There are two big storylines here. First, we have to keep an eye on whether Florida can hit in postseason this year. The Gators’ postseason woes over the last four years have been analyzed to death and there’s not much new to say about them, but a resounding win at the SEC Championship is an encouraging sign. Was taking a relaxed approach to the first half of the season the secret all along? It’s too soon to say for sure, but we definitely want to find out.
Then there’s Denver. The Pioneers have had one of the most devastating series of injuries in the NCAA this year and despite a good performance at conference champs, it is almost certainly the most vulnerable seeded team this year. Ohio State missed out on a seed by the narrowest of margins, but this Buckeye squad is a better team than the one that upset BYU last year to advance to the regional final in Morgantown and it’s peaking at the right time to be a real threat to Denver.
Rotation 1: Denver VT, Ohio State UB, Iowa State BB, Florida FX
Loyim (ISU): Switch switch good, BHS LOSO. Gainer pike off the end, good. 9.75
Iwai (DU): FTY, piked throughout and a hop back. 9.775 is too high.
Skaggs (UF): Double wolf turn. Rudi double stag, rebounds back on the double stag. Missed the rest because I was looking for scores which was a mistake
Berger (OSU): Toe on to Maloney to bail, pretty. Blind full double back with a hop forward.
Ruiz (DU): FTY, not much amplitude but a little straighter, hop. 9.8
Casali (DU): FTY, underrotated and chest down, hop forward to get it upright.
Hlavach (OSU): Clear hip to Gienger to overshoot, little bits of feet, blind full double back stuck. 9.7
Richards (UF): Are we doing the pacing thing again? Double lay, a little underrotated and lunge goes forward. Switch side Popa wolf full is solid. Front full front tuck, don’t think that was intentional.
Hutchinson (DU): FTY is Denver’s best vault so far, hop in place.
Edwards (OSU): Maloney to Pak nice and controlled, blind full double back with a hop in place. 9.9
Mundell (DU): One and a half underrotated, substantial hop back.
Bergstrom (OSU): Hitch kick kickover front BHS, out of line but straightens it out. Side aerial back full stuck. 9.8
Hankins (OSU): Blind to Jaeger, nice and tidy, Pak with al ittle leg sep. A shy handstand, double layout stuck! 9.9
Hebinck (DU): Yurchenko layout, yeah idk why you’d even let her compete at regionals.
Baumann (UF): One and a half to front full is great. Rotated the leaps well, a little unprepared for the double pike landing but gets it to lunge fine.
Miller (OSU): Maloney to bail, legs tight together, double layout with a hop back.
Wong (UF): A bit more form than usual on the triple but great lunge. Beautiful landing on her front pass, slightly long lunge on the double pike but kept her front foot down. 9.95
Kowalski (CMU): Stuck her FTY dead. Denver should recruit her as a transfer because she just outclassed every one of them.
Titarsolej (LIU): They put her in the shark camo leo god bless. Maloney to Pak super clean, maybe a baby back arch on the low bar pirouette, blind full double back stuck…ish.
Riccardi (OSU): Good Ray, very pretty Pak. Stalder double tuck with a hop.
Thomas (UF): Nailed the double lay. Tour jete half Popa Popa. Front full front lay and could have stuck that if she wanted but the lunge was great too.
Semple (ISU): BHS LOSO super steady, cat leap switch half to beat. Nailed the dismount, good one.
Blakely (UF): Double Arabian, slightly awkward transition to lunge but we made it. Switch ring switch half. Double tuck, scoot back a little, well done on the combo pass. 9.9
After 1: Florida 49.700, Ohio State 49.400, Iowa State 49.150, Denver 49.000
Fantastic start for Florida and for the Ohio State upset campaign, while Denver is in survival mode and Iowa State looks good for a team that got screwed into competing an extra day this weekend.
Rotation 2: Florida VT, Denver UB, Ohio State BB, Iowa State FX
Edwards (UF): FTY, chest low and a step forward.
Ruiz (DU): Okay Jaeger, short on her bail, double lay with a little hop back.
Schoenherr (UF): Sat her 1.5, just came in short.
Hankins (OSU): BHS LOSO, quick bend check and fixes it fast. Double full stuck-ish,
Cooke (ISU): Deeply chaotic front double full but keeps it in bounds. Switch half wolf full, iffy positions, front lay front full also narrowly in bounds.
Wong (UF): Half on pike half off, one of her higher ones with a chest up but a hop back.
Thomas (UF): One and a half, small hop forward.
Hebinck (DU): Ricna to Pak, little bits of feet with leg sep. Double lay, low chest and a step forward.
Clark (UF): They just announced her as Blakely send help. FTY, hop back.
Berger (OSU): BHS LOSO, lifts a leg. Switch to split half, great, side aerial back full stuck.
Mundell (DU): Tkachev solid, toe to bail. Shy on a handstand, double lay with chest low and a hop.
Parker (ISU): Double pike, chest a little low, switch to tour jete half Popa. Solid double back.
Jennings (OSU): Full turn, BHS through side aerial. Split to straddle half,
Loyim (ISU): Fell twice, we don’t need to go into it.
Costa (Brown): Blind to Jaeger, falls hard on her back. NOOOO.
Warga (OSU): May have broken her series. There’s a lot going on here. Kickover front, check, I got distracted by Loyim falling.
Diab (ISU): Front double full to front lay is AMAZING. Some sideways travel on the split jump out of her first pass, Rudi LOSO is awesome. Rockstar. 9.925
After 2: Florida 98.800, Ohio State 98.500, Iowa State 98.350, Denver 98.325
Rotation 3: Iowa State VT, Florida UB, Denver BB, Ohio State FX
Gonzalez (OSU): Great double pike. Nice steady combo pass, one and a half front lay is nice and steady.
Blakely (UF): Maloney to Pak, little leg seps, making the handstands. Toe blind to front giant to double front with two big steps forward.
Loyim (ISU): Solid FTY, chest a little down but nearly stuck.
McCusker (UF): Pretty Maloney to Pak. Van Leeuwen, stalder double back with a step back. Great! One of her better college landings.
Mabanta (DU): One of my favorite beam routines coming up here. Great switch half to split, gainer tuck full with a hop.
Gagliardi (OSU): Front lay to Rudi is solid. Nearly stuck the double pike, awesome.
Schoenherr (UF): Blind to Jaeger, high and pretty. Bail solid, double front half out super high with a tiny hop. 9.
Steinmeyer (ISU): Sits her one and a half.
Skaggs (UF): Tkachev to Pak, starfish double layout stuck.
Maxwell (ISU) Soft on the table on her one and a half, substantial hop forward.
Hankins (OSU): Out of bounds on her full in, bummer. Front lay to half to split stuck. Great double tuck.
Thomas (UF): Maloney to Pak, a little awkward, toe to van Leeuwen great. Drilled the double lay. 10!
Thompson (DU): Side aerial LOSO a little tentative. Switch switch with very sketchy positions. Side aerial back full.
Wong (UF): Maloney to Pak, little leg separations. Toe to van Leeuwen, double lay stuck. Had a fingertip catch there on the flight series but figured it out. 9.925
Edwards (OSU): Gorgeous double pike, a little front foot movement. One and a half front lay, little stumble but stays in bounds. Switch side Popa. Solid last pass, good momentum now.
Hutchinson (DU): Kickover front BHS, beat jump, kickover front pike. Gainer full off the side stuck.
Mundell (DU): BHS LOSO, check. Switch leap, breaks the connection, switch half to beat and misses a foot, walks it off. Side aerial, check, one and a half with a big hop forward.
Hlavach (OSU): Pike full in, a little shuffley. One and a half front lay is great, switch side to split full straddle full, I keep forgetting to write down last passes!!
Grimes (OSU): Double pike, hop to lunge. One and a half front lay is a little bouncy but nothing crazy. Switch side Popa, double tuck with chest a little low and steps forward. 9.8
After 3: Florida 148.450, Denver AND Ohio State 147.625, Iowa State 147.450
Actually tied heading into the last rotation! This could be a really tense one. Even ISU isn’t totally out of the fight.
Rotation 4: Ohio State VT, Iowa State UB, Florida BB, Denver FX
Riccardi (OSU): Small hop back on a great FTY.
Maxwell (ISU): Just saw her stick her bars dismount amazingly. 9.875
Skaggs (UF): Wolf turn, off line on the BHS LOSO but pulls it back with her arms with no check, side aerial back full stuck.
Ruiz (DU): Double back, low with low chest but solid landing.
Edwards (OSU): Near-stick on her FTY! 9.95 okayyy
Blakely (UF): Front aerial BHS steady. Switch switch half with a bit of feet. Side aerial back full, little scoot back.
Loyim (ISU): Nice double layout dismount, hop back.
Jennings (OSU): Super open FTY, her usual, small hop back. 9.85
Hlavach (OSU): Full on pike off, gorgeous, pace back.
Mabanta (DU): One and a half front lay, okay but awkward, looked like a Rudi to close and landed well.
Malas (OSU): Another stuck FTY wow! 9.825 WHY
Mundell (DU): Front lay front full underrotated, step back. Solid Rudi.
Thomas (UF): BHS one arm to LOSO solid, side aerial back full stuck.
Yeah, this is over. Florida 198 sealed even without Clapper and Denver is through. Scoring in this rotation got very funky.
FINAL: Florida 198.125, Denver 197.075, Ohio State 196.925, Iowa State 196.725
AA Champ: Trinity Thomas 39.875
VT Champ: Raena Worley (UK), Lexi Edwards (OSU) 9.950
UB Champ: Trinity Thomas (UF) 10.000
BB Champ: Trinity Thomas (UF), Suni Lee (Auburn) 9.975
FX Champ: Trinity Thomas (UF) 10.000
Live Blog by Rebecca Scally
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