I was excited for this meet when it was just a dual, but Maryland joining the fray after being cancelled on by Michigan (which is now heading to Illinois, which was cancelled on by Michigan State due to COVID reasons and Michigan presumably grabbed the chance to compete at Illinois because when it had two meets cancelled itself due to COVID it lost two road score opportunities and now those are a precious commodity for NQS…got all that?) the fun quotient doubled. These three teams have very high peaks but some consistency concerns. Ohio State has the upper hand based on hitting ability, while Maryland is still rounding into form and Penn State is technically gorgeous but actively concerning in term of its mental game, but the Buckeyes’ margin is not massive.
Rotation 1: PSU VT, OSU UB, UMD BB
Ayers (PSU): Yurchenko layout, whippy with a step back. 9.425
Burgess (UMD): Kickover front with a leg up, kickover front BHS clean. Switch with a check. 9.65
Howell (PSU): Pikey FTY with two bounces back and off the mat. 9.575
Schweitzer (OSU): Maloney to bail, super clean, hitting handstands, toe full with a step back. 9.75
Johnston (PSU): FTY high off the table, big step back. 9.75
Edwards (OSU): Toe on to Maloney to Pak, hesitation on her half turn on the LB, toe on toe full double back with two teensy steps forward. 9.775
Weir (UMD): BHS LOSO good, switch switch side a bit short of positions, full turn. Cat leap switch side, BHS one and a half with a hop. 9.75
Bonsall (PSU): Yurchenko full straight but short with a hop forward. 9.6
Hankins (OSU): Pretty Jaeger to Pak, this is a SUPER clean rotation, DLO planted. 9.875
Rushlow (PSU): Yurchenko full with a medium hop back. 9.8
Rouse (UMD): Saw a LOSO to split, BHS LOSO with a check. Split to straddle 3/4.
Miller (OSU): Joined in the second half for an underrotated DLO with a step forward. 9.775
Swartzentruber (OSU): Maloney to Pak, van Leeuwen, gorgeous, shy on a handstand, HUGE double lay stuck. 9.9 totally deserved.
Silberman (UMD): Switch LOSO, BHS LOSO with a bit of form, switch straddle 1/4. One and a half stuck. 9.85
McClure (UMD): Front aerial BHS, switch straddle 1/4 super clean, full turn. Kickover front to split. After a couple shaky beam weeks she looks sharp today. Step-in Rudi with a little step. 9.875
Barber (UMD): Front aerial, arm swing, BHS LOSO with bent knees but decisive. Kickover front, slightly on her heels but stood up fine, switch to split looks just ridiculous with her legs. Double full stuck.
After 1: Ohio State 49.100, Maryland 49.000, Penn State 48.500
No major catastrophes in the first rotation. Penn State has gotten arguably its fear event out of the way, while Ohio State has to do that right now. Jenna Swartzentruber is remarkable and if she gets that one HB handstand she should get a 10.
Rotation 2: PSU UB, OSU BB, UMD FX
Johnston (PSU): Missed the first handstand, Maloney with form to clean bail. Another handstand, blind full double back baby hop. 9.8
Romagnano (PSU): Maloney to Pak, little leg sep, great half turn, missed a handstand, toe on Stalder double back with an odd rebound. 9.7
Cross (PSU): High Jaeger, pretty bail, great toe point, blind full double back stuck. 9.825
Verdeflor (PSU): Blind to Jaeger, super clean, hitting handstands, great bail. Blind full double back with a hop to salute. 9.875
Bonsall (PSU): Maloney with a bit of backswing form to bail. Toe on, double lay stuck. 9.9
Rushlow (PSU): Jaeger to overshoot, shy on a handstand, blind full a touch late to double back, little hop to salute. 9.85 brings up a big rotation score for PSU.
Schweitzer (OSU): Saw side aerial tuck back full stuck. 9.85
Miller (OSU): BHS LOSO with too much speed and jumps off. Cat leap side aerial beat, gainer tuck full stuck. 9.175
Hodges (OSU): Split straddle 3/4, BHS LOSO aggressive, standing LOSO, one and a half stuck. Buckeyes have been super resilient after the early fall. 9.95!
Tsiknias (UMD): Front double full mildly overpowered and that’s all we got of that routine. 9.05 apparently something happened?
Silberman (UMD): Saw a layout Rudi, front double full good. 9.775
McClure (UMD): Great control on double back, front foot planted on front lay Rudi. Front lay front full great. 9.8
Rouse (UMD): Near stick on double back with feet a bit apart. One and a half front lay, tour jete half Popa. Double pike similar landing. 9.85
Burgess (UMD): I think we missed the triple 🙁 Front lay front full overpowered. 9.775
Barber (UMD): Missed the full in, one and a half front pike is good. Switch Popa Popa with incredible precision on rotation. Scoot on the double back.
After 2: Ohio State 98.325, Maryland 98.025, Penn State 97.750
Quality starting to differentiate between these three teams a bit, but still no major counted errors despite Maryland and OSU having the pressure of an early fall. Penn State’s bars 49.250 is huge. Maryland and Ohio State now get to go to comfortable events while Penn State has beam demons to face.
Rotation 3: Maryland VT, Penn State BB, Ohio State FX
Barber (UMD): Pretty FTY with a little hop back. 9.9
That’s ALL we got of Maryland vault.
Romagnano (PSU): Full turn, BHS BHS LOSO solid. Split double stag, side aerial tuck back full stuck. 9.8
Verdeflor (PSU): Wolf turn, solid, front aerial with a leg up. Tries it again to Korbut, unsteady but makes it work. Split double stag, side somi tuck back full stuck. 9.825
Astarita (PSU): Punch front, tentative but makes it, BHS LOSO good. Switch back tuck with a split issue. BHS gainer full with a step back. 9.85
Johnston (PSU): BHS LOSO, split to sheep. Side aerial, full turn, one and a half stuck. Super emphatic. 9.825
Cross (PSU): Handstand choreography to BHS LOSO is lovely. Split to sheep, kickover front, one and a half short but holds it for a second before stepping to salute. 9.8
Rushlow (PSU): Beat straddle 3/4, BHS LOSO and falls. Side aerial, full turn, one and a half stuck. 9.225
Hodges (OSU): Switch side Popa I think, one and a half front lay lovely. 9.825
Hankins (OSU): Short on a double back. Just getting fragments here as the stream focuses on PSU. 9.675
Gagliardi (OSU): Joining halfway, switch side Popa, nailed the double back. 9.8
After 3: Maryland 147.250, Ohio State 147.225, Penn State 146.850
Maryland ekes out the lead after an unconvincing Ohio State floor rotation, but now Maryland has its own fear event to contend with and unfortunately we won’t see a ton of it. I should be used to these super partisan PSU home meet streams but I’m not, I’m still annoyed.
Rotation 4: Ohio State VT, Maryland UB, Penn State FX
Lowe (OSU): Near stick on FTY. Starting hot. 9.85
Osterhout (UMD): Blind to double front, slightly lock-legged stick. 9.875
Barber (UMD): Clear hip to Hindorff, too far and falls. Result gonna come down to LeBlanc.
LeBlanc (UMD): Clear hip to Gienger, awkward catch but she had to hang on and she did. Blind full double back. I think she needs a 9.85 to win.
Bladon (PSU): Got pulled from vault today in favor of a layout so happy to see she’s OK. Double pike, switch half wolf full with a position issue, one and a half front lay with leg form. Double back cowboyed and deep with chest down. 9.775 is way too high.
Ayers (PSU): Double back deep and scooty, switch side Popa lovely, great straddles. Double pike overrotated but keeps it on her feet. 9.675
Rushlow (PSU): Full turn, good double back. One and a half front lay, her control is great, Rudi to split. 9.85
Bonsall (PSU): Good double back control, whip half front full slightly stumbly. Switch half wolf full. Solid double pike. 9.875
Allen (PSU): Double lay, OOB. Overrotated her front through double back, big jump back. 9.625
Astarita (PSU): Open double back, great. One and a half front lay well controlled, good double pike. 9.9
Ava Verdeflor got to do a senior night dance through, which was lovely.
FINAL: Ohio State 196.400, Maryland 196.275, Penn State 195.925
Breakthrough day for Maryland, which avoided counting a fall for the first time in 2021. The ceiling for the Terps is high but they need to keep this consistency. Ohio State is fully in its consistent era now and has three 196.000+ scores to use for NQS. Penn State is starting to put the pieces together with the help of some practical lineup changes and has fully dismissed the concerns about making regionals that I had early in the Bridgens-less season.
VT: Audrey Barber (UMD) 9.900
UB: Alissa Bonsall (PSU), Jenna Swartzentruber (OSU) 9.900
BB: Ella Hodges (OSU) 9.950
FX: Melissa Astarita (PSU) 9.900
AA: Emma Silberman (UMD) 39.325
Live blog by Rebecca Scally
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