PHOTO ESSAY: USAG National Championships Semifinals

April 13, 2019 Emily Howell-Forbes Event Coverage, Featured Carousel, Features, NCAA WAG, Recap

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The 2019 USAG National Championships semifinals featured Lindenwood, Yale, Air Force and West Chester in the first session and UIC, Bridgeport, Texas Woman’s and Cornell in the second. The top two teams from each meet advance through to team finals. In addition to the eight teams, the competition featured individuals from Brown, Centenary, Seattle Pacific, SEMO and Southern Connecticut who were competing for spots in event finals on Sunday. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

A rough beam rotation for Yale early in the meet left it struggling to come from behind to overtake Lindenwood or Air Force and claim a spot in the team finals. Senior Jessica Wang posted one of two 9.725s on beam for the Bulldogs though, the highest score for the team on that event. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Air Force sophomore Tyler Davis notched a huge 9.950 on floor in the first session. It remained the top score on the event—and overall—through both sessions to leave her as the top qualifier going into event finals on Sunday. Davis’ 9.950 included a 10.000 from one of the judges. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Strong beam and floor rotations for Air Force set it up well for the momentum to continue into vault and bars and win the first semifinal as the third-seed in the session over No. 1 Lindenwood and upsetting No. 4 Yale. Both the Lions and Falcons advance to Saturday’s team final. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Lindenwood’s 48.900 was the best beam rotation of the meet and included 9.800s from both Andavea Alexander and Ryan Henry. Both Alexander and Henry also qualified to beam finals on Sunday. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Individual competitor Anna Kaziska from SEMO had an excellent meet, scoring a 39.050 in the all around for fifth place. The score was only the second time the freshman has broken 39.000 in her career. Kaziska also made event finals on both beam and floor. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Lindenwood finished its day just 0.025 behind Air Force’s 194.825 despite some struggles on bars in the second rotation. Yale was third and West Chester fourth. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

UIC enters the competition as the only USAG team to have hit over 196.000 in 2019. Starting out the competition on beam, the team posted a solid 48.825 that included a high score of 9.825 from senior Mikailla Northern. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Jordan Peloquin (pictured) and Hannah Stahlbrodt from Southern Connecticut both qualified for the beam final—Peloquin with a score of 9.850 and Stahlbrodt with a score of 9.800. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Seattle Pacific junior Darian Burns took home the all around title with a career high 39.225 after finishing as the runner up in 2018. Burns will also compete in the vault, bars and floor event finals. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Competing at its first USAG championships, UIC advances on to the team final with a final score of 195.675 after finishing second in semifinal two. Plus, Kayla Baddeley tied for second in the all around with Tyler Davis of Air Force with a 39.175. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

After a season of struggles on beam, Bridgeport finally put together a complete rotation for a season high 48.825. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

With five hit routines in front of her, and the team’s spot in team finals secured, junior Maya Reimers could only raise the Purple Knights’ total to determine their starting event for team finals. Her 9.825 not only guaranteed Olympic order by finishing 0.075 over UIC, but allows her to move on to the floor event finals as well. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Texas’s Woman’s senior Erin Alderman posted the second highest floor score of the day. Her 9.925 places her just behind Davis going into event finals, and her 9.825 secured her a spot on beam on Sunday too. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Struggles on beam early in the meet meant the two-time defending champions, Texas Woman’s, would not advance to the finals. However, junior Bria Northrop (center) will compete on vault. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Bridgeport’s 195.750 was a 2019 high. The season highs of the four team final qualifiers are less than half a point apart, setting up Saturday’s competition to be a thrilling one. (Photo/Emily Howell-Forbes, [email protected])

Essay by Emily Howell-Forbes

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