Fantasy Central: Week 2

It’s Tuesday again, and your fantasy lineup is due soon. Not to worry! We have all the info you need to play like a pro this week. 

Injury Updates

Injuries in bold are known to be long term or season-ending.

• Angel Zhong – BYU – torn achilles (1/6)
• Lauren Hansen – Ithaca – on crutches (1/6)
• Kaylee Kho – Southern Utah – on crutches (1/9)
• Kaitlyn West – Winona – on crutches (1/9)
• Hailey Garner – Arkansas – concussion (1/9)
• Sarah Schaffer – Arkansas – limited to vault (1/9)
• Maddy Osman – Michigan – neck brace, no timeline for return (1/10)
• Nichole Smith – Temple – in a boot (1/10)
• Anne Maxim – Michigan – elbow brace (1/10)
• Mary Nicholson – Missouri – bone bruise in foot (1/10)
• Christina Desiderio – LSU – groin injury (1/10)
• Katie Chamberlain – Pitt – torn ACL (1/11)
• Sami Strickler – Iowa State – arm in a sling (1/11)
• Olivia Trautman – Oklahoma – broken heel (1/11)
• Payton Murphy – Western Michigan – fractured neck; brace for 3 months (1/11)
• Amanda Elswick – Arkansas – shin injury (1/12)
• Tirzah Delph – Towson – in a boot (1/12)
• Hallie Thompson – North Carolina – torn ACL (1/12)
• Courtney McGregor – Boise State – injured on vault (1/12)

Week 2 Byes and Doubles

Byes: Utah

Doubles: Arkansas, Cornell, Iowa State, Oklahoma, UW-Eau Claire

Experts Say…Your Hot Tip for Week 2 

Nebraska has yet another Thursday meet this week, this time at home. It’ll host Penn State, which has a short week after it competed at home on Saturday. Be conservative with your Nittany Lions.

Auburn, which got off to an explosive start, heads to Baton Rouge. Scores can fly high at LSU, so look for that to be a high-scoring matchup. Oklahoma at Alabama could go similarly. On the other hand, Arizona and Oregon State visit Sacramento State, not known for its loose scoring.

BYU is at home in Provo where it thrives, and it hosts UCLA and conference foe Utah State. You should feel comfortable starting gymnasts from all three teams.

Georgia has a long break, not competing until Monday, and gets another home meet. Look for it to have used the long week to solidify post-Dickson lineups. 

Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em

Are you struggling to decide when the time is right to pull a gymnast who keeps letting you down? Wondering whether that surprise star has what it takes to score well in the weeks to come? Never fear! We’re going to weigh in.

Vault

As predicted, Maddie Quarles has set herself up to be a vault star for Minnesota. Abby Pierson likewise for West Virginia; put her in your beam lineup, too. Anika Dujakovich has proven consistent so far this year, much improved on her showings in 2019.

We don’t know why, but Sekai Wright is ineligible to compete this quarter, per the UCLA sports information director. Drew Grantham only vaulted a Yurchenko layout at Ohio State; it didn’t seem like a mistake in the moment, rather she was intentionally watering down. Keep her off of vault if you have other options until we know more. Rachel Hornung appears to be recovering still from her injury during regionals last year.

Start: Shannon Evans, Maddie Quarles, Abby Pierson, Anika Dujakovich, Stephanie Schweikert, Kiah Johnson (yes, Kiah. Certainly Kiya, too.)

Sit: Sekai Wright, Drew Grantham, Gracie Kramer, Ryanna Head, Collea Burgess, Rachel Hornung

Bars 

Don’t let Cairo Leonard-Baker’s tough first 2020 routine scare you away. There’s no reason to think she’ll have a similar mistake again. If you nabbed Cassidy Rushlow in trading, note that she’s a viable all arounder but strongest so far on bars. Anna Salamone had a slow start for a 9.700, but we know she’s capable of 9.9-plus scores. Abby Heiskell put up Michigan’s highest bars score in the exhibition spot; look for her to challenge Lauren Farley for a lineup slot this week.

Hang onto Anna Glenn; she’s set to do bars in a few weeks, but she’s not ready quite yet. Courtney McGregor’s vault injury had her in a boot and on crutches for the second half of the meet. We have no confirmation on what it was, but it seemed bad enough to keep her out of lineups for at least awhile. We also have no idea why Alexis Stokes was absent from this lineup, but we have to think Boise State would’ve used her instead of going five-up if she were remotely available. Hailey Garner should be back from her concussion in a week or two. We were excited to see Elexis Edwards exhibition bars, but it’s hard to say yet when we’ll see a competition routines. Loulie Hattaway and Marissa Oakley seem likely to battle for the final Georgia bars lineup spot. Put either in at your own risk.

Start: Cairo Leonard-Baker, Cassidy Rushlow, Anna Salamone, Alissa Bonsall, Haley Pitou, Abby Heiskell

Sit: Anna Glenn, Courtney McGregor, Alexis Stokes, Hailey Garner, Elexis Edwards, Loulie Hattaway, Marissa Oakley, Lauren Farley

Beam

Be sure to put up Eastern Michigan standout Emili Dobronics. The 2019 all arounder didn’t compete bars last week but was stellar on the other three. Olivia Aepli was pulled from the beam lineup after one touch, but put up the best routine of the rotation in the exhibition spot. Expect her to be in the competition lineup this week. Briona Carswell was the bright light in a shaky Air Force rotation. Don’t let Natalie Wojcik’s uncharacteristic fall scare you away.

Don’t let the Arkansas double scare you away from Sophia Carter on floor, but don’t risk her on beam this week. Clair Kaji just hasn’t quite looked herself yet this year.

Start: Emili Dobronics, Olivia Aepli, Briona Carswell, Natalie Wojcik, Tiarre Sales, Gabriella Douglas, Sydney Converse, Shaylah Scott, Karrie Thomas, Angelica Labat

Sit: Sophia Carter, Megan Verceles Carr, Emi Watterson, Clair Kaji

Floor

Kyla Bryant, who has ongoing ankle issues and occasionally misses floor time, wasn’t in the lineup last week. She didn’t miss any floor time in 2019, though, and only once in 2018. It seems likely she’ll be back, especially since she vaulted after sitting out floor. Abby Fletcher’s rough start shouldn’t keep her out of your lineups; she was strong through all of 2019 and should be back on track this week. Aspen Tucker was out with illness, so expect her back.

Lexi Graber crunched her ankle during a beam fall at Auburn last week. We don’t know her status, but if she sits an event at home this week, it’s likely to be floor; something to keep in mind. Felicia Hano missed floor last week due to an ankle injury and is questionable for this week. Taylor Houchin has yet to find her groove on floor. 

Start: Kyla Bryant, Emili Dobronics, Abby Fletcher, Maddi Leydin, Arayah Simons, Gayla Griswold, Elena Lawson, Aspen Tucker

Sit: Lexi Graber, Felicia Hano, Taylor Houchin, Clair Kaji, Kirsten Peterman

Week 2 Pickups

Trying to figure out who to pick up to replace an injury? Looking for a ninja to up your weekly beam total? We’ve got you covered, down to the data on who should still be available.

A number of big-name gymnasts appear to have been dropped and not picked up in at least one conference as of Monday morning: Alonza Klopfer, Sophia Hyderally, Juliette Boyer, Sydney Johnson-Scharpf, Abby Brenner, Belle Huang, Taylor Chan, Geneva Thompson. Check to make sure that conference isn’t yours! 

Vault: Not to be confused with her LSU counterpart, West Chester’s Kiah Johnson put up a 9.800 on vault, plus a 9.750 on floor, in her first meet; she’s 71 percent available. Cydney Crasa (15 percent available) went 9.850 on vault and had solid starts on beam and floor as well. Vault specialist Alexsis Rubio put up a 9.875 and appears to be adding floor this year.

Bars: Iowa’s Alexandra Greenwald (27 percent available) has had two solid outings on bars, as well as floor. Maia Fishwick went 9.875 in her first bars appearance and is still available in 25 conferences. Illinois Olivia O’Donnell has been in the 9.8s and is 36 percent available. 

Beam: Consider looking at Brown’s Mei Li Costa. The 2019 standout bar specialist has added beam and is available in 25 conferences. Air Force’s Briona Carswell hit a 9.850 in the leadoff before the rest of the rotation melted down. She’s available in 67 conferences. Morgan Tong went 9.875 for Central Michigan and is 13 percent available. Jessie Bastardi, who went to nationals as an individual on beam last year, is available in 33 conferences. Penn’s Natalie Yang is a solid beam specialist and available in 69 conferences. Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso went 9.900 on beam this week and is turning into an all around star for SEMO; find her available in 37 conferences.

Floor: Tyler Davis of Air Force is available in 12 conferences and is a strong pickup for floor. Stacie Harrison is 37 percent available. Madelyn Langkamp is 50 percent available and also an option on bars. For BYU, Brittney Vitkauskas has proven to be a solid floor worker and is largely available.

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Article by Emily Minehart with additional reporting from Rebecca Scally. Data courtesy of Jenna King.

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