The theme of the weekend in USAG action was redemption. After a poor first week followed by a bye, it was great for Bridgeport to get back out on the floor and post the highest team score of the USAG season after a shocking first week. The Purple Knights jumped back up the rankings this weekend. Cornell also had a devastating first meet but bounced back strong, and Air Force made major strides.
Below you’ll not only find fast facts from every USAG meet this weekend (for more on DI and NCGA teams, check out their respective Dismounts), but the overall USAG standings, top scores and a few superlatives for some of our favorite moments as well.
Routine of the Week
Jacey Baldovino – Yale (UB) 9.875
Baldovino registered the best bars score of the USAG season at Bridgeport this weekend. Her style is magnificent, and after a 2019 season that ended abruptly, it’s great to see her healthy and succeeding.
Stick of the Week
Bria Northrop – Texas Woman’s (UB) 9.850
Northrop doesn’t always get her double layout dismount on bars—but when she does, it’s magnificent. This bars routine is Northrop at her best.
Impact Performance of the Week
Julianna Roland – Bridgeport (BB) 9.825
Bridgeport is prone to inconsistency on beam, so it was doubly impressive when Roland delivered this routine immediately after a fall from a teammate. She works aggressively and fearlessly and this routine got the rotation back on track at a vulnerable point.
Overall Standings
| Place | Team | Average |
| 1 | Lindenwood | 192.988 |
| 2 | West Chester | 192.325 |
| 3 | Penn* | 192.138 |
| 4 | Bridgeport | 191.463 |
| 5 | Yale | 190.950 |
| 6 | SEMO | 190.731 |
| 7 | Air Force | 190.550 |
| 8 | Texas Woman’s | 190.138 |
| 9 | Brown | 190.038 |
| 10 | Seattle Pacific | 189.913 |
| 11 | Cornell | 189.063 |
| 12 | SCSU | 188.488 |
| 13 | Centenary | 182.763 |
Top Scores
| Gymnast | Team | Event | Score |
| Jacey Baldovino | Yale | UB | 9.875 |
| Kathryn Doran | Bridgeport | UB | 9.850 |
| Mei Li Costa | Brown | UB | 9.850 |
| Bria Northrop | Texas Woman’s | UB | 9.850 |
| Tyler Davis | Air Force | FX | 9.850 |
| Isabel Goyco | Texas Woman’s | FX | 9.850 |
The Highlights
| No. 29 North Carolina, No. 39 N.C. State and No. 50 Lindenwood at No. 11 Kentucky | ||||
| Full Results | Kentucky: 196.375 | UNC: 194.625 | N.C. State: 194.425 | Lindenwood: 193.300 |
| VT: Patterson, Allen, Shepard 9.875 | UB: Robinson 9.875 | BB: Angeny 9.925 | FX: Warren, Korth Worley 9.925 | AA: Korth 39.400 |
The Big Storyline: Despite counting a miss on bars, Lindenwood produced a great score that was good for first aggregate in the national USAG standings, as well as the top single-meet score of the USAG season until that point. Ryan Henry bounced back from her mistake in the first week to put up an impressive 38.950 in the all around.
Implications: Lindenwood stepped past West Chester into the No. 1 team position. It’s likely to stay there until NQS kicks in, with so many other teams having a poor meet early on that they still have to average.
| No. 47 Kent State, No. 54 Penn and Cornell at No. 41 George Washington | ||||
| Full Results | Kent State: 195.325 | George Washington: 193.225 | Penn: 192.850 | Cornell: 191.375 |
| VT: Chambliss, DeCavitch 9.875 | UB: Raymond, Banen, Chambliss, Trott, DeCavitch 9.800 | BB: DeCavitch 9.875 | FX: DeCavitch 9.875 | AA: DeCavitch 39.400 |
The Big Storyline: There’s room to grow and more hitting ability to develop for Penn, but this score is an improvement of over a point over its season opener and the Quakers are now the top-ranked Ivy League team. Plus, 48.700 is a magnificent score on beam, especially considering beam anchor Natalie Yang had her first career fall. A 191 is not thrilling in itself for Cornell, but after Friday’s nightmare, it’s a relief. Bars is still a liability, but it’s impressive that the Big Red rallied and improved so much in only two days. Note that returning three-eventer Donna Webster did not compete for Cornell all weekend, and floor star Izzy Herczeg only did beam—though Herczeg just returned from a semester abroad, so maybe that’s just a matter of physical readiness.
Implications: Being the top Ivy League team is great for Penn. Being the top ECAC team is even cooler. For Cornell, rankings are a work in progress. Let’s talk again on NQS day.
| No. 45 West Chester, No. 59 William & Mary and Cornell at No. 51 Towson | ||||
| Full Results | Towson: 194.725 | W&M: 192.150 | WCU: 191.400 | Cornell: 186.750 |
| VT: Wesoly, Vitoff, Bolen 9.750 | UB: Stewart 9.825 | BB: Waldman 9.825 | FX: Temkov 9.800 | AA: Meakim 38.900 |
The Big Storyline: Oof, Cornell bars. No other team in the country but RIC has had a more challenging bars rotation than the Big Red’s 42.900 here. Every athlete in the lineup scored under 9.000. West Chester couldn’t repeat its majestic performance at Little Boston last weekend, but it still put up a respectable score. A pair of beam misses accounted for most of the drop, and that’s not so difficult to fix.
Implications: West Chester holds onto the No. 1 ranking in the conference and No. 2 in USAG. Jessica Meakim is the No. 1 USAG all arounder, tied with SEMO’s Anna Kaziska.
| No. 62 Southern Connecticut and No. 69 Cortland at No. 52 Temple | ||||
| Full Results | Temple: 190.675 | SCSU: 187.500 | Cortland: 185.075 | |
| VT: Castrence 9.800 | UB: Castrence 9.800 | BB: Castrence 9.825 | FX: Castrence 9.850 | AA: Castrence 39.275 |
The Big Storyline: Some challenges on bars led to the Owls dropping about two points from last week’s total. But Hannah Stahlbrodt got back on track, adding her Yurchenko full after competing a layout last week and finishing second on vault and in the all around.
Implications: SCSU dropped back below Bridgeport in conference standings and lies second-to-last in the USAG qualifying race.
| No. 53 Yale and No. 64 Brown with No. 77 Rhode Island at No. 63 Bridgeport | ||||
| Full Results | UB: 193.625 | Brown: 190.800 | Yale: 190.375 | RIC: 175.825 |
| VT: Firth 9.800 | UB: Baldovino 9.875 | BB: Roland, Hansen 9.825 | FX: Reimers 9.825 | AA: Roland 39.125 |
The Big Storyline: Bridgeport is back in a big way. After the nightmare at Critique Classic, the Purple Knights had a week off before their home opener. It would have been easy to spend that time stewing over the mistakes, but they showed a lot of resilience. Julianna Roland’s rock-solid all around total is one of the best in the USAG season so far, Maya Reimers reasserted herself as a floor force and the beam squad only counted one fall—a victory for a squad with historical beam issues. Beating Yale is great news for Brown, but Yale should raise an eyebrow at it. Yale’s underclassmen had a challenging bars day while the veterans made mistakes on beam. Brown sophomore Mei Li Costa emerging as a force on beam in addition to last year’s two events is great news, and Emma Hansen picked up a beam title.
Implications: None of these teams have gotten particularly close to their 2019 counting NQS scores yet, but Yale is the farthest away by far.
| No. 57 SEMO at No. 56 Illinois State | ||||
| Full Results | Illinois State: 191.300 | SEMO: 190.925 | ||
| VT: Cooke 9.700 | UB: Iribarren 9.800 | BB: Kaziska 9.825 | FX: Topp 9.825 | AA: Kaziska 38.750 |
The Big Storyline: This meet was really close, and it’s really exciting for SEMO to be able to fight with other Division I teams once again. A great beam rotation is key for SEMO to be able to score high, and this weekend’s was just OK. But Anna Kaziska was able to take home the title anyway.
Implications: It’s just great for SEMO to be reliably over 190 this year after hitting that mark only once in 2019, but at this point the Redhawks are looking like a team that could qualify to USAG nationals. Kaziska is No. 1 in the all around in the USAG field.
Controversies: We don’t know details, but apparently the vault broke and that sounds like a real party.
| No. 60 Texas Woman’s at No. 68 Centenary | ||||
| Full Results | Texas Woman’s: 190.425 | Centenary: 182.900 | ||
| VT: Austin 9.700 | UB: Northrop 9.850 | BB: Goyco 9.775 | FX: Goyco 9.850 | AA: Goyco 38.825 |
The Big Storyline: Neither of these teams seem to have come to grips with 2020, putting up team scores that are far below what we’ve become accustomed to in recent years. Individuals like Cami Bea Austin and Isabel Goyco are having great years, but let’s hope there’s more to come from their teammates.
Implications: Centenary is ranked behind eight other DIII teams, which is not typical at all for the Ladies. These two teams are ranked at the bottom of the MIC.
| No. 65 Air Force at No. 61 Seattle Pacific | ||||
| Full Results | Air Force: 192.450 | Seattle Pacific: 190.300 | ||
| VT: Salamone 9.800 | UB: Salamone 9.800 | BB: Stevenson 9.800 | FX: Davis 9.850 | AA: Davis 38.650 |
The Big Storyline: The Falcon derby was a great meet for both teams and a substantial improvement for Air Force in particular. Air Force improved all four events from last week, but a major beam glow-up made the biggest impact. Tyler Davis and Anna Salamone are a powerful leadership duo for this squad. Seattle Pacific is working in a lot of inexperienced athletes—two of its competing sophomores made their college debuts this month—and while consistency isn’t there yet, there’s a lot of potential.
Implications: These two teams are ranked at the bottom of the MPSF, but once Air Force drops its first week score it can rise quickly.
READ THIS NEXT: The Dismount: Week 3
Article by Rebecca Scally
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