This week in NCAA, the unofficial model was “go big or go home” with the conclusion of the conference championships marking the official close of the NCAA Gymnastics regular season and the beginning of the post season.
While there were a couple of upsets, the teams mostly performed as expected. At the Big 10 Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, Michigan took home their 22nd BIG Ten team title and won for the third straight year in a row with a 197.125. After almost being relegated to the morning session after a near disastrous performance at the qualifying meet the week before, Michigan was back on track and successfully defended their title. Nicole Artz, the 2015 Big Ten all-around champion was back to her usual self this week after crashing her beam dismount at the Big Five Qualifier event a week prior. She performed solid beam and floor sets, receiving a 9.925 on beam and a 9.975 on floor as the anchor performer, securing the win for Michigan. But it was Minnesota’s Lindsay Mable who beat Artz for the individual all-around title with a 39.650. She tied for the first place title on beam with a near perfect routine.
The host, Nebraska placed second to Michigan, but only by a couple of tenths, with a 196.900.
In Texas, Oklahoma secured a fifth straight Big 12 Championship scoring the third 198 of the season. Their biggest competition was the newest BIG 12 conference member, Denver, who placed second with a 196.725. Chayse Capps won the all-around with a 39.600, contributing three scores of 9.9 and above on bars, beam and floor. Keeley Kmieciak received her first perfect ten of the season on uneven bars.
In the SEC, it was Florida who upset Alabama for the SEC title. Last year, Alabama slowly moved up in the standings while their competitors faltered around them. This year, Florida put up big gymnastics, big scores and won the title. They didn’t come out completely unscathed. Bridget Sloan struggled for the third time this season on beam, falling on an aerial cartwheel and received only a 9.150. The Gators easily made up for Sloan’s beam falter and were able to drop that score and still received the highest beam score of any team in the SEC of 49.425. Despite Sloan’s fall, Florida did not count a beam score lower than Ericha Fassbender’s 9.825. On beam, Peyton Ernst, who was not originally in the line-up contributed a solid 9.875 after having some inconsistency the past couple weeks. Ernst switched her flight series to front aerial to back tuck, the same series she was doing at the start of the season.
The Gators were not the highest scoring team on any other event, but they were the most consistent. However, Alabama gave Florida a run for their money, and placed second to them only by 0.025. Alabama had the advantage of more depth as Florida used four all-arounders, having Alex McMurtry perform in the all-around for only the second time all-year, placing second to teammate, Kennedy Baker with a 39.625. Alabama tied Florida’s vault score of 49.425; Alabama had three Yurchenko 1 & ½’s from Lauren Beers, Nickie Guerrero and Mack Brannan. Brannan tied Kennedy Baker for the vault title with a 9.95. On bars, Alabama took the highest total with a 49.550, only 0.05 higher than Florida. Katie Bailey and Kiana Winston both tied with a 9.95. Winston showed solid difficulty with a Ray to Pak salto and dismounting with a beautiful double layout, perfectly stuck. Alabama started the night on beam, while Florida had the advantage of starting on vault.
LSU took the third place spot with a 197.500. They started off on bars and suffered a fall from Sarah Finnegan, who only scored a 9.325. Myia Hambrick had the highest bars score for the team with a 9.925, putting her in a four-way tie for third with Mack Brannan of Alabama, Alex McMurtry and Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto of Florida. LSU experienced another hiccup on beam when Juliana Cannamela only scored a 9.65. Sarah Finnegan made up for her bars snafu by scoring a 9.925 on beam, showing poise and control with her triple wolf turn. LSU had the highest floor score with a 49.550, capped off with a 10.00 from Ashleigh Gnat. Gnat’s 10.00 was the third consecutive 10.00 she received on floor exercise and her sixth of the season.
Auburn placed fourth in the evening session with a 196.975, but not without a fight. They started with a solid floor rotation, capped off with a 9.9 from Caitlin Atkinson, who opened her routine with a huge tucked full in. At the end of the first rotation, Auburn was second to Florida with a 49.350 for floor. However, they fell behind on the second rotation when they went to vault. Taylor Krippner scored only a 9.6. They were able to drop her score, but some hops and shuffles on landings kept Auburn from breaking a 9.85. They came back with a good bars rotation, with Kait Kluz earning a 9.9, putting her in a four way tie for seventh with Bridget Sloan and Kennedy Baker of Florida and Amanda Jetter of Alabama.
Georgia, the top finisher of the afternoon session with a 196.850, landed in fifth place overall. Brandie Jay was the all-around winner of that session with a 39.575, tying her for third overall with Mack Brannan of Alabama. Jay also tied for first overall on vault, receiving a 9.95 for her Yurchenko one and a half. Arkansas, the hosts landed in sixth with a 196.500, Kentucky placed seventh in the conference with a 196.250, with Sidney Dukes finishing sixth overall in the all-around with a 39.400. Dukes also received a 9.9 on beam tied for fourth overall with Keely McNeer of Alabama, Ashleigh Gnat of LSU and Lexus Demers and Abby Milliet of Auburn and in eighth, Missouri with a 195.750.
At the PAC 12 Championships, the 2015 conference champions, Utah failed to defend their title. Utah started on beam and they were not able to overcome their nerves enough to put up six solid routines. With Maddy Stover out with a shoulder injury, the line-ups had to be shuffled around to account for her not anchoring Utah’s line-up. The pressure was on from the first routine. Samantha Partyka completely missed her foot on her flight series and only scored a 9.3. Sadly, Utah wound up having to count Partyka’s fall when Makenna Merrill fell in the third line-up spot on a front aerial and only scored a 9.150. Visibly shaken, Merrill had another big balance check on her back handspring to layout step out series. Baely Rowe salvaged Utah’s beam line-up, moonwalking her way to a 9.95 and Breanna Hughes in the anchor position scored a 9.9. However, it was not enough to save the rotation and Utah only received a 48.775, landing them in fourth to start off with. They managed to place third overall. Utah had the highest floor and vault scores of the night with a 49.475 and 49.400 respectively. After their disaster of a beam rotation, Utah put up a huge floor rotation. Baely Rowe lead off the Utes on floor with a 9.9 despite having music issues at the start of her routine. Makenna Merrill made up for her beam snafu with a 9.9, opening with a front double full to a punch front and ending with a beautiful front handspring to Rudi. Tiffani Lewis put up a big 9.925 and Utah was able to drop Samantha Partyka’s 9.8 after she stepped out of bounds.
It was UCLA who stole the PAC 12 championship title out from under Utah’s nose. They started off slow on vault, only scoring a 49.125, counting scores from a range of 9.8 – 9.85 after Madison Preston botched her vault in the anchor position, only receiving a 7.8. UCLA took the top spot in the second rotation after their bar rotation, earning the highest bars score of the night with a 49.300, despite a fall from Melissa Metcalf. By this point, the other three teams in this session, Oregon State, Utah and California were in a four-way tie for second with a 98.250. By their third rotation on the beam, UCLA had secured their spot on top with a huge beam set, scoring 49.575, all six beam performers scored a 9.9 and above. Lead off performer Mikaela Gerber started the trend with her usual solid beam set and Sonya Meraz, who had a nasty fall against Oklahoma last weekend, performed another solid beam set. Danusia Francis in the anchor position sealed the win for UCLA with a 9.95. Sadiqua Bynum put the finishing touches on floor for UCLA with a 9.9 to add to their 49.250 for floor and UCLA won with a 197.250.
Oregon State placed second overall with a 196.925. This bumped their place in the rankings to tie for 13th with Arkansas. Oregon State had the second highest beam score with a 49.525. Maddie Gardiner in the anchor position tied for first overall with teammate Risa Perez. Both showed off beautiful control and flexibility; Gardiner with her beautiful wolf turn to split mount and Perez with a lovely side scale after her flight series. Katyianna McMillian showed some variety in her floor routine with a backspin. It was a huge triumph for this team. They struggled with consistency after loosing top performers to injury, only to fight their way back.
Cal placed fourth overall, scoring a 196.725, their best score in school history at the PAC 12’s. For Cal, being seeded third and finishing fourth overall is a great way to end the regular season. Cal showed incredible depth on every event. Toni Ann Williams provided a big 9.925 on floor exercise with a double layout-opening pass. She was followed by anchor Zoe Draghi who scored a 9.9, for high, powerful and clean tumbling. Charlie Owens lead off Cal on floor with a routine to the vintage strains of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams,” earning her a 9.85. On beam, Cal took the third highest score with a 49.250. Emily Richardson anchored the beam for Cal and received a 9.9 after sticking a difficult round off to double back dismount. Cal’s solid performance boosted them up to the 10th spot in the rankings, usurping Denver for the top ten ranking.
Scoring a season high to win the MPSF championships, Sacramento State scored a huge 196.300, a full point over second place finisher, UC Davis. Teammates Kailliah McCartney and Lauren Rice went one two in the all-around with a 39.45 and a 39.325 respectively. The biggest routine was M’rcy Matsunami of Alaska Anchorage on uneven bars. She showed huge difficulty with a diverse repertoire of skills. She started off with a toe on counter kim salto (a skill rarely seen even in elite), from there, she transitioned to the low bar with a bail to handstand and went back to the high bar with a toe shoot and dismounted with a beautiful, clean stuck full in dismount. She received a 9.8 and tied for second with teammate Marie- Sophie Boggasch, San Jose State’s Rachel Heini, Kailiah McCartney of Sacremento State and Danielle Judal of UC Davis.
This week – the teams are all on a bye this week as they prepare for Regionals, being held April 2nd. 36 teams qualified to the regionals based on their rankings. There are six regionals sites and the top two teams to qualify from each regional will go on to the NCAA Championships April 15-16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Full Regionals qualifying lists and preview to come soon.
Results via RoadtoNationals.com:
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.3
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.3
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.375
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.85
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
191.45
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
197.775
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
197.75
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
197.5
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.975
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.85
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.5
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.25
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.75
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
197.125
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.9
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.575
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.15
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.875
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.475
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.875
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.175
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.775
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.025
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
197.25
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.925
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.925
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.725
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.125
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.525
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.3
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
191.725
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
198.05
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.725
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.925
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.35
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.15
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.55
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.525
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.05
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.925
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.55
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.425
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.65
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.625
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.6
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.325
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.975
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.9
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.675
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.525
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.35
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.975
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.5
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.875
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.925
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
194.375
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.325
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.825
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
191.625
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
188.825
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
197.025
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.575
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
196.1
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.875
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
195.125
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.325
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
191.3
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.925
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.55
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.55
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.05
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.525
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.15
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
Team Score
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193.65
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
193
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
192.925
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
191.65
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
188.2
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
<td>
186.5
</td>
<td>
</td>
<td width="73">
</td>
Article by: Maria Layton
Photo cover source