It’s year three with Gymlytics fantasy college gymnastics in 2024! We all learned lessons when GymChem took up the helm and created her revamped game, and we’re ready for a fun 2024.
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.
The 198s are rolling! Congrats if that includes your team.
This week we’re in the thick of in-conference duals. Remember that Wednesday’s and Thursday’s meets count toward this fantasy week.
Notable home teams include: Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan State, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon State, and Denver. Emma Malabuyo heads to Cairo to compete for the Philippines February 15-18. That’s next week, but it does mean that there’s a chance she’ll be conservative competing this weekend in the lead up to a string of world cups over the next two months. It won’t be shocking if she’s not in all of her usual lineups.
Injury Updates Since Last Week
- Added: Alexandra Quiana (Cornell): Unknown
- Added: Macy Armstrong (Cornell): Unknown, season ending
- Added: Elina Vihrova (Penn State): Right foot boot
- Added: Kiersten Belkoff (Penn): Right foot boot
- Added: Lia Kmieciak (Central Michigan): Torn ACL and meniscus
- Added: Emma Wehry (West Virginia): Bars fall, upper body injury
- Added: Alyssa Wiggins (Fisk): Stretchered off after bars, reportedly doing OK
- Added: Julianne Huff (Auburn): Unknown injury during floor warmups
- Added: Bridget Bourque (Kentucky): Stress fracture
- Added: Lindsey Ockler (SEMO): Right ankle injury during floor warmups, boot and crutches
- Added: Grace Wehry (Kent State): Left team
- Added: Dakota Lee (Kent State): Left team
- Added: Sophia Maisel (Arizona): Torn left Achilles
- Added: Cloe Martineau (Temple): Left team
- Removed: Naya Howard (Georgia)
- Removed: Lali Dekanoidze (North Carolina)
- Removed: Olivia Greaves (Auburn)
- Removed: Reyna Garvey (Pittsburgh)
Week 6 Byes & Doubles
Byes: George Washington, Hamline, UW-Stout, William & Mary, Winona State
Doubles: Alaska, Arizona, Arizona State, Centenary, Cortland, Ithaca, Northern Illinois, SEMO, Southern Connecticut, Talladega
Experts Say
Each week, CGN editors will weigh in on big fantasy topics. We’ll feature them here, so you know how we’re addressing tough issues on our own teams.
We thought long and hard about Emma Malabuyo‘s bars, beam, and floor lineup spots this week. Six editors weighed in.
All six suggested Emily Lee will step in on bars, with three noting that if she’s healthy they expect to see Sydney Barros. One also mentioned Alex Irvine.
On beam, five expect to see Brooklyn Moors, while two see Chae Campbell adding the event back to her program, and one threw Frida Esparza into the mix.
All six editors noted that assuming her health is progressing as expected, they think we’ll see Margzetta Frazier on floor. Three also mentioned Emma Andres.
Data Corner
Once again 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: The following gymnasts have a perfect career hit rate, scoring at least a 9.800 in every routine of their career:
- Vault: Chae Campbell has hit all 41 of her vaults so far, with a career average of 9.896 despite only vaulting a Yurchenko full.
- Bars: Audrey Davis has achieved her perfect hit rate on the event across 51 meets, notching a career average of 9.922 to date.
- Beam: Not only does she have a perfect hit rate on beam thus far, Payton Harris also holds a lineup frequency of 100%, competing in 20 straight meets.
- Floor: Jessica Hutchinson has performed 38 hit floor routines in her career, averaging a 9.914 across them.
Breakout Performances: Freshmen MaKayla Tucker and Jordyn Lyden had solid starts on vault and bars, respectively, with numbers in the mid-9.7s to mid-9.8s in the first few weeks, but broke out into the 9.9s this weekend with a 9.925 and a 9.975 respectively. Jada Mangahas has returned to the beam lineup this season after sitting out the event for the last two years. She did not break the 9.800 mark in her freshman season but has done so thrice in her four appearances this year, including with her new career high of 9.925 on Friday. Emily Erb performed just once last year on floor but has broken out this season—including with a 9.900 and a 9.950 in her last two appearances.
Starts & Sits for Week 6
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: Hello, MaKayla Tucker. The Michigan State freshman has been consistently in vault, beam, and floor lineups and has been steadily settling in. Last week at Michigan she had a huge breakout day, nabbing a 9.925 on vault and 9.900s on her other two pieces.
Bars: Last week Maggie Slife went 9.250 on bars (for a routine that looked—at least on Air Force’s Instagram story—much better than that) and then sat the rest of the meet. According to the Falcons’ meet recap, she was recovering from an illness, so expect her to be back in action this week. Don’t fret about Maile O’Keefe here either; she had a 9.800 start value last week that was later inquired; expect her score to rebound. Naya Howard joined the Georgia bar lineup this week. If you held onto her the past several weeks in anticipation, kudos! If not, look for her on the waiver wire. Emma Spence only competed bars this week. It’s flu season folks; in the absence of other evidence, we’ll assume for now that she was just getting over something.
Beam: It’s hard to imagine Meredith Paulicivic putting Courtney McCann up on beam again next week after three consecutive falls. She’s certainly capable of greatness, but until she figures out her series, expect her to sit for a bit.
Floor: No word yet on why Abbie Pierson was missing for the Mountaineers this week; as with all mystery absences right now, we’re assuming illness until proven otherwise. Have no fear about Brie Clark; she was recovering from illness this week. She was with Clemson on the floor, masked, so whatever was keeping her down wasn’t bad enough to keep her out of the building. Expect her back soon. ‘Tis the season: KJ Kindler is playing with her floor lineup. This week Bell Johsnon got the start over Soraya Hawthorne. We can expect this lineup spot to be in flux.
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: Jalene Jachna stepped into the Missouri vault lineup for a 9.775 in place of Rayna Light. It seems that they’ll be competing for that lineup spot, so if your lineup can absorb that uncertainty, Jachna’s an intriguing pickup. Sara Zois has really hit her stride for George Washington, with a 9.925, 9.850, and 9.875 as her three most recent scores.
Bars: We’ve been waiting for years and it finally happened. Lindsay Bacheler joined the Maryland bar lineup. She scored a 9.700 but has huge potential. If you’re avoiding Ball State gymnasts because you assume scores are artificially inflated after the Tennessee fiasco, you’re missing out on Ashley Szymanski, who has two 9.900s and a 9.975, all at meets that were not the Tennessee Collegiate Classic.
Beam: Kylie Coen performed a nice beam exhibition for LSU. There’s no guarantee she’ll break the lineup, but she’s a realistic option for a top six that has shown some nerviness. If you’re desperate for a top-team beamer, she might be worth adding to your bench in case she begins making lineup appearances. Don’t look now, but Iowa State’s Noelle Adams is No. 39 on beam nationally with a huge 9.865 average. If she’s available in your league, grab her now!
Floor: Hannah Hagle stepped into the floor lineup for Auburn, and with an as-of-yet undefined injury to Julianne Huff during warmups, we can expect her to remain after her 9.875 showing.
Notes From the Fantasy Roundtable
Despite Jay Clark mentioning that many of his athletes have been under the weather recently, it appears that only Kai Rivers was missing from the sidelines for the Tigers last weekend. Hopefully whatever was going around is on its way out.
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Article by Emily Minehart and Dara Tan; additional reporting from Elizabeth Grimsley, Jenna King, Rebecca Scally, and Tara Graeve
