For full scores and results for every meet, check out Week 11 Results.
Is it postseason yet? Week 11 was the perfect storm of teams starting to peak for the postseason, senior night bonuses, and scoring that is rapidly losing any remaining credibility. To paraphrase Bart Conner, “The quality of gymnastics has superseded the quality of the judging.”
Score Every Meet Like It’s Senior Week
Parity in college gymnastics is higher than ever, so it stands to reason that we’d see an influx of new program records simply because there are more teams and gymnasts across all conferences and divisions capable of putting up higher scores with a hit performance. What’s less plausible is how consistently program and NCAA records are being broken week-to-week, and that’s not even considering score clustering. Case in point: There have been a whopping 35 scores of 198 or better posted this season, seven of which came in Week 11. This weekend also saw 10 all-around scores of 39.700 or higher, 10 perfect 10s, and 36 scores of 9.975. The current scoring system is broken—fans know it, gymnasts and coaches know it, commentators know it. What we don’t know is what the NAWGJ is going to do to fix what’s broken.
Arkansas Joins the 198 Club
The Razorbacks have formally shaken off their midseason slump, and look ready to deliver on all that early-season potential. Without relitigating whether or not this was a “real” 198, the key takeaway is that this was a stellar meet for a young team that seems to be peaking at just the right time. The odds are stacked against Arkansas upsetting the status quo from the afternoon session of SEC championships, but it’s perfectly positioned to make some postseason waves at its home regional next week (and possibly beyond?).
The Bubble Burst
The top 35 teams are now mathematically locked into a regional berth, though the standings and seedings are still up in the air. Sentimental favorite Lindenwood had a strong showing at the Illinois State tri-meet, but it fell well short of the high 196 necessary to avoid being eliminated from the postseason. That leaves Iowa, Iowa State, and George Washington as the only three bubble teams still in contention for that 36th and final spot.
Southern Connecticut Breaks Through
SCSU’s whole season has been an onslaught against its record book, but the big one finally fell this weekend. A team total 194.400 marks a major milestone as the highest team total in the program’s history.
The team also notched the second-best bars team score in SCSU history with a 48.65, led by standout Gigi Mastellone’s 9.8 performance on bars.
The Owls will look to build on this momentum as they head to GEC championships next week.
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Article by Claire Billman
I would love to see the crack-fueled scoring meets tagged to see how they impacted final NQS. I suspect it came into play 28 and below where one or two big scores can often have the most impact. I feel like Iowa in particular is better than their current ranking.
Sometimes a team really does have the night of its life but 197s should not be common and 12-13 teams with 198s on the season is bonkers. Less difficulty than before (save for vault) and 12th ranked teams are putting up #s that are national champion worthy…
Humorously the Tennessee meet(s) ton Saturday were among the better scored meets… It will be interesting to see if some school signs up for 3 quad meets and as many senior nights as possible next year just for the scoring boost.