I feel like this has been said a lot this season, but tonight’s SEC matchup is going to be a good one.
The Tigers won the last time these two teams faced off in a dual meet, but Arkansas came out on top at the 2019 SEC championship. Who will claim victory tonight?
Arkansas is having a great season; it currently sits 13th overall and is fifth in the country on floor. (Sometimes I wonder if Jordyn Wieber has thought about trademarking her floor training plans because she is an actual magician at coaching that event.) The Razorbacks have come close to hitting that 197 mark but haven’t been able to do it yet. That being said, though, they have stayed consistently in that mid- to high-196 range, which is an impressive feat. The 197 will absolutely be a goal here, and given their propensity for doing well on their own turf, I’d say there is a decent possibility of it happening if they have a hit meet.
Auburn has been cruising along pretty consistently in the 196 range as well, save for two rough meets that found it score below 195. Both beam and floor have presented problems for the Tigers at various points this season, but if they can keep those events clean, it should be a very close matchup.
These two teams are pretty evenly matched on bars and beam but have a striking divergence when it comes to vault and floor. I’d expect the Tigers to have a lead throughout the first half of the night, but the Razorbacks are more than capable of claiming it back on their last and final event.
The theme of the night is women’s empowerment, and I absolutely love it. The gymnasts made shirts to name the women that empowered them, and I am obsessed.
I’m so honored to wear @mcgriff2012 name as a women who has empowered me. Barnhill isn’t quite the same without you but I’m so blessed to have you a role model and mentor in my life. I wouldn’t be the same gymnast or person without you. Tonight I flip for you! #shepavedtheway pic.twitter.com/pt2HjDuPy4
— Sophia Carter (@SophiaGCarter) February 21, 2020
Looks like Arkansas is debuting a new leo tonight as well!
https://twitter.com/RazorbackGym/status/1230997251658371072?s=20
Having some streaming issues… I’ll be on as soon as I can!
Rotation 1: Arkansas vault, Auburn bars
Yamzon (ARK): FTY, big step back, terrible camera angle to judge anything else. 9.725
Stevens (AUB): Nice ray. Bail to handstand looked pretty good. Maybe a little short on the last handstand. Big step on her DLO dismount. 9.750
Gianfagna (ARK): FTY, big hop. 9.700
Sabados (AUB): Big arch on her first handstand. Release looked fine. Bail to handstand was loose. Shy on final handstand. Stuck DLO dismount. 9.875… this confuses me greatly.
**POST MEET UPDATE: Sabados score was lowered to 9.725
Hickey (ARK): Really crooked FTY, hop on landing. 9.750
Brusch (AUB): Overall looked clean – had to deal with something here so I missed the first part. Hop on the DLO. 9.825
Shaffer (ARK): Stuck Yurchenko half. Pretty. 9.875
Watson (AUB): Ray was nice. Bail to handstand looked good. Stuck FTDB dismount. 9.850
Hambrick (ARK): Y1.5, step forward. 9.900
Day (AUB): OMG her little jig before she mounted was adorable. Hecht mount, blind change to jaeger to overshoot, nice. Double arabian dismount with a hop. 9.850
Elswick (ARK): FTY, piked feet and a hop on the landing. 9.850
Gobourne (AUB): Huge tkatchev to pak salto. Really weird issue on her cast handstand but.. saves it.. FTDB dismount with a step. 9.575
AFTER ONE: Auburn 49.150, Arkansas 49.000
Well, this meet is sure off to a very close start. Solid vault rotation for Arkansas; I think Elswick was potentially going to do a Y1.5 but decided to do the full. Weird mistake from Gobourne on bars but otherwise a good rotation for them as well. This meet is going to be tight!
Rotation 2: Arkansas bars, Auburn vault
Becker (AUB): FTY, hop back. 9.700
Yamzon (ARK): Comes off on her Tkatchev. Shrot handstand, loose on her bail to handstand and a little short. Litlte short on the final handstand. FTDL dismount with a step. 8.825
Sheppard (AUB): Yurchenko half, huge step. 9.650
Gianfagna (ARK): Way too far away from the bar on her ray, ands he comes off as well. Arkansas off to a rough start. Bail to handstand was fine. Short final handstand. Hop on the dismount. 8.845
Day (AUB): Y1.5, tiny hop. 9.925
Garner (ARK): Giant full to a piked geinger to overshoot, good. Giant full to double tuck dismount with a step. 9.850
Stevens (AUB): Y1.5, hop on the landing. Not quite as clean as Day’s but still a nice vault. 9.900
Lovett (ARK): Gorgeous handstand. Ray was good. Bail to handstand also clean. Giant full to open double tuck stuck. Beautiful. 9.875
Watson (AUB): Y1.5, beautiful. Tiny hop I think. One judge went 10! 9.975
Hambrick (ARK): Piked jaeger overshoot was good. Little short on the final handstand. Full-in dismount stuck. 9.900
Gobourne (AUB): Y1.5, step back. 9.900
Shaffer (ARK): Maloney to bail, looked clean. Great final handstand. Stuck DLO dismount. 9.900
AFTER TWO: Auburn 98.400, Arkansas 97.450
Well, Arkansas recovered well from a disastrous start on bars, but they still needed to count an 8.875. Not ideal. Auburn had quite the vault rotation–Watson came very close to a 10, and both Gracie Day and Gobourne both had nice high scores as well. This has officially become the Tigers’ meet to lose, as long as they can keep it together on the next two events.
Rotation 3: Arkansas beam, Auburn floor
Yamzon (ARK): Nice leap series to start, maybe a little short of 180 on her split. BHS BHS LOSO, solid. Front toss to beat jump good. Gainer full dismount stuck. 9.850
Slappey (AUB): Front layout to rudi, solid. Obsessed with the fact that she has Game of Thrones music. Leap series looked fine. Double back to finish, lands short and hops back out of it. 9.625
Gianfagna (ARK): BHS LOSO, little balance check. Cool full turn – doesn’t push off from the beam like you normally see. Cat leap to front toss, good. Split jump series good. RO 1.5 dismount stuck. 9.800
Stevens (AUB): Full to rudi to strat, lands chest down. Signature front toss move. Switch ring leap series looked good from this angle. Double back to finish, landing mostly controlled. Sounds like she was going to be doing a full-in and changed it. 9.600
Lovett (ARK): Candle mount, would have liked that held a little longer but that’s OK. Switch leap, split jump, beat jump solid. Front aerial, balance check and her leg comes up. Front aerial and comes off. I want a Jordyn pep talk in my life. Gainer pike dismount step back. 8.550
Brusch (AUB): Big double pike to start. Second combo pass was solid. Leap series looked good. Finishes with big double tuck, stays in bounds though! 9.800
Hambrick (ARK): BHS LOSO takes an extra step out of it. I do not enjoy this camera angle. Leap series was good. Full turn kind of looks like she lost her balance but covers well. Cartwheel to gainer full dismount. 9.775.
Day (AUB): Ah yes the creepy doll routine. Huge double pike and goes OOB. Front full to layout was good. Double back to finish, chest a little low. 9.750
Carter (ARK): BHS LOSO, good. Front aerial nice. Literally can’t tell anything about her sheep jump from this angle other than I can see that she did one. Side aerial to a full dismount. 9.850 — upped to a 9.900
Watson (AUB): Double arabian to start, lands a little short and takes a step back to cover. Nice combination pass. The fact that the theme of Drew’s routine is a woman seeing herself in the mirror and thinking “she cute” is amazing. Double back to finish, nice. 9.850
Elswick (ARK): BHS LOSO solid. Pretty leaps, bends at the waist in a balance check though. Beat jump front aerial, lovely. Dismount looked good, I think? ENOUGH WITH THIS CAMERA ANGLE. 9.875.
Gobourne (AUB): GIANT open double back, pretty much stuck. DAMN. Switch ring beautiful. Second pass was clean. Love her choreo. Nice double pike to finish. Best routine of the rotation for sure. 9.900
AFTER THREE: Auburn 147.325, Arkansas 146.650
Auburn has been having a weird season on floor. The potential is there, and there are always highlights but the Tigers can’t seem to escape a meet without at least one issue. Arkansas had a good beam rotation aside from Lovett’s fall, and did some work to narrow Auburn’s lead. The Razorbacks move to their best rotation, so while Auburn is still in good shape to win, it doesn’t have a ton of room for mistakes on beam.
Rotation 4: Arkansas floor, Auburn beam
Slappey (AUB): BHS LOSO, good. Switch leap switch half good. Cat leap to side aerial to full dismount with a step. 9.775
Yamzon (ARK): Double tuck, good. Double pike, another good landing. Leap series was good. Front layout to front full, good. Overall solid lead off for Arkansas. 9.850
Brusch (AUB): Front aerial to beat jump, good. BHS LOSO, some knees but solid. Back pike nice. BHS 1.5 dismount. 9.850
Gianfagna (ARK): Double pike to open, controlled lunge. 1.5 to front layout good. She landed suuuuuuuuper weird on that double back, it looked really crooked and also that made me cringe for ankle reasons. 9.250
Stevens (AUB): BHS LOSO, some knees in the air but floaty. Cat leap to switch ring jump looked fine. The Stevens was good. RO 1.5 dismount stuck. 9.850
Hambrick (ARK): Big double back to start. Fhs Rudi back lay to double stag, great. Barani to some fun choreo. Big double pike to finish. Lovely. 9.925
Sylvia (AUB): Front aerial to full twisting BHS down to the beam, looked kind of crooked but otherwise fine. Wolf jump looked fine from the WORST CAMERA ANGLE. Small hop on the full dismount. 9.825
Shaffer (ARK): Good double pike to start. Slightly short on her double tuck maybe. Switch full to Popa to Popa, good amplitude but landing was a little weird – covers it well. One and a half to front lay, solid. 9.850
Watson (AUB): BHS LOSO, steps out of it but covers. Cat leap to side aerial, another slight balance check. Balance check on her leap series. RO 1.5 dismount with a hop. 9.725
Lovett (ARK): Big DLO to start, controlled lunge. Front lay out to front full to stag, nice. Leap series fine. Double back, a little short on the landing, knees buckled a bit. 9.825
Sheppard (AUB): BHS LOSO solid. Cat leap side aerial good. Cat leap switch side good. BHS 1.5 stuck dismount. 9.875
Carter (ARK): Beautiful double tuck to open. Round-off one and a half to full was nice. Leap series was good. Double pike to finish, a little short on the landing. 9.925
FINAL: Auburn 196.500, Arkansas 196.025
All Around: Kennedy Hambrick 39.500
Vault: Drew Watson 9.975
Bars: Kennedy Hambrick, Sarah Shaffer 9.900
Beam: Sophia Carter 9.900
Floor: Kennedy Hambrick, Sophia Carter 9.925
Live blog by Kalley Leer
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