Fantasy Central: Postseason

It’s year two with Gymlytics fantasy college gymnastics in 2023! We all learned lessons last year when GymChem took up the helm and created her revamped game, and we’re ready for a fun 2023.

Our weekly cadence will continue to match Gymlytics: The fantasy “week” begins with Friday meets, ends with any Thursday ones and trading happens every Monday via waiver wire. You’ll find us here every Tuesday talking about “next week,” meaning the fantasy week starting that Friday.

This is your one-stop-shop for all things fantasy each week. We’ll be tracking injuries, byes and double headers, and giving you tips and tricks to put forward your best possible team.

We have arrived. This will be our last installment of Fantasy Central, so we’ll cover the entirety of the postseason this week. Be sure to stay on top of our Injury Updates page for any developments there going into regionals.

Remember that DIII teams—except Centenary—as well as independent teams, are idle this week. Conference championship hosts include Iowa, SEMO, New Hampshire, William & Mary, Kent State, West Virginia, Air Force, and Southern Utah. SECs and Pac 12s are at neutral sites but in the backyards of Georgia and Utah.

You know what to expect with postseason scoring. Things are about to get even wilder; that said, we’re also about to start seeing bigger judging panels, which can sometimes mean scores constrict a bit on those earlier lineup sets.

Injury Updates Since Last Week

• Kendall LaPlante (Iowa): Achilles
• Leah Smith (Arkansas): Boot, possibly precautionary
• Kayla Guillen (Cortland): Removed from roster
• Sydney Parsons (Winona State): Medical retirement

Gymnasts Removed from the Injury List

• Kamryn Ryan (LSU)
• Brynn Freehling (West Virginia)

Byes and Double Headers for Week 11

Byes: Brockport, Cortland, Fisk, Greenville, Gustavus Adolphus, Hamline, Ithaca, Rhode Island College, Simpson, Springfield, Ursinus, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Stout, UW-Whitewater, Winona State

Doubles: None

Data Corner

This year we have data editor Dara joining us for Fantasy Central each week. She’ll be breaking down the numbers for you with notes on routine hit rate, lineup appearance frequency and breakout performances to keep an eye on.

Hit Rate and Lineup Frequency: For the hit rate and lineup frequency section of this last installment of Fantasy Central, we’re highlighting the gymnasts with the best numbers across the season, divided by conference. The gymnast with the best numbers on each apparatus in each conference—factoring in both hit rate and lineup frequency, with season averages being used to break ties where necessary—is listed below.

Conference	Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor
Big 12	Katherine LeVasseur	Audrey Davis	Audrey Davis	Faith Torrez
Big Ten	Sierra Brooks	Sierra Brooks	Natalie Wojcik	Mya Hooten
EAGL	Deja Chambliss	Lali Dekanoidze	Ilka Juk	Chloe Negrete
GEC	Kiersten Belkoff	Sarah Wilson	McCaleigh Marr	Sydney Beers
MAC	Suki Pfister	Alyssa Al-Ashari	Alyssa Al-Ashari	Payton Murphy
MIC	Daisy Woodring	Angelica Labat	Nyah Reader	Madison Greene
MPSF	Jaudai Lopes	Lauren MacPherson	Lauren MacPherson	Jada Mazury
MRGC	Emily Lopez	Emily Lopez	Emma Loyim	Karley McClain
NCGA East	Sydney Schumaker	Glynis Curcione	Natalie Galioto	Kelsey Gates
PAC-12	Jade Carey	Jordan Chiles	Jade Carey	Jordan Chiles
SEC	Haleigh Bryant	Leanne Wong	Kayla Dicello	Raena Worley
WIAC	Reanna McGibboney	Kerrie Legault	Effie Ferguson	Kelsey Kollhoff
Other	Morgan Price	Morgan Price	Morgan Price	Morgan Price

Breakout Performances: To wrap up the fantasy gymnastics season, we’re looking at gymnasts who’ve scored better in the second half of the season than in the first half—who might be peaking at the right time to help boost your overall team score. On vault, Alivia Ostendorf started the season in the 9.7 to low 9.8 range, but has picked up the pace recently, with a 9.900 at the end of February and a 9.875 this weekend. On bars, Emma Spence posted an impressive 9.975 on Saturday to best her previous career high of 9.900, which she set at the end of February and matched a week earlier. Though she had a solid start to the season and has been consistent throughout (see above), Audrey Davis has been scoring even better on beam lately. She posted just one sub-9.9 score in her last five meets, including three scores of 9.950, compared to just one 9.9+ score in her first five meets of the season. Finally, Gianna Gerdes has found her groove on floor, with five straight 9.9+ scores in her last five meets, compared to none in her first five.

Starts, Sits & Pickups for Postseason

This is the spot to find your sleeper picks, your two- or three-eventers and your solutions for those big bye weeks. We’ll also comment on the big names when relevant: Injuries, lineup absences, or inconsistency.

Vault: Word is that Ute Jillian Hoffman was resting last week. If she had anything nagging, it would make sense for her to take a week off to get ready for Pac-12s. We expect to see her back. Linda Zivat was also out of Iowa’s lineups. While she has a long injury history, there’s no indication that she’s injured currently. Given that Iowa is hosting Big Tens, all signs point to her being back. Reyna Guggino‘s inconsistent Yurchenko one and a half seems to simply get beat out by the consistent full from Kaylen Morgan in Michigan’s lineup. Expect Morgan to keep the spot at Big Tens.

Bars: It’s hard to say whether Sunisa Lee will be back by SECs. Missing a second week due to illness is not a good sign, but certainly Jeff Graba will have been thinking strategically and long term, so perhaps sitting her last week was with an eye toward having Lee back for postseason. It’s hard to pass up on her potential scores, so our advice is to keep her in your lineups if you can at all withstand the possible zeroes. Keep an eye on social media where she’s been sharing updates. Victoria Nguyen missed Florida’s lineups this week after her scary but ultimately OK vault fall a week prior. It would make sense for Jenny Rowland to get her some time to mentally recover so she’ll be in top form for the conference championship.

Beam: Kara Eaker continued to sit out for Utah after being in concussion protocol last week. It seems likely that Tom Farden wanted to be conservative with her return to ensure she’s available for Pac-12s—unless it was more of a case of lingering symptoms. It seems reasonable to assume that she’ll be in the beam lineup this week, and unlikely that she’ll compete floor. Riley McCusker has arrived! She’s a risky lineup play, but the allure of her 9.950 at Texas Woman’s is strong. If your lineup can take a possible fall or zero, we’d put her in.

Floor: Missouri’s Jocelyn Moore skipped floor last week; as far as we know she was just getting some rest. Audrey Davis continues to be part of Oklahoma’s top six and score well; while KJ Kindler is known to be ruthless with lineups, it seems increasingly likely that we’ll see Davis here throughout the postseason. Danae Fletcher and Bell Johnson now seem to be the six/seven routines fighting for that last spot.

Waiver Wire Wrap-up

Finally, we have a waiver wire in gymnastics! Who should you prioritize this week? Since Fantasy Central comes out on Tuesdays, keep in mind that these tips are catered toward next week.

Vault: Pittsburgh’s Kennedy Duke has had a strong run on vault the past few weeks. Keep in mind that she almost certainly won’t be at regionals with the Panthers out.

Bars: Penn’s Skyelar Kerico has had some ups and downs this year, but she has huge potential and seems to have found some consistency. She’s worth considering as a pickup for your conference championships lineup.

Floor: Illilnois’ Kadyn Fitzgibbon might be hanging around your trading pool. She has been an OK vaulter all year but has gotten better and better on floor since debuting at Big Fives. She scored a 9.925 last week. Ball State is having itself a year. Megan Teter might be just what you need to shore up lineups for the postseason. She’s a good vaulter and excellent on floor.

READ THIS NEXT: Fantasy Central: Week 10

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Article by Emily Minehart and Dara Tan

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