The USAG Dismount: Week 2

Recap

The Big Storyline: West Virginia struggled a bit through the meet, counting three falls on bars, but the William & Mary freshmen led the team, with Caroline Blatchford coming in fourth all-around, as Towson continues to dominate and defeated West Virginia for the first time since 2017.  West Chester led the meet at the midpoint but couldn’t quite keep pace toward the end.

Implications: Despite coming in fourth, the Tribe freshmen have proven that they’re up for the challenge. Despite coming in third, West Chester posted the highest bars score the evening, a 48.125, and was the only team to break 48.000. Going forward, West Virginia can quickly get back on track by settling the nerves on bars, particularly when they host Big 12 champ Denver this coming weekend. 

Records: Kiana Lewis tied her career best score on floor, where she also took first, McKenna Kissinger scored a career high with a 9.675 on vault, and Agatha Handono scored a career high on beam with a 9.675, as well.

Recap

The Big Storyline: After starting the season with a 190.800, Yale posted a close follow up just over a tenth less, while Penn State swept all four events, except all around where Chia continued to defend.

Implications: Yale continued to post high a team score on bars, notching a 47.975 and their best event score of the meet, while Toy matched her 9.800 from the previous week on beam. Penn State showed up with the bigger scores, beating Yale by a point on vault and bars while nearly outpacing the Bulldogs by two points on floor. Claire Qu was absent from the line up this weekend after getting injured on beam last weekend. 

Records: Amy Bladon scored a career high of 9.825 on beam, also marking her first career event win.

Recap

The Big Storyline: Iowa’s bar woes continue while TWU feels the effects of only bringing 11 athletes to Iowa City. 

Implications: Hopefully the absences from TWU’s lineups, including Isabel Goyco, Daisy Woodring, Domi Bonzagni and Kenzie Kunzman, are only temporary. It was clear that the less-experienced group this weekend could not quite hang with the scores from last weekend. On the bright side, this is a competitive experience the team can learn from in coming weeks. Iowa’s performance was slightly improved this week, but bars still needs improvement for the Hawkeyes to hang with Minnesota and Michigan. Iowa will look to not count a mistake on bars when it travels to Minnesota for a tri meet with UCLA on Monday. Note that JerQuavia Henderson has put together strong exhibition bar routines two straight meets. 

Records: Carver-Hawkeye Arena was full of floor career highs this week. Sierra Muns earned a career high 9.775 on floor en route to her first all around performance of her career. Lexi Leake put up a 9.750 while Linda Zivat posted a 9.875 with the addition of a new first pass. Adeline Kenlin tied her career high 9.850 on vault with a stuck Yurchenko full.

Note: The meet will also be available to watch on Utah State gymnastics’ Facebook page.

Recap

The Big Storyline: Freshman Brie Clark was the star of the show Friday night bringing in a huge 9.950 on floor to finish out the meet strong for the Aggies. Air Force had a solid competition on vault, beam and floor, but had multiple mishaps on bars bringing its total score below a 192.000. Air Force’s Genevieve Sabado was the lone all-around competitor. 

Implications: In recent seasons Utah State has remained at the bottom of the MRGC conference, but this 2022 squad brings in the largest amount of talent in years for the program. The return of Sofi Sullivan and addition of freshman Brie Clark is key, as the team will be putting up a fight to improve upon its fourth place 2021 conference finish. 

Recap

The Big Storyline: UW-La Crosse bested Lindenwood on both vault and floor en route to the highest team score in Division III this season. Lindenwood struggled with consistency across the four events due to its young lineups. 

Implications: UW-La Crosse has asserted itself as the team to beat in the WIAC and NCGA at the moment. The return of Emma Grant on beam was definitely a spark the Eagles needed. La Crosse will look to improve upon its bar performance in the coming weeks to surpass the 190 threshold. Lindenwood started a little shaky, but that was expected considering the teams’ lack of competitive experience. Many athletes were adding events or making collegiate debuts, so don’t judge too harshly. Now, if this pattern of behavior persists, expect Lindenwood to come in around the middle of the pack in the USAG rankings this year. 

Records: A list of new career highs were as follows: Sara Beck’s 9.575 on vault and 9.400 on floor, Rachel Chesley’s 9.625 on floor, Emma Grant’s 9.800 on beam, Cate Sandvik’s 9.65 on beam and 9.725 on floor and Jessica Taylor’s 9.625 on floor.

Update 1/13: SEMO joined the meet after both its meet versus Centenary and its makeup meet at Missouri were canceled due to COVID protocols.

Update 1/14: Illinois pulled out of the meet due to COVID protocols.

Recap

Recap

The Big Storyline: After years of top-tier recruiting and fantastic training footage, we’ve been waiting impatiently for Penn to break through. Today might have been the day: The Quakers dominated in D.C., coming in just 0.150 short of their program record. 

Implications: Penn soared to the top of the GEC, with a margin of around 0.700 over No. 2 in the conference. (Keep in mind that Bridgeport and SCSU haven’t competed yet.) Cornell slotted in just above Brown at No. 5 and William & Mary is No. 4, but only a few tenths away from Yale.

Records: Penn tied its program record of 48.775 on vault, and Kiersten Belkoff’s 9.850 is second-best in program history.