We’re settling into season now and seeing early narratives start to take shape, but there are still so many unsolved mysteries about how this season will play out. Here’s what I’m watching, anticipating, and worrying about as we exit the tumultuous introduction to our 2024 season and prepare to settle into the rhythm of conference schedules.
Question: How high does Clemson go?
We’re used to hedging when it comes to new teams. Regardless of the strength of a roster, the first few weeks, if not the whole first season, tend to be a rollercoaster. Even after a great intrasquad showing, history would lead us to use caution when predicting how Clemson will perform this year.
Clemson doesn’t seem that concerned about caution. A remarkable opening meet performance of 196.325 landed the Tigers in the top 20 nationwide and atop the ACC. Perhaps the difference between this team and other new squads is the number of transfers providing stability and relieving the burden of having to orient a whole team to the experience of being a college gymnast at once. Whatever it is, though, it’s undeniably happening. At this point, I strongly favor Clemson to make regionals in its inaugural season and consider it at least strongly in the mix for the conference title. Accomplishments like 197-plus scores and qualifying straight to a round two session at regionals, if not potentially the regional final, feel possible. Sending an individual to nationals? Sure, why not? With this first hurdle so emphatically cleared, it all feels reasonable at this point.
Bonus Questions:
Why is LIU actually fine? After a fairly catastrophic offseason that saw almost all of the Sharks’ stars transfer away and their best freshman departing the team in December, nobody really predicted success for this team. Nevertheless, here LIU is on top of the EAGL standings and ranked in the top 36 nationally. Syd Morris having one of their best meets, capped by a 9.975 on beam, certainly didn’t hurt, but I don’t fully understand what happened here or whether it’s sustainable.
Should Penn hire me? I was kind of perplexed by Penn’s lineup choices week one. Where’s Madison Perkins?, I said. Where’s Carly Oniki? Why would you make a beam lineup without Samantha Wu on purpose? In week two, Penn fixed all of those things, and what do you know, it improved its team score by almost three points, a number that was also better than its 2023 season high. This made me feel incredibly validated. If they’re looking for pointers, my next suggestion is to try out Reganne Cheang, maybe on floor?
Comment: Utah has entered the chat.
After a tumultuous offseason, it wasn’t incredibly surprising that Utah looked lukewarm at its first two meets. There was always a chance that the Utes wouldn’t find stability and focus this year, or that Carly Dockendorf would turn out not to have the mysterious X-factor that is apparently needed to be able to coach a top team. Entering the season with one home meet and one quasi-home meet that looked so bland was in some ways the most likely outcome.
Still, after a disappointing last place finish at Sprouts on Saturday, it was reassuring to see Utah do Utah gymnastics again at Best of Utah on Monday. A strong all-around meet from Makenna Smith, a return to form from Maile O’Keefe, and strong showings by Amelie Morgan and Abby Paulson are things that Utah profoundly needs to be a top team. Getting them all in one day, as well as rising to No. 3 nationally, is a reassuring sign for the rest of the season.
Bonus Comments:
Is Morgan Hurd… underrated now? After about a century of injury struggles, it was exciting to see Hurd step into some lineups for Florida last year, but some understandable inconsistency kept her from really establishing herself at the college level. Despite yet another surgery this offseason, Hurd looked strong as we approached the 2024 season, and my impression of her opening hits was that this time around, she’s going to have staying power. When that day finally came, I honestly expected more hype about it.
California is just going to keep doing this. There’s something so steady and reliable about how Cal is ramping up this season, and in January, while most teams are still figuring out what direction the mat is, the Bears’ performance at Sprouts was the only meet I’ve seen this year where a team looked even halfway in the universe of quality as Oklahoma.
Concern: When is Michigan State going to wake up?
It’s been an undeniably slow start for the Spartans, which might not be such a disaster. We’ve seen this team go from zero to a hundred before. Still, I’d like to see a little more energy from a team that scored north of 198.000 last year.
The gymnastics that has landed the Spartans in No. 16 hasn’t been poor by any means. The pieces are still there. It’s just been a little listless, with landings that look more December than January. Remarkably for such a great vault team, no Spartan has scored above 9.875 yet, outside of Sage Kellerman’s 10.0 and 9.925. Some missing faces, including Jori Jackard, are having an impact, and a highly anticipated freshman class hasn’t yet made the splash we hoped for. Lots of these problems are fixable; I’m just wondering about the timeline.
Bonus Concern:
Why, of all the meets that could have been cancelled for weather, did it have to be THAT one? We got some great moments from the MLK invitational that wasn’t to be, including Fisk sending Iowa State gift bags of SheaMoisture cosmetics and Brown and William & Mary playing in the snow together. But none of that really softens our disappointment to miss out on such an exciting and historic competition. Plus, Brown was meant to make its season debut in Nashville and instead will enter week three unranked. It’ll be interesting to see if these teams add to their schedules later on to make up a road score. As for the original meet, I guess we’ll have to wait until next year.
READ THIS NEXT: Questions, Comments, Concerns: Week 1
Article by Rebecca Scally
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