For full scores and results for every meet, check out Week 10 Results.
Week 10 was a wild one. As teams tidy up for the postseason, we saw program records fly left and right in yet another high-scoring weekend. With just one last week before the conference championships kick off, teams were in fine form as jockeying for all-important NQS seeds and moving onto the right side of the postseason bubble are paramount for every program.
Oklahoma Posts Best-Ever NQS in Gymnastics
Same story, different week for the Sooners as they rolled to their seventh score of 198 or better on the road at Arkansas. With a floor 10 from Jordan Bowers and a first career perfect 10 from Ava Siegfeldt on beam, Oklahoma built upon the record-setting NQS it had last week, upping its mark to a whopping 198.430. Can the Sooners do any wrong?
The 198 NQS Club
Joining the Sooners above the 198 mark in NQS are LSU and California, who both posted massive totals over the weekend to set program-record marks in NQS. Haleigh Bryant was masterful for the Tigers, starting her evening with back-to-back 10s on vault and bars en route to a single-season gym slam and an insane 39.925 school record all-around total. LSU’s 198.425 total is a program high on the road (even though it still competed in Baton Rouge), and its 49.695 NQS on floor is the highest any team has ever had on the event.
On the West Coast, the Golden Bears earned a new program best total of 198.550 as eMjae Frazier matched her school record all-around total of 39.825. Frazier edged teammate Mya Lauzon’s 39.775 and perfect 10 on beam who matched the highest score of the night with Stanford’s Chloe Widner who reached perfection for the first time with a 10 on beam as well. California and LSU had never reached an NQS of 198 before this weekend.
More 198s!
While 10s from Grace McCallum (bars) and Raena Worley (floor), and a 9.975 from Leanne Wong (bars) weren’t enough to get Utah, Kentucky, or Florida above 198 this week—all coming close—Alabama and Michigan State were able to hit the mark with their strongest meets of the season.
Crimson Tide superstar Luisa Blanco finally popped off this season for a pair of 10s, bookending her meet with a perfect vault and the first perfect floor routine of her career to help them hit 198 exactly. Not only does her 39.850 all-around total show she’s still a contender for some hardware come the postseason, but also ties her for the best four-event total in Alabama history.
The Spartans had no perfect scores in posting a giant 198.150, using a barrage of 9.900s from the entire team to set a new season-high. Skyla Schulte did come close, ending her all-around performance with a near-perfect 9.975 on floor. Michigan State still looks like the Big Ten’s best bet for a nationals qualifier.
Upset Alert
The weekend’s biggest upset came at the hands of Arizona State as the Sun Devils were able to knock off top 10 UCLA in Tempe. The Bruins were down Emma Malabuyo as she was competing for the Philippines at the Baku World Cup and Selena Harris who was resting, illuminating some holes in the depth charts that UCLA will need to address prior to the postseason if it wants to contend for nationals. Arizona State’s balanced meet was too much for the Bruins to overcome with a mid-48 beam rotation.
The Road to NCGA Nationals Is a Labyrinth
After a marathon weekend of regionals in the east and the west, the NCGA Nationals team field is set: Brockport, Cortland, Oshkosh, Whitewater punched tickets by placing one-two in each regional, and La Crosse and Stout and will be rounding out the field of the programs bringing full teams to Ursinus to battle it out for the title. If you’re wondering, hold on, the Anchorwomen smashed records including a program record, a team bar record, an individual vault record, and Olivia Keyes taking the all-around title for the third straight year, you must’ve simply forgotten to add Rhode Island to the list! Well, qualifications to nationals are different this year, with only the top two guaranteed spots and the rest based on scores from the season.
Although a team title won’t be possible for the winning, at the time of publishing, despite not heading to the Keystone State as a team, Rhode Island will be sending Kelsey Gates and Keyes to compete in the all-around, with Emma Tucker on vault, beam, and floor.
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Article by Brandis Heffner and Allison Freeman
