Both of these teams opened their seasons with a pair of quad meets, so a nice normal conference dual should be a breath of fresh air. After an opening meet that was derailed by a minor bars meltdown, Arizona looked strong last week. Beam and floor are ready to go for the Wildcats, and bars is great as long as the gymnasts remain on the bars. Vault has been a little sticky so far. Minimizing scores that start with 9.6 on that event is key to moving into the 196-plus range as a team.
Cal has looked consistent, polished, and pretty much ready for postseason so far this year. Just one question: Where’s the other half of the team? With just seven gymnasts competing in the first week and eight last week, wear and tear on core contributors is a concern if the Bears don’t rotate lineups. Since this meet is one of the easiest on the Bears’ slate this year, it’s a great opportunity to try some new things…or at the very least, use Maya Green’s bar routine again.
Rotation 1: Arizona VT, Cal UB
Nosek (UA): Yurchenko layout, big hop back. Oopsie? 9.45
DeSouza (Cal): Shy on first handstand, pike Jaeger to overshoot, shy again, FTDB with messy legs stuck. 9.895
Mueller (UA): FTY, closed hips and a hop back.
Cesario (Cal): Imprecise first handstand, blind is nice, Jaeger to overshoot. Double layout with leg separation, just a little hop back.
Castles (UA): FTY, better body position, medium hop back.
Pera (Cal): Nice Pak, super straight body line, balks out of her van Leeuwen which was both unfortunate and hilarious. She’s OK. Doesn’t reattempt it, good double layout.
Hargrove (UA): GREAT one and a half. Nice and square, dead between the lines, small hop forward. 9.85
Williams (Cal): Maloney to Pak, great half turn, double layout stuck. GOOD one. 9.95
Herry (UA): Solid FTY, quick hop back. 9.65 seems low.
Li (Cal): Pak, van Leeuwen good, blind full double back stuck. Very nice. 9.95
Larusso (UA): Another straighter FTY with decent amplitude and a hop back. 9.675 okay we’re just the fun police today.
Lauzon (Cal): Toe on to Maloney to Pak, a little close, rushed on the half pirouette, half in half out with messy legs and a low chest. 9.775
Maya Green in the ex for Cal. A little scrappy throughout, dismount a little undercooked with a hop forward. 9.725
Second ex, I BELIEVE this is Aderinto. Some foot form, messy form on Maloney to bail, toe blind to double front pretty good with a hop.
After 1: Cal 49.425, Arizona 48.650
Not the greatest start for Arizona, but not a disaster. Cal bounced back well from an odd Perea miss, the Williams and Li routines were actually immaculate.
Rotation 2: Cal VT, Arizona UB
Li (Cal): FTY, twisting onto the table but great body line, little scoot back. 9.75
Deets (UA): Half turn to Tkachev, hitting the handstands, nice bail. DLO stuck. WOW.
Williams (Cal): FTY off to one side a little, bounces out of the lines. (Though bouncing outside isn’t a deduction.) 9.675
McCabe (UA): Blind to pike Jaeger, a little close to the bar but working through fine. Bail, making handstands, DLO stuck-ish. 9.75
DeSouza (Cal): Major form onto the table and slightly soft knees on her one and a half. 9.85
Linton (UA): Toe on to Maloney, maybe a little shapey, nice Pak. Double layout, little hop. 9.8
Lauzon (Cal): Pretty underrotated on her one and a half, one shoulder distinctly lagging as she landed and had to step it around.
Hargrove (UA): Comes off on her blind full. Repeats, wonky but made, into the Tkachev. Good bail, FTDB with a step forward.
Cesario (Cal): FTY, short, hop forward. These judges will hammer that. 9.575
Fears (UA): Nice Tkachev, clear hip to bail, DLO awkward with a step. It was super clean on the bars. 9.775
Brown (Cal): One and a half, off starting from the table and sits it.
Larusso (UA): Blind to Jaeger good, short on a handstand, bail… just rushing a little. FTDB good, little hop to salute.
Ex for Cal is Aderinto, Yurchenko arabian with a big hop.
Zaza Brovedani in the ex for Arizona. Good one, dismount a LITTLE short with a step forward but could be in lineup soon.
Courney is a second ex. Ray to overshoot, high and awkward, hits her feet on the ground. Double lay with a step back.
After 2: Cal 98.075, Arizona 97.675
Cal got some anti-fun Arizona vault scoring there, though it was by no means an amazing vault rotation either. Arizona started hot on bars and really had a lot of promise the whole time, but some dismount wonkiness kept a lot of the scores down.
Rotation 3: Arizona BB, Cal FX
Fears (UA): BHS LOSO, small check, full turn. Cat leap side aerial steady. Beat to stag, one and a half twist stuck. Nice. 9.85
Perea (Cal): Round off double back, nicely controlled. Round off double pike, three steps back but stays in bounds. Double wolf turn, switch half wolf full is a little underrotated, one and a half front lay landed awkwardly with feet apart. 9.55
Herry (UA): Full turn, a smidge awkward, BHS LOSO tentative but fine. Side somi, chest way forward. Straddle to straddle half good. One and a half twist, hop. 9.8
Williams (Cal): Front lay to Rudi a little awkward, wolf turn and falls out. switch half to split is pretty. Double tuck, falls to her knees. 8.95
Deets (UA): BHS LOSO absolutely NAILED. She’s hot today. Full turn, hitch kick switch side, cat leap kickover front, switch gainer full. Stone cold. 9.875 oh come on.
DeSouza (Cal): Rudi to double stag, double tuck with chest a little low but lunges fine. One and a half front full, AWKWARD punch, gets it around but underrotated. 9.85
Castles (UA): Tic toc beautiful, BHS LOSO nailed. Switch to split, no problem, front aerial to sissone. Triple wolf actually really pretty. One and a half twist stuck. 9.875
Li (Cal): Front double full, stag jump waaaay off to the side, landing was weird. Nice and steady on the front full front lay. I love this routine, the hip hop section is so goofy but it works.
Mueller (UA): Side aerial LOSO, big check and off. Switch to straddle nice, one and a half twist stuck.
Lauzon (Cal): Front double full front tuck, looks so easy. Switch side Popa, one and a half front full nice!! First Cal routine that feels really good. 9.8… I’m just confused now.
Linton (UA): Pressure, but she’s more than capable. Double wolf turn, BHS BHS LOSO super solid. Switch to split to beat, smiling now, all the hard stuff is out of the way. Gainer full, little hop. 9.875
Aderinto (Cal): Speaking of pressure… Wanna make your freshman debut in the anchor with a fall to drop? Double pike a little shuffley but honestly she just needs to stand stuff up. Switch ring switch half wolf full, made the double back. Front lay front full, some form, a little whippy. But she stood stuff up. 9.775.
Lenczner and Burhans in the ex for Arizona. Both hit, which is awesome.
After 3: Arizona 146.900, California 146.900
Well well well, looks like we have a ballgame. Cal scraped a workable score out of that floor rotation, but it wasn’t what the Bears wanted by any means. Arizona beam was honestly awesome.
Rotation 4: Cal BB, Arizona FX
DeSouza (Cal): Cat leap front aerial, steady. BHS loso with a bit of knees, beat to sheep steady. One and a half twist with a hop forward. 9.85
Orman (UA): Rudi, great landing. Switch side Popa, nailed the double pike. Super landing control all routine. 9.775
Williams (Cal): Double wolf turn according to the commentator, we didn’t see it. Front aerial to split just a LITTLE slow. BHS LOSO, switch leap to… something, we were zoomed in on her arms. BHS gainer full stuck. Nice. 9.9
Mueller (UA): Nailed the double pike. Switch half Popa. One and a half front lay, nice and clean. Great double back. Awesome landing control again. 9.9! Deserved.
Li (Cal): Front aerial to split. I could really do without this upper body cam where you can’t actually see skills. BHS LOSO good, full turn awkward, beat to sheep with a little check. Gainer tuck full, drops her chest and steps forward. 9.8
LaRusso (UA): Punch front double full, clean landing. Cat leap switch side Popa nailed. One and a half front lay comes in a little low, quick step forward controls it. Punch Rudi a little awkward, kind of hops sideways to lunge. 9.75
Lauzon (Cal): Wolf turn, the upper body cam again!! BHS BHS LOSO super steady. Love how she holds the landing with her arms in front of her and then salutes super deliberately. Switch to split, tiny hesitation in the middle, stuck the double full dismount. 9.875
Castles (UA): Two and a half punch front STUCK DEAD and the team goes nuts. Double pike, short with a step forward, aww. 9.775
Cesario (Cal): Full turn, BHS LOSO solid. Hitch kick switch half to beat. That was way short of split. Side aerial, check, one and a half twist stuck. 9.9… hmm.
Hargrove (UA): Great full in! Whip half front full, landing a little off balance. Switch ring tour jete half, scoot back, great double tuck. 9.9
Perea (Cal): Full turn, kickover front back tuck a little shaky. Switch to split, side somi to tuck 3/2 dismount with just a scoot.
Herry (UA): Double tuck, a little overrotated, scoot back. Switch half Popa nice! Nailed one and a half front lay. Nice clean double pike. 9.85
Aderinto in the ex for Cal. Schultz for Arizona. Second Cal ex is I THINK Jordan Kane but I’m really sorry if I’m wrong. Strom for Arizona.
FINAL: California 196.400, Arizona 196.100
Super exciting meet! Great beam rotation for Cal to pull out a win, but it wasn’t an easy one. Probably a NQS drop score for the Bears. Emjae Frazier was out today (she was dressed out, no injury paraphernalia, no worries there). Season high for Arizona and a well-deserved one.
VT: Malia Hargrove, Nevaeh DeSouza 9.85
UB: Madelyn Williams, Andi Li 9.95
BB: Gabby Perea 9.925
FX: Emily Mueller, Malia Hargrove 9.900
AA: Nevaeh DeSouza 39.425
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Live blog by Rebecca Scally
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