This meet is our 2021 introduction to two EAGL teams that we haven’t yet seen, but more importantly, it’s our return to the completely delightful free YouTube New Hampshire live streams. Honestly, I’ll watch anything that goes on in Durham, it’s just so delightful.
New Hampshire ranked No. 4 in the EAGL preseason poll while North Carolina tied for No. 5, so there isn’t necessarily a ton of daylight in this matchup. For most of its recent history, North Carolina has been almost absurdly challenged by bars, and while the Tar Heels showed some long-needed resilience on that event last year, there’s still a decent chance things will go dramatically wrong in the first rotation. If we avoid that outcome, New Hampshire is still the more balanced team, but North Carolina perhaps has an advantage on the leg events despite feeling the loss of 2020 graduate Khazia Hislop.
Here’s the live stream, which is free on YouTube, and you can find live scores here.
Rotation 1: UNH VT, UNC UB
I’m pretty sure we skipped the first routine for each team. The stream only just got online, sorry about that.
McDonald (UNH): Yurchenko half, couldn’t see the landing because of the GIANT POLE BETWEEN THE LANDING MAT AND THE CAMERA. Gonna be a problem if they can’t move that. 9.625
Nam (UNC): Shy on the first handstand, Jaeger to bail to overshoot super legit. Clean handstand, blind full double back stuck or close to it. (Couldn’t see feet.) Really, really good!
DeVincenzo (UNH): Solid FTY, again we have no eyes on the landing. That pole, dude. 9.75
Shearer (UNC): Not quite there on handstands, nice Jaeger. Double lay with a little hop back. This is WAY better than I’ve ever seen a Carolina bars lineup in January. 9.525 is a rough score for what I saw.
Kelley (UNH): Pretty FTY, flared with a hop back. 9.85
Greene (UNC): Blind full to Tkachev, a touch low but keeps moving, good bail. Missed a KCH but not badly, FTDB stuck but VERY close to the bar. Gonna want to work on amplitude on that one. 9.725
Diggan (UNH): FTY, super super low and close to the table with chest down and limps away. Not what you wanna see in a first routine back after Achilles rupture but I think she’s okay. 9.25
Greenlow (UNC): Transferred to Carolina from William and Mary. Aggressive handstands, toe on to Gienger and loses form a bit to overshoot. Double arabian dismount onto an 8-incher with a little shuffle back. 9.75. Had a 9.65/9.85 judging split on this one, I’d have gone closer to the second number.
Gorgenyi (UNH): FTY, big and pretty with a little hop back. 9.875
Culton (UNC): Gorgeous first handstand, Stalder a touch slow to Tkachev. Great form, great flow. Taking her sweet time on the cast handstands, FTDB with what looks like a small step to the side. So good. 9.875!
ACL comeback kid Hallie Thompson will exhibition bars. Fully tucked her Gienger, bail a bit dumpy but near-stuck FTDB.
After 1: UNC 48.775, UNH 48.650
Not freaking bad! Judges didn’t seem to know what to do with what we saw there—a lot of pretty large score splits on the live score. But both teams showed a lot of good routines and it’s great to have Diggan and Thompson back, even if their first routines had room for improvement.
Really can’t overstate how huge that North Carolina bars lineup was. There’s always been talent here, but so many years of counting falls in nearly every meet became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’ve seen on social media that the Tar Heels have been working with a sports psychologist this year. If that’s a factor in the improvement here, that’s huge.
Rotation 2: UNC VT, UNH UB
Shearer (UNC): Okay tuck FTY, twisting onto the table a touch and steps to the side, slightly unsteady landing. 9.575
Kelley (UNH): Okay Gienger, leg split on the catch, another little split on the bail. Blind full, very late, to double back with a step forward. I didn’t see it but commentators mentioned she hit her foot on the low bar. 9.45
Weil (UNC): Another transfer, this one from Maryland. FHS front pike, I couldn’t see the end of the vault but she didn’t move far from where she landed. 9.6
DeVincenzo (UNH): Shy on the first handstand, weird toe on with an arched back, Maloney to Pak shapey and with leg separation. Double layout with I think a hop in place. 9.65
Greenlow (UNC): Another tucked FTY, steps back and to the side and ends up shuffling off the mat. 9.7
Lui (UNH): Maloney, beautiful, toe on to bail with a bit of leg separation. Blind full with major leg separation to double back with a big step back. 9.625
Aldridge (UNC): Huge wait here, probably a judging conference. Leg sep and a bit of a pike down on her FTY. 9.775
Hampford (UNH): Blind to Jaeger to overshoot, bit of feet on everything but solid handstands, blind full double back good with a hop forward.
Summey (UNC): Good FTY, a little leg separation and a hop back. 9.85
Diggan (UNH): Hop full to Gienger, not as clean as it’s been in the past, blind to straddle back with an arch. Pikes down the double lay with a little step to the side. 9.8
Thompson (UNC): FTY, hop in place. 9.825
Gorgenyi (UNH): Jaeger to bail good, FTDB a touch low with a step forward. Good anchor after some form issues throughout the rotation. 9.775
Bauman exhibitioning for UNH. Fell on her Jaeger.
After 2: UNC 97.525, UNH 97.000
Neither team had a great deal of wow factor on vault today but North Carolina overcame a difficulty lag to score higher than New Hampshire on that event. UNH bars has potential, but there are form and late turn issues at this point. We know UNH had an extremely interrupted preseason and stamina might be what it needs to fix some of those issues.
Rotation 3: UNH BB, UNC FX
Gorgenyi (BB): Full turn, BHS LOSO with a major check but gets it back. Straddle 1/2, straddle to straddle 3/4, wow we’re really running the gamut of straddle leaps. Good gainer pike. 9.7
Nam (FX): Double pike, a touch shuffly but solid. Switch 1/2 wolf 3/2 combo, well rotated. One and a half to front full and lands kind of on the side of one foot which scared me but didn’t seem to actually be a problem for her. Solid start! The two-pass routine helps keep deductions down as long as the leaps used to make up difficulty aren’t a greater liability. 9.725
Baddick (BB): Full turn, punch front with a major leg up check. BHS LOSO great. Using her arms assertively now. Split to sheep with an arm swing, punch front full stuck. 9.625
St. Brice (FX): One and a half front layout with knees bent aggressively in the second salto. Switch half split full, underrotated double pike quite badly with chest down. 9.575
DeVincenzo (BB): Full turn, BHS LOSO, bend check, grabs her legs and falls. Switch straddle 1/4, slight split question there. BHS to 1.5 dismount with a big step. 9.1
Weil (FX): Double back, bounces a little. SUPER dramatic music. Cuts to Fall Out Boy and she falls immediately. Misses the punch on her combo pass and lands on her back on what was meant to be a layout. Badly short on a double back and falls again. 8.2
Worthington (BB): Seen her produce great beam following a fall before, she’s up for this. Side aerial, tentative but good. BHS LOSO, leg up check and falls. Oops. I missed the rest because I was busy feeling bad for cursing her but I think she was good.
Greenlow (FX): Three events is such an exciting day for a transfer! Good double pike, slightly underrotated the split full at the end of her triple leap pass, I think that was a front tuck through to 2.5 which is fun. Switch half to finish and then steps it around a full half turn more… Hopefully she didn’t need a switch full for credit because she did not do that. 9.75
Kelley (BB): Full turn, triple series with just a little lean. Good leaps, kickover front, BHS 1.5 with a step to the side. 9.775
Culton (FX): Double back, chest a little down but stood it up well. Switch ring switch side, front lay to Rudi. More leaps to finish. She’s so pretty and polished. 9.85
Lui (BB): Front aerial to split jump, extension is so good in leaps, BHS LOSO. Little check on her full turn, side aerial. Side somi. Got basically an elite routine’s number of acro skills here. BHS 1.5 great. Good finish. 9.9!
Dean (UNC): THE QUEEN ROUTIIIIIIIIIINE. YES GIRL. Starting with Bohemian Rhapsody. Front to double back, great, Another One Bites the Dust now. Switch side Popa Popa great, Fat Bottomed Girls!, I think this is Bohemian Rhapsody again at the end? with a good double pike. WOW. 9.875
After 3: UNC 146.300, UNH 145.625
Great floor rotation for the Tar Heels, really picking up speed toward the end. Some tough pills for UNH to swallow on an event that’s usually a strength, but nobody should really be stressing about a week one score, especially not one capped by a 9.900.
Rotation 4: UNC BB, UNH FX
Summey (UNC): Steady on the BHS LOSO, split straddle 1/4 good. Cat leap side somi. 1.5 stuck. Super resilient start for the Heels. 9.775
Hampford (UNH): Chest down a touch on her Rudi. Bit of a mess on her leap series, with some deductible form and questionable rotation especially on the wolf 3/2 jump. One and a half front lay to finish.
Greenlow (UNC): Finishing her AA set! BHS LOSO, super flourish. I love watching her arms. Cat leap side aerial good, switch switch pretty good. Hop on her 1.5 dismount. 9.75 and a 38.900 in her AA debut for the Heels!
Gorgenyi (UNH): Is this The Bare Necessities? Cute. Double pike, narrowly avoids going OOB. Front lay front full front pike, good. Touch underrotated on the Rudi, gets it done.
Shearer (UNC): Kick front is WAY off line and she somehow makes it work. Split issues on her leap series. Hop back on her gainer full.
McDonald (UNH): Double back high and somehow underrotated despite spending a million years in the air. Front lay front full, bit of leg sep. Tour jete half split full is underrotated, Rudi to split with leg sep again.
Thompson (UNC): Doing beam to Taylor Swift which I vibe with. BHS BHS LOSO and it looked like she had it but it turned into a swim check situation. Split straddle 1/4, full turn, one and a half twist with a hop.
Bauman (UNH): 2.5 twist with a cross step, solid leaps, her music is Angry Folk Guitar. Lands a Rudi pretty much to her knees, hands down.
Nam (UNC): BHS LOSO good, switch straddle 1/4 solid. Side aerial misses with the back foot and she ends up swinging it through. Shoulda connected another skill for laughs.
Lui (UNH): Front double full. Lost track of the rest of her tumbling but she had an OOB in the last pass.
Culton (UNC): BHS LOSO pretty, front aerial. She’s had a great day. Think that was a double full dismount? nearly stuck, could be wrong, the video resolution was never great and is deteriorating. Wait, whoa, 9.95. I’ll have to go back and rewatch that one.
Kelley (UNH): Front thru double back, okay landing. Very intense techno routine. Double pike OOB.
FINAL: UNC 195.200, UNH 194.375
Not a shabby first meet for either team but this is a wow result for North Carolina, which will enter the rankings at No. 1 in the EAGL. 195s in January just don’t happen too often for the Tar Heels and there’s clearly room to grow. To me, the story of the day is transfer Brianna Greenlow, who looks like a totally different gymnast in Chapel Hill. It’s great to see a transfer really, really click with a new team and thrive.
VT: Kylie Gorgenyi (UNH) 9.875
UB: Elizabeth Culton (UNC) 9.875
BB: Elizabeth Culton (UNC) 9.950
FX: Robyn Kelley (UNH), Lily Dean (UNC) 9.875
AA: Kylie Gorgenyi (UNH) 39.075
Live blog by Rebecca Scally
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