Upsets and Stunning Performances Headline Regional Weekend
Arizona qualified to finals. Michigan State and Alabama are headed to Fort Worth. It was a wild weekend of gymnastics, and we rounded up our favorite moments.
Meet of the Week
Pennsylvania Regional Final
The Pennsylvania regional final was a nail-biter, coming down to the final routines. The Spartans clinched their second-ever trip to nationals over Kentucky on beam, an event that caused them trouble in last year’s Gainesville regional final.
Other contenders: Washington Regional Round II Session II, Alabama Regional Final
Gymnast of the Week
Jordan Bowers, Oklahoma
Jordan Bowers scored three perfect 10.0s in the Washington regional final. Her 39.900 all-around score is astounding, and even more impressive given that she hadn’t seen perfection yet this year.
Other contenders: Jade Carey, Madelyn Williams
Performance of the Week
Konnor McClain (LSU), Floor
Konnor McClain is back on floor after less than a year since her Achilles injury. The surprise floor return came at the Pennsylvania regional final, where McClain helped the Tigers to a nationals berth with her 9.900.
Other contenders: Arizona’s semifinal performance, Faith Torrez
Outrageous Moment of the Week
There was a moment when it looked like Utah might miss nationals for the first time ever, out of its home regional. It would’ve been such a stunning result that the fact it even seemed possible is outrageous. The Utes rallied and are headed to the final weekend for the 49th-consecutive trip, but it was a close call.
Other contenders: Cami Winger’s beam score judges’ conference, Chloe Negrete’s injury on floor (we are all outraged for her)
Hidden Gem of the Week
Mary McDonough is going to nationals. The Washington freshman has flown mostly under the radar this year, but a strong performance in her home regional second round was enough to clinch a berth to Fort Worth.
Other contenders: Skyelar Kerico, Gabrielle Dildy’s beam redemption
Viral Moment of the Week
Stanford’s dads stole the show, surprising the team by posing as moments from their daughters’ floor routines. The results were hilarious.
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Article by Emily Minehart
Where do you all stand on all regionals being at neutral sites? I was at the Alabama regional scoring was a concern there were a few instances where judging was inconsistent to say the least.
Honestly, it doesn’t make sense in today’s landscape to make regionals neutral, especially where attendance is concerned. Rounds one and two are already very poorly attended, and neutral would be worse. The NCAA isn’t about to foot the bill for four neutral-site meets where it won’t even get any return on the investment. Judging being inconsistent or an issue is more of a problem with the judging not the fact that it was at any certain arena. All teams had scores that were probably too low as well as too high. Plus, Coleman Coliseum had actually been pretty tight (by comparison) judging wise this season if you look at the overall picture.
better to have full arenas than “neutral” sites.
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