Air Force at Southern Utah

Recap

The Big Storyline: This was Air Force’s season debut. The Falcons began their 2021 campaign in better fashion than in 2020, though they seemed to run out of gas at times, especially on floor. Last year after the initial hiccup, they got accustomed to scoring in the 193s, and they undoubtedly want to aim for the same results this season as well. Luckily for them, Tyler Davis was back on vault and bars after tearing her Achilles last season. Her nearly stuck Yurchenko full was a beauty. For Southern Utah, this was the second meet of the season after debuting at the Best of Utah last week, and it outscored its season opener by over one point. The Thunderbirds avoided last week’s beam disaster but still showed some nerves, as well as some landing problems all around, preventing them from aiming at the big, though inconsistent, 197-plus scores of last season. Michigan alumna Polina Shchennikova debuted as volunteer assistant coach for Air Force.

Implications: SUU’s improved performance this week was enough to overtake Utah State for second place in the MRGC behind BYU. The battle for the conference title between the Thunderbirds and the Cougars may be closer than scores currently show, as BYU is also showing some uncharacteristic inconsistencies.