This is one of those nonsense multi-conference meets that it’s incredibly difficult to process a narrative out of. I guess every team wants to do good gymnastics and get a good score here, right? But with four conferences, four states and three broad ranking zones, these teams just don’t have much in common.
The one connecting thread is that Central Michigan and New Hampshire are both tangled into a messy, high-stakes fight to qualify to regionals. At this point, with big jumps by Arizona State and Boise State since rankings came out, both could miss. Clearly they’d like to avoid that eventuality.
Beyond that, though, we’ll just be watching for Auburn to have its one perfect magical weekend per year (if that still happens…) and enjoying some of the incredibly special individual routines in this meet, like Denelle Pedrick on vault, Hannah Joyner on beam and Emma Winer on floor.
Rotation 1: UNH vault, Auburn bars, CMU beam, Rutgers floor
Miele (UNH): Good FTY, big hop back. 9.625
Freehling (UNH): Great FTY, piked down the slightest but but stuck. Commentator squealed. 9.75
Brusch (AUB): Double lay dismount with a step. 9.825
Kelley (UNH): FTY with a hop. 9.75
Watson (AUB): Ray, great catch distance, good bail. FTDB with a step back. 9.85
Winer (UNH): FTY, did that thing where she flared her arms but not her body 9.775
Day (AUB): Toe to toe blind to Jaeger to overshoot, great. Double arabian with a step back. 9.825
Duffield (RU): Double back, whip double pike. She can have landing issues but controlling this very well. Rudi with a scoot back close ot the line, I think she stayed in bounds. 9.725
Kotas (CMU): Full turn, steps into I scale. Front aerial BHS BHS, pretty leaps, side aerial back tuck full very clean. 9.5
Gobourne (AUB): Tkachev to Pak, flexed feet in the air. Not quite opening her hips on handstands. FTDB pulled in a little with a small step. In replay, she came very close to clipping the bar. 9.9
Williams (RU): Double tuck, hops in place. Good combo pass. Front lay to Rudi, good landing. 9.65
Joyner (RU): Double pike, overrotated a touch. Front full front lay, switch side Popa lovely, one and a half front pike. 9.825
Pedrick (CMU): BHS LOSO, takes an extra step and falls. Switch half, front aerial. Side aerial back full stuck. 9.325
Huang (RU): Front double full good. Rudi LOSO, very good. Switch side wolf full, Rudi very good. 9.85
After 1: Auburn 49.225, Rutgers 48.750, UNH 48.675, Central Michigan 48.200
Rotation 2: Rutgers vault, UNH bars, Auburn beam, Central Michigan floor
Ferguson (RU): FTY, piked down with a step back. 9.625
Farrell (RU): Not good on her 10.0 start, full on back off with her weight way behind her and three big steps to keep it on her feet. 9.425
Williams (RU): Slightly pikey FTY but stuck. 9.775
Hall (RU): Yurchenko tuck 1.5, great landing.
Joyner (UNH): Lovely FTY, tiny hop. 9.775
Hampford (UNH): Blind to Jaeger to overshoot, may have clipped her feet on the ground. Hop on dismount. 9.75
Watkins (UNH): Blind to Jaeger, good bail. Shy on some handstands, double lay stuck. 9.8
Freehling (UNH): Blind to pike Jaeger, great bail. Double layout piked throughout with a hop backwards. 9.825
Lui (UNH): Maloney, toe on to bail to toe on. Weird blind to half to double back cowboyed with a step. 9.8
Cratchwell (UNH): Blind to pike Jaeger to overshoot, bent elbows, double layout with a hop. 9.825
Gorgenyi (CMU): Maloney to bail to toe shoot, FTDB with a hop forward. 9.875
Slappey (Aub): BHS LOSO, great. Stuck dismount. Didn’t see much of that one. 9.875
Brusch (Aub): Beat to split, question on the position. Apparently had a check on a front aerial earlier. BHS LOSO. Another check, BHS one and a half dismount. 9.5
Stevens (Aub): BHS LOSO, missed a foot on her leap series and finessed it. The Stevens, one and a half dismount with a big hop forward.
Sylvia (Aub): Big check on a pike jump. Sissone to sheep, cartwheel gainer full very good.
Watson (Aub): Full turn, BHS LOSO very emphatic with just a touch of form. Cat leap side aerial. One and a half twist with a step.
Sheppard (Aub): BHS LOSO, slightly off line but works it out, side aerial. One and a half dismount with a hop.
Tong (CMU): Nailed the first pass, switch half Popa. Had a hard time with CMU because the order may have changed. Good double pike.
Williams (CMU): Double pike, slightly awkward landing, switch ring switch half. One and a half front lay. Double back underrotated with two steps back.
Demers (CMU): Missed the first pass, double pike looks great. Tour jete half split full, front lay to Rudi.
Pedrick (CMU): Triple twist, weight a little forward but it’s so good in the air. Tour jete half split full, one and a half front lay. Double pike underrotated, step forward.
After 2: Auburn 98.125, UNH 97.800, Rutgers 97.500, Central Michigan 97.025
Great bars rotation from the Wildcats, commentators think it was the best of the season. Auburn was just so-so on beam and probably won’t be able to get a super impactful NQS score now.
Rotation 3: Central Michigan vault, Rutgers bars, UNH beam, Auburn floor
Tong (CMU): Yurchenko half, not much distance and a step. 9.675
Johnson (CMU): Solid FTY, average for early in the lineup with a hop. 9.775
DeMarinis (CMU): FTY, slightly closed hips, little hop. 9.85
Williams (CMU): Fall, didn’t see it. 9.2
Hall (RU): Toe to Deltchev to overshoot, double lay with a hop back. 9.775
Drauss (RU): Just saw the blind full double back with a hop. 9.8
Joyner (RU): Good Jaeger, great handstand on her bail. FTDB with chest a touch low and a step back. 9.85
Freehling (UNH): BHS LOSO, cat leap kickover front to beat. Switch leap back tuck. One and a half dismount, stuck. 9.8
Gorgenyi (UNH): Full turn, BHS LOSO. Straddle jump, straddle straddle 3/4, must have missed the connection the first time. Front full. 9.8
Worthington (UNH): Side aerial BHS. Pretty Y scale, cat leap switch side. What? Really wacky mistake on her dismount. Freezes after the cat leap side aerial, wants to redo it, major check but her weight is still on the beam and she has to jump off. Back on to do cat leap side aerial back full. Sucks, that routine was so good, but it WAS funny. 9.275
Winer (UNH): BHS LOSO good. Cat leap side aerial, switch straddle quarter. One and a half dismount stuck. 9.85
Kelley (UNH): Full turn, triple series and falls. Bummer, Everyhting was wrong with that, unfortunately. BHS one and a half twist with a hop. 9.2
Lui (UNH): Front aerial to split, great flexibility, BHS LOSO. Side somi and a major check, great leaps, one and a half stuck. 9.75
Sheppard (AUB): One and a half front lay, step out. Double twist is very pretty. Might be doing less difficulty for physical reasons. 9.3
Brusch (AUB): Double pike, a bit scooty. FLIES on her leap series. Double back with chest a little down. 9.8
Day (AUB): Double pike, one and a half front lay. Unfortunately small screen doesn’t really show how cool this routine is but it’s one of my favorites. Chest down on her double back. 9,75
Watson (AUB): Stuck her double pike with chest down a little. One and a half front tuck, missed the punch and tucks it. 9.625
Gobourne (AUB): Double back, huge but well controlled. Switch ring tour jete full, iffy positions. Front full front lay, double pike. Great landing and dramatic walk-off because it wouldn’t be Derrian without the drama.
After 3: Auburn 146.950, Rutgers 146.650, New Hampshire 146.275, Central Michigan 145.725
What if Rutgers wins this? Rutgers could win. Rutgers is great on beam and vault scoring has been hostile today. Rutgers COULD win.
Rotation 4: Auburn vault, Central Michigan bars, Rutgers beam, New Hampshire floor
Glenn (AUB): Good Yurchenko full, hop back. Glad they got rid of her one and a half. 9.8
Day (AUB): One and a half, jump forward. 9.775
Stevens (AUB): Low and twisting quickly on her one and a half with a cross step back. 9.7
Watson (AUB): Went over sideways on her one and a half.
Gobourne (AUB): One and a half with good dynamics and a quick step forward.
Kotas (CMU): Ray to overshoot, BEAUTIFUL, step on dismount. 9.825
Williams (CMU): Blind full to Tkachev to overshoot, great lift. Blind full double back with two quick steps back.
Demers (CMU): Huge Tkachev, good bail. This CMU bar lineup is HOT. FTDB with a hop back.
Pedrick (CMU): Tkachev, slight turnover issue but clean, full turn to Pak really nice. Didn’t see her dismount. Oh, on replay it’s a toe front 1/2 with a step back.
Ferguson (RU): Switch switch half, full turn, we cut away but 9.8
Littlejohn (RU): Full turn, BHS BHS LOSO with leg form issues but steady. Straddle half, punch front full stuck. 9.775
Doherty-Herwitz (RU): Front aerial side aerial steady. Straddle 3/4, full turn, gainer full stuck. 9.85
Huang (RU): Side aerial swing through front aerial, very good. Side aerial back full stuck-ish. 9.85
Joyner (RU): Full turn, BHS LOSO and pulls her front foot back. Switch switch half, lovely, side aerial back full stuck. 9.9
Lui (UNH): Front double full, good combo pass. Her toe point really shines on floor. Front lay to Rudi to split, very good. 9.775
Kelley (UNH): Double pike, steps forward, One and a half front pike, good third pass and they’re excited but it’s not going to be a super high score. 9.8
McLachlan (RU): Split switch half, BHS LOSO with the slightest adjustment. Full turn, side aerial, tuck one and a half dismount with a lean forward.
9.8 on that routine wins the meet, and I think she should get it. 9.85! Rutgers wins the meet.
Winer (UNH): Full in, overrotated quite badly and may have gone OOB, secure second pass. Sorry, UNH has been neglected a bit in the Rutgers vs Auburn math at the end of this meet. Double back a little bouncy. 9.775
FINAL: Rutgers 195.900, Auburn 195.825, Central Michigan 195.175, UNH 195.075
WOW RUTGERS. Season high and just a tangibly more put-together Scarlet Knights performance than we’ve seen so far this year. Everything was flowing and feeling good. Auburn didn’t even really have a disaster, just a sloppy day in front of judges who weren’t in the mood to tolerate it. Central Michigan’s bar rotation was shockingly good, and it’s a pity that the counted fall on beam held the Chips back from great team total. UNH had a real downer of a senior night, with a beam disaster of its own and not a ton of highlights, but maybe it’ll be more motivated for the rest of the season.
VT – Derrian Gobourne (AUB) 9.900
UB – Audrianna Hammond (CMU) 9.950
BB – Hannah Joyner (RU) 9.900
FX – Derrian Gobourne (AUB), Belle Huang (RU) 9.850
AA – Hannah Joyner (RU): 39.350
Live blog by Rebecca Scally.
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