During the NCAA offseason, there’s a lot we miss about college gymnastics, from the sparkly leotards to the fierce rivalries. But the thing we miss most is every NCAA gymnastics fan’s favorite hobby: arguing about scoring. In fact, we were so sad about it that we decided to get our discourse fix in the form of a brand new series. What are we going to argue about? Every gymnastics fan’s pet peeve: ties where the routines are not equally good.
In each edition of The Tie Break, we’ll choose a tie from NCAA gymnastics history and debate until we decided how the routines truly should have been ordered. This week, we’ll break down the bars title at the 2022 NCGA championships, at which four gymnasts tied for the win with a 9.800.
Our weekly contributors, editor-in-chief Elizabeth Grimsley and USAG editor Rebecca Scally, will be joined by MIC & WIAC editor Tavia Smith and GEC & NCGA-East editor Allison Freeman.
The Contenders
- Emily Buffington (UW-Oshkosh)
- Taylor Bushey (Brockport)
- Kerrie LeGault (UW-La Crosse)
- Winter Osborne (Springfield)
The Debate
Rebecca: I don’t really know where to start here. Does anyone have really strong thoughts, opinions, impressions, vibes?
Allison: These were four wildly different routines for me.
Elizabeth: This one was hard/fun because every routine had mistakes but they were all imperfect for different reasons. Like, one had issues on handstands, one was form, etc. So it’s hard to compare that, you know?
Rebecca: I know who my champion is, but it gets messy after that. And like we’ve hit on in a number of Tie Breaks, we’ve definitely got a gymnast who is technically incredible but didn’t do her best. Hard to know where to go with that.
Elizabeth: I…forgot to come up with a ranking, but I have notes on everyone! There was one who I was like oh, she’s the clear winner but then there was the second half of the routine and I doubted myself.
Allison: I have the champion in my heart, but I also have the one I think should’ve had the title all to herself.
Elizabeth: Could we maybe take a different approach this time and go through each gymnast and discuss, then get into ranking?
Rebecca: Sure!
Elizabeth: I feel like with more obvious errors this time, that might prove beneficial.
Tavia: Agreed!
Rebecca: Let’s go alphabetically by surname and start with Buffington.
Tavia: Her dismount was lights out!
Allison: The HEIGHT Buffington has on everything. Be still my heart.
Rebecca: The turnover on the Jaeger is spectacular. She’s such a technician.
Tavia: TEXTBOOK.
Allison: I rewatched her routine for that Jaeger several times, Rebecca.
Tavia: I had some deductions for the late turn on the low bar and the archy last handstand.
Rebecca: There was that arched handstand on the high bar, and I checked another angle and she did step back on the dismount.
Elizabeth: OK, for her, a lot of her issues were slight for me: slightly missed first handstand, slightly missed blind into release, a bit archy at the end of the Jaeger, could have been more arched in the Pak, arch on the final handstand—great dismount—but then the low bar half pirouette was short by a good 15 degrees if not more.
Allison: Same, Tavia. I noted “didn’t quite finish in handstand. Ohhh, that arch.”
Elizabeth: I was upset about that low bar issue because she didn’t need to do it! She already does a blind! Take it out for a switch kip and eliminate the deductions!
Allison: Oh! Yeah! Ditch that then. That would’ve been phenomenal without it.
Tavia: Switch kips are so underrated in the tenth-saving department.
Rebecca: I think if everyone hits, Buffington has the best best, if that makes sense… like the highest peak. This routine was not her peak.
Elizabeth: I might still argue she was the best, honestly. But we’ll get there.
Tavia: I had her at my No. 1 even with the little things here and there.
Rebecca: Next is Bushey.
Allison: She had some pretty shy handstands for me, and definitely some form issues.
Rebecca: Yeah, lots of little things. The feet stand out to me.
Tavia: Bushey’s routine was pretty solid. The general piked hips in every handstand position bothered me. The blind was painfully late.
Allison: She also didn’t finish in handstand. At all.
Elizabeth: For Bushey I had slightly short on the first handstand and subsequent clear hip, legs apart on the Gienger but fantastic amplitude, clear miss on the last handstand by 15-plus degrees, like Buffington, and an EXTREMELY late giant full—like I audibly reacted—and the small hop on the dismount.
Tavia: But her Geinger to overshoot connection was so smooth, so that was nice.
Elizabeth: That giant full just isn’t it, and I can’t look past it.
Rebecca: It was very dynamic, and it is fun to know that it’s a school record. But yeah, that blind full is a big deal.
Allison: Yeah, that being at the end of the routine really ruins the rest of the routine. No matter how good it was.
Tavia: Like three-tenths by itself, technically.
Elizabeth: That giant full was the kind that people who think bars shouldn’t be about handstands would like. I agree, Tavia! If not more!
Rebecca: OK, LeGault. Form queen, toe point queen, that midsize break on the bail. Truly outstanding handstands and the only one who didn’t lose steam on the handstands at the end.
Tavia: The dismount made my heart sink because without that, easily top of the pack.
Rebecca: Yeah, I think she didn’t release at quite the right time? It felt low and like she was pulling really hard.
Tavia: Impeccable handstand lines. Love the stalder work.
Allison: Yes! She didn’t leave me crying from her handstands. LOVE, love, LOVE her stalders.
Elizabeth: Legault was interesting for me because it was a lot of little things but no major, major mistakes besides the shootover: legs apart on the Shaposh and shootover + missed the handstand there significantly, slight miss on the high bar handstand, obvious step back on the landing. And to me it felt like her feet throughout weren’t as perfect as they could have been? But I agree I’m a huge fan of those stalders.
Tavia: Best toe point of this bunch, I feel.
Allison: I second the comment on the dismount. Like Bushey, it wasn’t a great finishing note for that routine.
Elizabeth: I didn’t get amazing form—I don’t know!
Allison: Agreed, Tavia.
Tavia: She definitely had leg separation on the Shaposh and even worse on the overshoot.
Elizabeth: Let me give this routine another go.
Tavia: I think we’re blinded by the handstands actually existing in a bar routine.
Allison: It was the most rounded of all the routines.
Rebecca: Yeah, I saw little things on the Maloney too but they’re small enough that I’m inclined to let them go from the side angle and I think the judges did exactly that.
Elizabeth: OK, in my notes I think I was referencing toes on skills like her toe-shoot to high bar. She does have great form, but she loses it rather easily.
Tavia: Loose in the back from time to time, maybe?
Allison: The toe form could’ve been sharper but it was B+, still better than the rest.
Elizabeth: Yeah, just like small issues that take away from the overall look but could be overlooked as individual deductions. But the leg separation things and that shootover are too obvious for me to ignore. I do think she’s potentially the best of the bunch so far, though.
Rebecca: Let’s hit Osborne quickly before we get too in the weeds. Very steady and patient routine for her, the only one who stuck her dismount. It was a deeper squat on the dismount, some pretty late pirouettes toward the end, and some muscley cast handstands.
Elizabeth: Osborne I had with maybe a slight miss on the first handstand, missed last handstand for sure and maybe bent knees on her casts like we saw a few weeks ago from McMurtry. Short by 15-plus degrees on the giant half hear the end and then again before her dismount—what weird construction. Landing was one of the best though for the dismount, but I thought the amplitude could be a bit higher.
Tavia: She HELD that stick. She wasn’t giving that tenth up if her life depended on it.
Elizabeth: Respect.
Allison: Hit Your Vertical or Die Stick It.gif. That swing half to swing half, for sure was quite short.
Tavia: For Osborne, the handstands really stood out, or the lack thereof. Mostly the swing half + swing half, I was worried about them actually getting connection value due to them not being close to handstand.
Elizabeth: That’s a good point about no credit, Tavia. I don’t even consider that a factor with not making handstand on bars because we don’t typically see that as an issue with top DI teams.
Allison: Unlike the rest, she ended on a good note. Even if the half half wasn’t great, she had an exclamation point while the rest trailed off a little.
Tavia: I mostly fixate on the half-half because that means not starting from a 10.0/not being up to level.
Rebecca: She’s a sentimental favorite for me because of how much she’s improved and how many skills she’s learned as a college gymnast. Coming into college gymnastics as a sophomore after competing her first year of level 10 as a college freshman, all those years in limbo in Alaska, to now being a national champion and school record holder.
Elizabeth: OK. I’m going to take a stab at my ranking now: I’m thinking Legault (man, I don’t know about that shootover though), Osborne or Buffington, Bushey??? I hate putting Bushey last, but that giant full!
Rebecca: Mine is LeGault first, then Buffington. I think I’ll take Osborne for third, but it’s tough. Oh yeah, we’re in a similar place
Elizabeth: We’re definitely close.
Tavia: I’ve got Buffington, Legault, Osborne, Bushey. However, I’m willing to budge.
Allison: Buffington, Legault, Bushey, Osborne. Maybe. Oh man. Honestly I can be persuaded in so many directions here.
Rebecca: At least we can split it up into two pairs at this point.
Allison: Tavia, you live blogged nationals right?
Tavia: I live blogged, yes.
Allison: I don’t know if you black out live blogs like I do, or if you remember, but did any of these really stand out to you then?
Tavia: Buffington’s was the only one that left me saying, WOW! But I think that was from more of a amplitude stand point.
Allison: Totally makes sense.
Tavia: Legault tears me up because I sentimentally want her in second, but I remember Osborne’s Jaeger to overshoot being more memorable, honestly. Either way, I would put Bushey last. There was too many small things that added up, especially toward the end.
Allison: I’m good with that.
Elizabeth: I guess it comes down to do we care more about good form but clear issues or a routine with a number of little things but less overall great in terms of impression.
Rebecca: I think we’re more or less settled on Osborne No. 3, Bushey No. 4, just working out the top two.
No. 3: Winter Osborne (Springfield)
No. 4: Taylor Bushey (Brockport)
Rebecca: As a reminder, we can’t embed it here, but we do have footage from another angle that shows Buffington taking a step back on her dismount.
Elizabeth: I did wonder if she stuck stuck it.
Tavia: I want to pretend I didn’t see the step, haha!
Rebecca: Yeah, the teammates did her a favor there! If she stuck, she’d be my winner too, hands down.
Elizabeth: Let me go back and rewatch Buffington. I think for me it will come down to whether her half pirouette or Legault’s shootover offend me more.
Rebecca: That’s completely fair, Elizabeth. I’m second-guessing too, I really would be happy considering either one the “champion.”Such a fun set of routines.
Allison: I love the different routine construction for these honestly.
Elizabeth: Ugh! It’s hard. The half pirouette is a CLEAR miss, like maybe as much as 30 degrees (Does that make sense? Geometry is hard), but it still has good form whereas Legault’s shootover is more unslightly.
Tavia: What I’m learning from this series: Judging is HARD!
Elizabeth: Don’t tell the Twitter folks that, Tavia! We won’t have anything to complain about!
Rebecca: It would be a lot easier if “it made me wince a little bit” came with a defined deduction in the code.
Allison: Ha, Rebecca. Yes.
Tavia: I would be more inclined to forgive the pirouette because not a soul hits those.
Elizabeth: Very fair. I think I’ve decided to go all-in on Buffington.
Tavia: YES!
Rebecca: That’s a majority, and honestly I’m perfectly happy to go with it. Nice work, team.
No. 1: Emily Buffington (UW-Oshkosh)
No. 2: Kerrie LeGault (UW-La Crosse)
READ THIS NEXT: The Tie Break: 2022 Michigan Vault at Rutgers
Article by Elizabeth Grimsley, Rebecca Scally, Allison Freeman, Tavia Smith
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