Fisk, Ohio State and Rutgers at Georgia

Recap

The Big Storyline: Freshmen across the board turned in clutch performances at this meet, but none more impressive than Morgan Price. She led Fisk to its first team score over 190 and earned her first all-around title over seasoned veterans Hannah Joyner and Haley De Jong (at head coach Corrinne Wright Tarver’s alma mater, no less). The Nashville Bulldogs even tied their Athens counterparts for second after the first rotation.

Implications: Despite a second consecutive road win over an SEC opponent, the Buckeyes couldn’t maintain their Week 1 pace and will fall out of the top 10 nationally. However, they should remain No. 2 in the Big Ten for now with Michigan State less than a tenth behind. Similarly, a shaky meet for the Scarlet Knights will drop their overall rank without affecting their conference standing. Georgia’s performance was good enough to keep it in the top 20 and overtake Arkansas for seventh place in the SEC. 

Records: Frequent record turnover is to be expected during a program’s inaugural season, but Fisk notably improved on its previous high floor score by over a point and its bars high by nearly two points.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 10 Ohio State, No. 32 Rutgers and No. 49 Fisk at No. 20 Georgia

Why You Should Make Time to Tune in: Georgia legend Corrinne Tarver and her Fisk Bulldogs are coming off of their historic program debut at Super 16 that included a spectacular vault by former five-star recruit Morgan Price. Rutgers and Georgia also turned in steady, (mostly) fall-free efforts in Las Vegas punctuated by some seriously impressive routines on all four events. The Gymdogs tend to save their best performances for home, but they’re going to have to be nearly perfect to challenge the Buckeyes. Ohio State turned in a breakout performance last weekend that launched them into the national top 10 with a near-197. 

Need More Proof? Expect the team and all-around competitions to take a backseat at this quad. All four teams favor specialists over all-arounders, and all four teams had gymnasts break 9.900 last weekend, so the event titles truly are up for grabs.