Welcome back to the Denver regional! Today is the second round of regionals, and the first round features Nebraska, Oregon State, LSU and Georgia. Oregon State and LSU are looking like pretty clear favorites to advance to the final, but Nebraska and Georgia have shown some great potential towards the end of the regular season.
LSU has had a pretty good season despite all of the injuries it’s had to overcome. The Tigers seem to be peaking at a great time, but the fact that they missed out on qualifying to nationals is likely to be in the back of their minds.
Oregon State has also had a good season. Jade Carey has scored a number of perfect 10s, and it seems like the Beavers have figured out how to put together a complete meet. Unless the Beavers feel nervous and make silly mistakes, they should have a ticket to the final session.
Georgia and Nebraska are in similar situations. They’ve both done much better than they did last year, but that doesn’t mean they have a secured spot in the regional final. Nebraska has scored a couple of 197s this year, and Georgia has only scored one plus a few high-196s. So, both the Huskers and the Bulldogs may have to hope for Oregon State or LSU to make some mistakes in order to advance.
Will the favorites secure their spots in the regional final on Sunday, or will Nebraska or Georgia pull the upset? We’ll have to wait and see!
Just like yesterday, my view of bars and beam isn’t the greatest, but I’ll be trying my best to catch as much as I can! I hope you guys are as excited as I am!
Rotation 1: Nebraska VT, Georgia UB, LSU BB, Oregon State FX
Cashman (UGA): Nice Tkatchev to start out. A little short on these handstands. Nice shootover. Finishes with a solid stuck double layout!
Kuenemann (UNL): Nice Yurchenko full! Nice position in the air and she stuck it!
Angeny (UGA): Blind into a Jaeger shootover combination to start. Short on the last handstand, and takes a tiny hop back on the double layout.
Young (OSU): Starts with a solid double pike! Next is a double tuck, her lunge slid back a little far. Switch leap to tour jete ring half. Finishes with a front layout front full, much more control than the second pass.
We already have a judging conference over Arenas’ routine on beam. She gets a 9.825
Comin (UNL): Yurchenko full, some bent knees and a hop back.
Shchennikova (LSU): Solid candlestick mount. She ahd a long wait before this routine. Front aerial to flic flic, wobbles but stays on. Switch leap to split jump. Side aerial, another wobble there. Nice back handspring gainer full dismount!
Letzsch (OSU): Starts with a back 1.5 to front full. Switch half ring to sissone half? Really high double tuck to finish up!
Spence (UNL): Yurchenko 1.5, very bent legs and a hop forward.
Finnegan (UGA): Really high Ray to start. Nice Pak, just some leg separation. Hits the last handstand. Sticks the full in dismount! Solid routine.
Gonzales (OSU): Starts with a very nice front full front layout. Switch full to sissone, nice flexibility. Super high and controlled double pike for her last pass. Oregon State is crushing floor! Switch ring to switch half to finish her routine.
Ballard (LSU): Flic lay, just a tiny wobble. Sissone to switch half was solid. Front toss wth another small wobble. Takes a pretty big step on her roundoff 1.5
Dagen (OSU): Solid front layout to Rudi to start out. Switch half to Popa to straddle jump. Nice double pike, just the tiniest shuffle back.
Bryant (LSU): Nice front aerial to back handspring. Switch leap to straddle quarter. Wobble on the full turn, she dropped her shoulder. Solid standing front tuck, that amazes me every time. I think she stuck her Rudi dismount, either way it was a good landing. 9.95 is insane with that wobble on her turn.
Carey (OSU): Awesome double double as usual. Switch half to split full. Front layout through to a double pike. Pretty nice routine! And she’s following a 9.9 from Dagen.
Finnegan (LSU): Flic lay lay and that second layout went straight off the beam. She got back up like nothing happened. Switch leap to split jump. Small wobble on her full turn. Front aerial. She’s wobbling a lot after that fall. Nice side gainer full dismount.
Whitman (GW): Starts with an awesome double front and she stuck it! Wow. She stuck her front double twist to front layout too. Switch side to some crazy Shushunova that I don’t even know what to call it. Finishes with a front double twist to the most controlled lunge we’ve seen all day. That was an amazing routine!
After 1: Oregon State 49.550, LSU 49.325, Georgia 49.300, Nebraska 48.950
That was a pretty solid first rotation! Oregon State absolutely killed it on floor with a 49.550, and LSU had a strong beam rotation other than Aleah Finnegan’s fall at the end of the lineup. Nebraska and Georgia had the vault and bar rotations that you’d expect from them, and the rotation was capped off with a gorgeous floor routine from GW’s Kendall Whitman, who scored a 9.925.
Rotation 2: Oregon State VT, Nebraska UB, Georgia BB, LSU FX
Interesting, Olivia Dunne is warming up floor! Unless I’m remembering wrong we haven’t seen her on floor this year
Garcia (OSU): Nice leadoff, a Yurchenko full with a nice straight body and a small hop back.
Howard (UGA): Nice flic lay to start. Beat jump to switch half. Side aerial with a small shoulder drop. Back handspring to a stuck side gainer full!
Gibson (UNL): Great first handstand. Very nice Maloney to Pak combination, her legs are glued together. Nails the last handstand! Double layout dismount and unfortunately takes some big steps back. That’s a shame because that routine was gorgeous.
Letzsch (OSU): Another good Yurchenko full! Some slight pike at the end but sticks it!
Shchennikova (LSU): Solid front double twist to start, maybe a bit of a big lunge. Very controlled back 1.5 to front layout. Switch ring to switch half. Nice Rudi to split jump to finish, the split jump was just a little low.
Gonzales (OSU): Full on pike off, pretty nice just hops in place
Scott (UGA): Front handspring to flic lay, completely solid. Switch leap to swing down. Front hadnspring to front gainer full, a little bit of a college stick.
Carey (OSU): Yurchenko double full, her chest is a little low on the landing and she hops forward.
Davis (UNL): Awesome Maloney to uprise, just some leg separation. Catches the Hindorff a little close. Nice shootover. Short on the last handstand. Takes two steps back on her double layout.
Simpton (UNL): Maloney to Pak combination. Hits the last handstand. Goes to her knees on her double layout dismount. Nebraska is not getting these landings.
Finnegan (LSU): Falls on her double Arabian, it was underrotated. Her 2.5 to front tuck was also a little low but she landed it. Switch ring to switch full.
De Jong (UGA): witch leap to straddle quarter. Front aerial to beat jump. Solid flic lay. Back handspring to 1.5 dismount, just takes a tiny hop forward.
Haleigh Bryant is getting a long wait before her routine but she’s doing the Macarena so she doesn’t seem too nervous at all!
Al-Ashari (NIU): Mounts with a roundoff layout. Nice flic lay to start out. Split jump to double stag. Finishes with a roundoff 1.5 and she sticks it!
Bryant (LSU): Super high double front and she takes a very controlled lunge out of it. Solid front layout to Rudi. Switch ring to switch half. She must’ve changed her routine, I swore she did a front double twist at the end! Solid routine after a long wait!
After 2: LSU 98.850, Oregon State 98.800, Georgia 98.600, Nebraska 97.625
This rotation was a little shakier for some teams. Nebraska had some gorgeous bar routines, but couldn’t finish up with solid landings. Georgia showed some great beam routines, and Oregon State had some solid vaults but only had a 9.825 from Jade Carey, which isn’t quite what the Beavers are used to. LSU was strong on floor aside from Finnegan’s fall. Hopefully Finnegan can finish strong on vault and bars! LSU and Oregon State are leading right now, but Georgia is right behind them. No team is safe yet!
Rotation 3: LSU VT, Oregon State UB, Nebraska BB, Georgia FX
Williams (UGA): Nice high double pike to start out. Switch side to Popa, great flexibility. Front full to front layout was also solid. Nice double tuck to finish off!
Shchennikova (LSU): Yurchenko 1.5, nice form in the air and just a tiny hop forward.
Miller (OSU): Nice Maloney, just some leg seapartion. Good Pak too, just the legs. Takes a small hop back on the double layout. Her legs are just slightly apart the whole routine.
Brock (LSU): Yurchenko 1.5 and she sticks it! I didn’t think she’d get it around but she did!
Howard (UGA): Front tuck through to a double tuck, her chest was a little low on the landing. Switch half wolf full wolf full. Nice double pike to finish!
Finnegan (LSU): I will be honest I just looked up at the end of it but she stuck it! Great to see that after how beam and floor went!
Caso (OSU): Nice Maloney to Pak. Good Van Leeuwen up to the high bar. Stalder into a double tuck and she sticks it!
I didn’t see the routine but Nebraska has a 9.000 from Simpton
Bryant (LSU): Huge front handspring pike half as usual, but she takes a decent sized hop back on the landing.
Carey (OSU): Maloney to full twisting Pak was nice. Van Leeuwen had some sloppy feet. Her full in dismount was super high and she stuck it!
Uh oh, Nebraska now has a 9.400 from Allie Gard, they’ll have to count that.
Hamp (NIU): Nice Tkatchev, then a nice shootover that’s a little past handstand. Blind into a double layout and just a hop on the landing.
De Jong (UGA): Nice Rudi to back layout stepout to start! Switch side to wolf full. Finishes with a triple full, it was pretty controlled but her jump to her finish was pretty quick.
McClelland (UNL): Nice double wolf turn. Pretty cartwheel. Good flic lay. Straddle jump to beat jump to double stag. Nice landing on her dismount!
Hawthorne (UGA): Starts with a double layout and she had way too much power and jumped out of bounds (I think). Tour jete half to split full. Finishes with a front layout to a Rudi, she had a much better landing that time.
Nock (NIU): Starts with a stuck piked full in! Her chest was low but she definitely stuck it. Tour jete half to split full. Finishes with a stuck Rudi!
After 3: LSU 148.100, Oregon State 147.925, Georgia 147.850, Nebraska 146.250
Overall this was another pretty good rotation for the top contenders. Nebraska had another shaky rotation and only scored a 48.625 after counting a 9.400. The meet is still pretty close! LSU has a little bit of separation from the competition, but it still has to be strong on bars. As for Oregon State and Georgia, it’s within less than a tenth. Both teams have to put up their best routines if they want to advance!
Rotation 4: Georgia VT, LSU UB, Oregon State BB, Nebraska FX
De Jong (UGA): Yurchenko full, her knees may have touched on the landing because it was so low.
Peterson (OSU): Flic flic lay, it honestly looked a little crooked but she didn’t even wobble. Switch half to beat jump was solid. Finishes with a gainer pike and takes a tiny hop.
Finnegan (UGA): Yurchenko full, great body position and a hop back.
Dunne (LSU): Super high Tkatchev into her Pak. Hits the last handstand. Her double layout had some bent legs and she took a big step forward on the landing.
Angeny (UGA): Nice Yurchenko full, she flaired it out and just barely hopped on the landing.
Tatum (LSU): Beautiful Ray to Pak combination, just some foot separation on the Pak. Full in dismount, she squatted pretty low on the landing but I don’t think it’ll be a fall.
Cashman (UGA): Yurchenko full, some pike throughout and a hop backwards.
Letzsch (OSU): Front aerial to back tuck. split jump to ring jump. Front gainer full dismount and she stuck it!
Hawthorne (UGA): Nice Yurchenko full, just a small hop
Shchennikova (LSU): Nice Ray to Pak, her feet are glued together. Hits the last handstand and sticks the double layout! She piked it down but she stuck it.
Bryant (LSU):Blind into a nice Jaeger. Beautiful shootover. Hits the last handstand, and sticks the double front half out! Great anchor routine, they should be able to drop Dunne’s 9.650
Dagen (OSU): She’s following a 9.925 from Gonzales, so if she hits this could be big. Solid flic lay to start. Switch leap to switch half, a little shy of 180 on the switch half. Small wobble on the full turn. Nice landing on the roundoff 1.5
Carey (OSU): Front aerial to straddle jump. Nice flic lay. Switch leap to switch side. Side gainer full dismount and she slides her feet together! Nice solid routine!
Spence (UNL): Front tuck through to a double tuck, she had a little too much power and jumped back. Switch ring to tour jete half. Nice double pike, but steps forward into her finish.
Chambliss (GW): Super high double pike! Nice back 1.5 to front layout. Tour jete half to split 1.5. Nice double tuck to finish!
Final: LSU and Oregon State 197.375, Georgia 197.000, Nebraska 195.525
Well, LSU and Oregon State will be heading to the regional final on Sunday! Georgia sure did give them a run for their money though, it was close throughout the whole meet! Nebraska didn’t have its best showing today, but the Huskers definitely finished strong on floor.
Event Winners:
Vault: Dagen, 9.900
Bars: Bryant, 9.925
Beam: Bryant and Carey, 9.950
Floor: Carey, 9.975
All Around: Bryant, 39.700
READ THIS NEXT: 2023 Denver Regional Preview
Live blog by Emily Lockard
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