NCAA Week 1: January 5, 2022- January 9, 2022

[irichluck21]

Courtesy of Spencer:

NCAA Week 1 – Schedule and Links

[wpdatatable id=18] Links will continue to be added as they become available. COVID Withdrawals [13] Arizona State has postponed its opening day meet against [12] Kentucky due to COVID.The Collegia…

balancebeamsituation.com

Wednesday, January 5
CANCELED: [12] Kentucky @ [13] Arizona State

Thursday, January 6
7:00pm ET, 4:00pm PT [15] Georgia @ [1] Michigan
Scores BTN+ ($)
Friday, January 7
7:00pm ET, 4:00pm PT Centenary @ [5] LSU
Scores SEC Network
7:00pm ET, 4:00pm PT Rutgers, Northern Illinois, TWU @ [2] Florida
– SEC+
7:00pm ET, 4:00pm PT [14] Auburn, Bowling Green @ North Carolina
Scores YouTube
7:00pm ET, 4:00pm PT Penn State, Penn @ Temple
Scores ESPN+ ($)
7:00pm ET, 4:00pm PT Gustavus Adolphus @ UW-La Crosse
– Free Stream
7:30pm ET, 4:30pm PT Nebraska @ [20] Iowa State
Scores ESPN+ ($)
7:30pm ET, 4:30pm PT Hamline @ UW-Eau Claire

---

8:00pm ET, 5:00pm PT [22] Ohio State @ [11] Arkansas
– SEC+
8:00pm ET, 5:00pm PT Ball State, Illinois State, SEMO @ [16] Missouri
– SEC+
9:00pm ET, 6:00pm PT BEST OF UTAH: [4] Utah, [19] BYU, [25] Southern Utah, Utah State
Scores BYUTV (Free)
Saturday, January 8
6:00pm ET, 3:00pm PT Eastern Michigan, Lindenwood @ [18] Iowa
– BTN+ ($)
9:30pm ET, 6:30pm PT COLLEGIATE CHALLENGE: [13] Arizona State, [17] Oregon State, Arizona, Washington
None None
Sunday, January 9
1:00pm ET, 10:00am PT [6] Alabama @ [3] Oklahoma
Scores ESPN2
1:00pm ET, 10:00am PT [23] Illinois @ Central Michigan

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1:00pm ET, 10:00am PT LIU, Brown, West Chester @ Yale
– ESPN+ ($)
2:00pm ET, 11:00am PT Towson, Southern Connecticut @ New Hampshire
Scores –
4:00pm ET, 1:00pm PT San Jose State @ [10] Denver
Scores –
5:00pm ET, 2:00pm PT Michigan State, Sacramento State @ UC Davis

---

 

[dweiss324]

Can’t believe the first meet of the season got canceled . Oh dear, off to a great start. Im sure I wasn’t the only one looking forward to it

 

[irichluck21]

Can’t believe the first meet of the season got canceled . Oh dear, off to a great start. Im sure I wasn’t the only one looking forward to it

Kentucky vs ASU was gonna be a great match up.
Looking forward most to Alabama and Oklahoma. It will likely be close and we have to see how Oklahoma does without Webb and if their freshmen level 10 can step up.

 

[dweiss324]

I was especially looking forward to the ASU / Kentucky match because Spencer hadn’t previewed either team and they’re neck and neck in preseason rankings! One of the few meets I was able to go into mostly blind. I was pumped for it.

Definitely interested to see how OU looks… and Utah… and auburn… Alabama and LSU both should be a good show this year, and being in Georgia, im looking forward to seeing Michigan / Georgia especially, but both for very different reasons.

 

[MLSWAG]

I had been looking forward to Cal.

 

[RedBirdie]

More schedule changes:

1/7
Collegiate Challenge CANCELLED

1/8
SEMO withdraws from quad @ Missouri

1/9
Southern Connecticut withdraws from tri meet @ UNH

 

[irichluck21]

Rough meet for UGA 194.500, had to count falls on UB, BB, and 9.575 on FX.

Michigan with a huge 197.750 to start the season.
They used only 7 gymnasts. 5 AAers (Heiskell, Wilson, Wojick, Morrison, Brooks) Guggino on all but UB and Brenner back from last season’s injury on UB only.
This team has huge depth!

 

[dweiss324]

And the scoring wasn’t even that crazy. I think if I counted correctly, Michigan counted only (only lol) 2 9.9s, 2 9.925s, and 2 9.95s. Seems like a lot of room to grow, if some of those 9.85s become 9.9+, and if anyone starts scoring a 9.975 or 10. And didn’t they count a 9.775 on beam? You can easily see a 198 happening soon and often. Awesome start to the season.

Georgia on the other hand… Sub 195 is no bueno. Even for an early meet. Yikes.

 

[makam]

I lost power and internet with the storm in DC on Monday. Got my power back this morning, but no internet. I was really excited to watch and play fantasy gymnastics, but since I couldn’t even pick a team for the first week, I think that means I am dunno. Hope I get internet back for next week. (I don’t have unlimited mobile so no phone videos. Its like the dark ages man!)

 

[irichluck21]

And the scoring wasn’t even that crazy.

The quick hits on Balance Beam Situation and College Gym News suggest that a few of Michigan’s scores were a bit high, but nothing suspicious.
Spencer said that it was a performance that would stand up in March during championships season.

 

[dweiss324]

That’s exactly what I mean. It’s easy to imagine a stronger performance and cracky judging to both be very likely and repeatable events going forward.

 

[irichluck21]

Florida put up a 197.675 so definitely shots fired.

Florida didn’t put full difficulty out there either. Looks like they opted for several Yurchenko fulls.
Ellie Lazzarri didn’t compete either.

With a team that size and to have that much depth, it makes sense to pace the team, especially when going up against teams that are not in the top 30 such as Rutgers, Northern Illinois, and TWU.
Kinda shocked at Rutgers going 192 but they had rough bars and beam having to count an 8.6 on bars and a 9.0 on beam.

 

[irichluck21]

Auburn with a nice 196.250 to start the season. Suni got a 9.775 (hit foot on low bar) and 9.875 on UB/BB respectively.
UNC with a great start at 195.700.

LSU just missed 197 with a 196.950.
KJ Johnson flexing her freshman muscles with 9.900 on VT/FX.
Haleigh Bryant did not do FX which is surprising, so maybe pacing her or protecting an injury?
Kai Rivers returned to VT/UB with 9.875 on each.
Sami Durante and Bridget Dean fell on UB/BB respectively. Typically these are big scores at the end of the line up and not scores that are dropped.
LSU definitely going to improve since last season with KJ on the team and Kai Rivers returning from injury. Also Aleah Finnegan was not in any line ups and she should be cracking a few of them.

Penn State defeated Penn and Temple with a 194.275.Temple handed the meet over to Temple after the second rotation with a mid 47 total on bars. They counted an 8.900 into the team total.

Iowa State edged Nebraska 194.450-194.425. Nebraska freshman Emma Spence making an immediate impact on the team with the AA win. Kynsee Roby, senior at Nebraska returned from injury after red shirting last year and would have won the AA if not for a fall on bars. with Roby back and the addition of Emma Spence, things are looking up for Nebraska after failing to make regionals last year.

Missouri had a fantastic season opener with a 196.600 win over Illinois State and Ball State.
Missouri has to be considered the dark horse at this point and will likely be a 197.500 team come March should they continue to improve from their first meet. Hannah McCrary who is usually good for a 9.800 on beam and 9.9 on floor only went 9.700 and 9.675 respectively. Both scores were dropped. So McCrary’s performances alone probably kept the team from 197.00. Sienna Schreiber was also not as sharp on VT/UB as she typically is going 9.750 on bars when her NQS last year was 9.875.

Arkansas went 195.450 to win against Ohio State 195.025.
Emma Kelley had her NCAA debut with a 9.8 on VT. Kennedy Hambrick won the AA. Leah Smith didn’t compete for Arkansas so those are some missed scores.
Up next for Arkansas will be Auburn. Arkansas will have to do a bit better everywhere and turn some of those 9.800-9.825s into 9.900 to compete with Auburn.

Utah won the best of Utah with a 197.100 of their own. Utah State, BYU, Southern Utah finished 2-4 with unranked Utah State upsetting 19 BYU and 25 SUU.
Cristal Isa won UB/BB. Grace McCallum only got a 9.325 on bars to put her below 39 in the AA. She did go 9.9 on vault, 9.875 on beam, and 9.850 on floor. So McCallum once McCallum gets into her groove on bars she is looking like a 39.6 AAer and able to go 9.9 across the board for Utah. Kara Eaker went 9.875 on beam and 9.800 on floor. Maile O’Keefe was rested on VT/FX and went 9.875 and 9.850 on bars and beam.
Utah’s beam should be one of the best int he country in a few weeks, once a few of those 9.875s turn into 9.9+

 

[arabiandoublefront]

From the score, I thought NIU had a pretty nice start at Florida. I can remember when they would start in the 192-193 range. I wasn’t able to watch the competition because I was watching figure skating nationals.

 

[dweiss324]

Thanks for such a thorough update Rich.

Saw on Reddit that Kara eaker got injured on a vault warmup (missed hands, hit head???) And saw haleigh Bryant with her ankle on ice during the floor rotation. Hope neither is serious because that would be devastating for all of us.

 

[blake]

I think Spencer mentioned Bryant was sitting and icing an ankle after beam. No clue if it was precautionary or something serious.

Haleigh Bryant did not do FX which is surprising, so maybe pacing her or protecting an injury?

Durante also hyperextended her elbow last night and had to be carried off.

 

[david]

One Durante had a great night last night: UNC’s highest first meet score in program history is an impressive way to kick off Danna Durante’s return to NCAA

 

[dweiss324]

Bbbbb, forgot about Durante too getting injured. Sucks.

 

[jezmerallia]

I was honestly shocked by how bad GA looked. I thought they looked pretty terrible during their preview too but I also thought they had a few weeks to improve. They seem to have the skills but they don’t seem to have the fitness they need to perform them. I don’t see any improvements at all.

 

[dweiss324]

They weren’t even like, able to get through routines. It’s one thing to have a mediocre routine that’s a reliable 9.7. it’s quite another to have all those 9.7s getting high 8s and 9.2s because they literally can’t get through their routines.

Also I just can’t handle the Florida and Oklahoma overscoring (and LSU was just…). At least OU didn’t come as close to the Michigan score like Florida did. I am fully on board the Michigan train at this point.