Scoring accuracy has always been a hot topic for discussion in college gymnastics, but with a first attempt at a judging oversight committee this season, the topic has been particularly relevant. While most of the conversation has been about over or underscoring routines from some of the most recognizable gymnasts and their teams, what about the rest of the competitive field? Are Division III athletes getting lower scores while top teams with similar errors are getting away with deductions? In this article, I’ll make a brief comparison of two nearly identical routines with the same score from both a Division I and a Division III athlete. Then, I’ll break down the deductions I see and evaluate which judging panel was more accurate. Here’s my scale:
✅ – A perfect match between my score and the panel score
– The routine was slightly overscored
– The routine was slightly underscored
– The routine was slightly overscored
– The routine was very underscored
Vault
Yurchenko One and a Half (10.0 SV)
| Division III Erin Roe, Ursinus Score: 9.800 Watch the Vault |
Division I Julianna Huff, Auburn Score: 9.800 Watch the Vault |
| Deductions: height (0.05), leg form (0.05), hop forward (0.1) | Deductions: shoulder angle (0.05), leg separation (0.05), knee bend (0.05), step forward (0.1) |
| My Score: 9.800 ✅ | My Score: 9.750 |
Although the angle was different for these vaults, I thought Roe’s was cleaner than Huff’s, although Huff’s had slightly better dynamics. I generally consider a height deduction for the gymnast if I don’t see a clear hip rise off the table, if they finish the first full revolution of the vault with their head lower than the level of the table, if they underrotate the vault, or if they have a low landing position.
Yurchenko Full (9.95 SV)
| Division III Averie Evans, UW-Oshkosh Score: 9.850 Watch the Vault |
Division I Avery Chambers, Iowa Score: 9.850 Watch the Vault |
| Deductions: early turn (0.05), hop backward (0.1) | Deductions: height (0.05), body posture on landing (0.05), under rotation (0.05), small hop forward (0.05) |
| My Score: 9.800 | My Score: 9.750 |
In the air, both of these vaults were very clean, but Evans had better amplitude and landing control than Chambers, which leads me to think that she should have scored closer to the 9.850 she received. With an underrotation and a lower landing, Chambers should have received more than one-tenth of a deduction on her vault.
Bars
| Division III Hayden Gough, UW-Wisconsin Score: 9.750 Watch the Routine |
Division I Caitlin McWilliams, Washington Score: 9.750 Watch the Routine |
| Routine Composition: giant half + straddle Jaeger + bail, double layout dismount | |
| Deductions: flexed feet on four skills (0.2), leg form Jaeger (0.05), amplitude on bail (0.1), short cast (0.05), staggered landing on dismount (0.05) | Deductions: leg form on giant half (0.05), Jaeger (0.05), bail (0.05); bent legs on tap into dismount (0.05), small balance error on landing (0.05) |
| My Score: 9.550 | My Score: 9.750 ✅ |
Both of these routines had some minor form issues throughout, with Gough’s flexed feet and McWIlliams’ slightly bent or separated legs on most of her major elements. Gough also caught her bail with her toes at the level of the low bar. For this skill to receive no amplitude deduction, the athlete should catch the bar with their lowest body part at or above horizontal.
Beam
| Division III Samantha Meadows, Cortland Score: 9.850 Watch the Routine |
Division I Delaynee Rodriguez, Kentucky Score: 9.850 Watch the Routine |
| Routine Composition: BHS BHS LOSO, switch leap + split jump, cat leap + side aerial (Meadows)/side somi (Rodriguez), RO layout 1.5 dismount | |
| Deductions: arm bend on both BHS (0.1), uneven split jump (0.05), balance error on dance series and side aerial (0.1) | Deductions: flexed feet on side somi (0.05), hop backward on landing (0.1) |
| My Score: 9.750 | My Score: 9.850 ✅ |
Before I write a comparison, I want to personally thank Meadows for actually doing a cat leap with amplitude and connecting it seamlessly into her side aerial. This is the best cat leap to side aerial connection I have seen all season. Meadows’ deductions were all very minor, with just some small balance checks and a slightly underpowered split jump. Rodriguez was extremely smooth and polished throughout her routine, with her only major deduction coming on the hop on her dismount.
Floor
| Division III Corey Foster, Ithaca Score: 9.800 Watch the Routine |
Division I Eliza Millar-Crossman, BYU Score: 9.800 Watch the Routine |
| Routine Composition: front layout + front full, switch side half + Popa, double tuck | |
| Deductions: control on front full landing (0.05), under rotation and uneven split on switch side half (0.1), control on landing on Popa (0.05). | Deductions: control on double tuck (0.05) and foot adjustment (0.05), leg form on front full (0.05) |
| My Score: 9.800 ✅ | My Score: 9.850 |
Foster’s routine had very clean form on both her dance and tumbling, with most of her deductions coming from her dance pass, of which one of the judges had a front-row seat. Millar-Crossman nailed her dance pass, and her only visible deduction was her landing on her double back. I actually had her higher than the panel at a 9.850.
So which division was scored more correctly? In my limited sample size, it would seem like the Division III athletes are more consistently overscored and not underscored. The bars and beam routines I evaluated were slightly less polished compared to the Division I routines, with the small deductions adding up to larger differences in scores. However, many of the Division III gymnasts are performing Division I-caliber routines each week and have the potential to score just as high or better than their Division I counterparts. There’s no arguing that the level of gymnastics across the board is exceptionally high and that the influx of program records we’ve seen at the Division III level cannot solely be attributed to lenient judging.
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Article by Rhiannon Franck
Rhiannon Franck is a former national-rated NAWGJ women’s gymnastics judge with over 15 years of USAG judging experience and nine seasons judging NCAA gymnastics. Outside of gymnastics, Franck works at a university as a nursing professor and loves to travel.
