – good double pike to open, good second pass, and great double back to finish
Brett (Pitt) – beautiful leaps, great series, small check on illusion turn, small hop on dismount
Ward-Sessions (USU) – great y full with the smallest slide back
Fontaine (WVU) – good double tuck to open, LOVE this Star Wars routine, good second pass, and good rudi to close
Herbine (Pitt) – great BHS LOSO series, solid punch front, sticks gainer pike
Hornung (WVU) – nice double pike almost OOB, great second pass, solid 1.5 to front lay to close
I completely neglected Cornell, but looks like a solid bars rotation for them!
Ceccarini (Pitt) – good series, huge break on front aerial but saves it, sticks gainer pike
Tun (WVU) – huge full in to open! missed second pass and great rudi to finish
Koshinski (WVU) – huge double lay to open! 1.5 to front lay is good, and a great double pike to close! Great routine!!
West (Pitt) – great leaps to start, wobble on series but saves it, huge break on split 3/4, step on dismount
9.975 for Koshinski! Looks like WVU will squeak by Pitt to finish second. Utah State sweeps the meet.
Final: USU 196.075, WVU 195.525, Pitt 195.025, Cornell 193.075
Live blog by Mary Emma Burton
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