Things are really heating up in this second full week of the NCAA gymnastics season. We’ve already had a lot of excitement with even more yet to come. In The Mount this week, we take an in-depth look at five matchups and choose who we think will come out victorious. But we don’t want to be the only ones with opinions. We want to hear yours too! So play along by answering who you think will win each matchup by participating in the polls. And if you feel strongly about your choices, feel free to let us know in the comments below.
The records so far for our 2016 season college pick em are as follows: Emily (3-2), Elizabeth (4-1), fan vote (3-2). We’re also taking a slightly less in-depth look at eight more meets and providing you with all the links and information you’ll need to tune in to the schedule’s 32 Division-I competitions between today and Monday.
UCLA pleasantly surprised fans in its meet against Alabama to open the 2016 season. While most expected quite a slow start, the Bruins came out relatively strong and wound up with the win over the Crimson Tide. While bars and vault need a lot of work, beam and floor look like major strengths for the team in 2016. Florida, on the other hand, looked like it took a huge dose of Xanax on the bus ride over or like it never fully woke up from sleeping eight hours earlier. The Gators will need to bring the energy if they want to not only improve upon last week’s results but come out with the win. But who are we kidding? Florida at home means this competition will most likely not even be close. However, mistakes here and there could add up and the Bruins could be flying back to UCLA winners.
0 Comments
We’ve got one full weekend of NCAA gymnastics under our belts, which means lots of leotards were worn that need to be judged. And we’re here to do just that with some simple criteria: up to three points for design; two points for fabric, sparkle, etc.; and two points for school spirit; three points for overall appearance.
We’ll be looking at leotards we saw that caught our eye — in either a good way or a bad one. Then we’ll tally up the scores and average them with the previous week’s. So by the end of the season, we’ll know for sure which team has the best leotards (according to us) and which teams not to much. We want to know what you thought too (or if we forgot one of your favorites from this weekend)! Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter.
UNC
Score: 8.4
Oregon State
Score: 8.4
Tier 1: The “Yeah, We Knew You’d Do Well, No Duh” Tier
1. Michigan 2. LSU 3. Oklahoma 4. Florida
The first full weekend of NCAA gymnastics is finally over and man were there some exciting matchups! From Denver’s Nina McGee scoring her first ever perfect 10 on floor to George Washington’s 196+ team total to Missouri upsetting Illinois, LSU upsetting Oklahoma, UCLA upsetting Alabama and N.C. State upsetting Penn State — we’re not sure we could have dreamed of a more exciting start to 2016. Read all about the 26 Division-I competitions from this past weekend and click the various links for full results, each team’s recaps, highlight videos, photo galleries and more!
No. 1 Oklahoma at No. 5 LSU: Full Results | Storify | LSU Video Highlights
LSU: 196.95 | Oklahoma: 196.725 VT: Gnat, Wyrick 9.9 | UB: Wofford 9.95 | BB: Finnegan 9.925 | FX: Gnat 9.95 | AA: Hambrick 39.45
The competition was neck-and-neck the entire time, but a late beam fall from Oklahoma and strong performances on floor to close out LSU’s night proved to be the difference maker. Tiger freshman Sarah Finnegan completed an outstanding beam routine for a 9.925 while Gnat closed the show with a bang on floor for a 9.95. While both teams had mistakes, the Sooners held the slight lead going into the last rotation. However, a fall from Kara Lovan, even though the routine still went 9.425, ultimately sealed the deal for LSU. The competition was a strong start for both teams, and the outcome really could have gone either way. But the night belonged to the Tigers.
No. 2 Florida at TWU: Full Results | Florida Photo Gallery | Florida Interviews
Florida: 196.825 | TWU: 191.45 VT: McMurtry 9.925 | UB: Sloan 9.9 | BB: Fassbender, Boren 9.9 | FX: Sloan, Baker 9.9 | AA: Sloan 39.5
In Florida’s first meet under head coach Jenny Rowland, the Gators had a slow start with scoring a 49.2 or lower on their first three events. While it did not count toward the team score, Boren fell on what was the team’s only Yurchenko one and a half. On beam, Florida looked more comparable to its success in previous years with a pair of 9.9s from Boren and Fassbender. Ernst also made her collegiate debut with a 9.875 on beam. Sloan finished with a 39.5 all around. TWU opened its season with a decent meet and a few mistakes that give the team room for improvement. For a complete recap, check out our quick hits.
No. 3 Alabama at No. 6 UCLA: Full Results | UCLA Photo Gallery
UCLA: 196.55 | Alabama: 196.3 VT: Brannan 9.9 | UB: bailey, Winston 9.9 | BB: Lee, Francis 9.95 | FX: Mossett, Bynum 9.95 | AA: Brannan 39.35
All team scores are in for this past weekend's slate of competitions and the top 25 in the rankings are very interesting. While most teams have only competed once so far this season — or up to two times at most — the standings are purely those team totals (or averages for the two-meet teams) in order. Rankings will remain based on average until the beginning of February where the method will switch to the RQS system.
|
Days until the 2017 National ChampionshipsArchives
July 2017
|