Big Five Session 1 with Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State and Nebraska at Maryland

Recap

The Big Storyline: This was an exciting one! Minnesota had a strong meet, playing with some lineup changes that worked for the most part. Illinois also put together a solid one and will be thrilled with that road number. There remains some long-term lineup questions with Arayah Simons out for the year, but the Illini showed good depth. Maryland lost sophomore Emma Silberman to an injury after bars; Alexsis Rubio got the surprise last-minute all around green light and had a hit meet. Ohio State and Nebraska each counted some numbers they’d rather not, but there were no complete meltdowns. 

Implications: In classic Big Ten fashion…we just don’t know! Good times. Minnesota and Illinois will definitely be in the conference championship evening session. Last year, the conference was planning to switch to a six-team afternoon and four-team evening format. Previously, it was always six evening, four afternoon. If the conference goes back to the old way, Maryland will join the Gophers and Illini. Iowa and Michigan are the session two sure things, with Ohio State waiting for the conference to tell us what’s happening. The Gophers surged to No. 5 in NQS rankings.

Records: Every team in this one scored a season-best bar total, and the Gophers set a new program record with their 49.575.

Controversies: Scores were a little bit happy. Lexy Ramler, star that she is, shouldn’t be getting 10s for vaults with bent knees. Also, see the note about season-bests on bars. Every team? Mmm.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 8 Minnesota, No. 19 Illinois, No. 21 Ohio State and No. 38 Nebraska at No. 26 Maryland

Why You Should Cancel Plans for It: This one is juicy. Teams will be vying to land in the top three to get a berth to the conference championship night session, and it’ll be tight. Minnesota should run away with the win here, but Illinois, Maryland and Ohio State will be duking it out for the next two spots. All three have highs in the mid 196s and averages in the 195s. Illinois and Ohio State should take the spots, but Maryland is absolutely capable of capitalizing on any mistakes. We can’t count out Nebraska, either. The Huskers have struggled but are capable of mid-195s. Misses at the top could open the door.

What We’re Watching: Minnesota nearly crushed its program record 197.700 last week, and it’ll be aiming at that number here. Illinois’ total has been slowly creeping up week after week, and you can bet the Illini have what would be only the third 197 in program history on their minds. Things could get interesting on beam, where any error from Lexy Ramler opens the door for Kynsee Roby or Mia Takekawa. 

What Else You Should Know Before Tuning In: Here’s your quick refresher on Big Fives! The top three teams from this session, together with the top three teams from session two, will qualify to the conference championship evening session. The remaining four teams land in the afternoon session. Any team from either session can win the championship, but it’s definitely a point of pride to be in the later session. In normal years, these meets also finish the in-conference regular season and determine a Big Ten regular season champion based on win-loss record. This year, both Michigan and Michigan State have cancelled or postponed conference duals due to COVID issues, so it remains unclear whether a regular season champion will be crowned after this week, or at all in 2021.