The Gym Dogs suffered a huge blow to their season today when Kaylan Earls tore her achilles tendon during practice while performing a double arabian. Kaylan was expected to contribute on all four events, which star potential on vault and floor. Kaylan had just upgraded her bar release to a tkatchev and was expected to contribute there as well. It will be difficult for the team to replace the tenths she was likely going to be adding to the total. After graduating Courtney McCool, Grace Taylor and Marcia Newby, the team was already losing a bunch of high-scoring routines that the incoming freshmen would unlikely be able to replace. Kaylan Earns, a rock-star level 10, was anticipated to help the team as a major contributor and their top freshmen. This leaves Jay scrambling as the team prepares to travel to Denver for their season opener on January 8th.
In order for Georgia to climb back into the Super Six, they really need everyone fit and healthy this year. The loss of Kaylan weakens them considerably. Unfortunately, the team is dealing with some injuries. Gina Nuccio has three herniated discs in her back and hasn't performed on vault or floor in several intrasquads over the last few weeks.
Kat Ding will only compete on bars in Denver if she competes at all. Kat has also been sitting out intrasquads on the leg events due to a stress fracture in her femur. Kat is critical to the team's success.
It is only a matter of time before Shayla has some sort of injury. This means we will likely be seeing Noel Couch in the All Around and will need to be seeing lots of Christa Tanella. This is when the wasted scholarship for Kati Breazeal is really biting Jay Clark in the ass.
Michigan State senior Kathryn Mahoney is in critical condition after fracturing her C6 vertebra while vaulting Wednesday. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family during this difficult time.
Blahtah freshman Alyssa Gale officially retired after being unable to recover from knee surgery. She will serve as the team manager. Victoria Shanley has mono and is unlikely to compete against UCLA during the season opener.
Victoria Komova heads back to Round Lake on January 5th and plans on competing at Russian Nationals in March if she is fully recovered from her sprained ankle. She sprained her ankle tripping over a mat in the gym. Her goals are to compete successfully at the European and World Championships.
Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Burbaker will compete at the Nesquik Cup in Torun, Poland Jan 6-9th. It is their first real competition, as they only had to compete a short program at Sectionals to qualify for Nationals and were the only senior pair in their sectional.
Elvis Stojko is touring Canada in the new 'Rock The Ice' show. His new tour looks to be a cringe-worthy experience with singing and skating performances from the two-time Olympic Silver Medalist. The Karate Kid will be joined by Delobel and Schoenfelder, Surya Bonaly, Gary Beacom and Emanuel Sandhu.
Universal Sports is airing a Bud Greenspan documentary every night for nine nights. The schedule:
"9 Nights of Glory" Television Schedule:
Saturday, Jan. 1 - Los Angeles '84 - 9:00 PM ET
Sunday, Jan. 2 - Calgary '88 - 9:00 PM ET
Monday, Jan. 3 - Lillehammer '94 - 9:00 PM ET
Tuesday, Jan. 4 - Atlanta '96 - 9:00 PM ET
Wednesday, Jan. 5 - Nagano '98 - 9:00 PM ET
Thursday, Jan. 6 - Sydney '00 - 9:00 PM ET
Friday, Jan. 7 - Salt Lake City '02 - 9:00 PM ET
Saturday, Jan. 8 - Athens '04 - 9:00 PM ET
Sunday, Jan. 9 - Torino '06 - 9:00 PM ET
Poor Kaylan Earls! Right before the season too. At least she's a frosh.
ReplyDeleteKaylan probably got injured because NTV was secretly videotaping her practices.
ReplyDeleteI guess they will medical redshirt Kaylan? Too bad for her, definitely! Dang is poor Nuccio ever going to be healthy? Heart/tachycardia, knee, now back? Poor thing! How serious is a stress fracture in a femur? How long has she been sitting out?
ReplyDeleteGeorgia is just going to hell fast with out Suzanne. Very sad. It is interesting that when it comes right down to it, I dont think he can do it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway really none of this means anything when you compare the gravity of Michigan States injury. Lets hope for the best.
Do you think Cat Hires will be able to come through and help? She has had a solid level ten career and they really don't have that many options.
ReplyDeleteLosing three of their (few) stars is very very unfortunate; this is where they really need Tanella on three events. She could have done well on floor last year, all she needed was the endurance for the third pass.
well the injuries are definitly an obstacle for the Gymdogs, but the Hope and spirits are not lost. Georgia is for sure struggling, but doesn't every team go through adversity??? Don't count Georgia out yet....the season has not even started!
ReplyDeleteI actually tend to think Suzanne bailed because the recruiting wasn't what it had been, she went out in a blaze of glory or whatever. She had the Cory Fritzinger era that was really amazing but never got a championship, then she had the Katie Heenan/Courtney Kupets era with those five championships, and while Georgia is always going to be very good and will probably come back, there was no way the athletes they brought in after that were going to be quite as good. It's not really fair to expect that of them.
ReplyDeleteWhen Suzanne left, they had Worley and Tanella coming in---the most recruited gymnasts of their year. She really did retire because it was the right time...she had a few sick family members as well.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with losing Kaylan is that she was going to bring in 9.85s+ and 9.9s+. Unfortunately, Georgia's other freshmen aren't really 9.9 girls...each of them may have one event tops. Cat Hires is solid, but she is the type who really needs to improve in college to do well. Replacing McCool/Taylor/Newby with a 9.75/9.8 just doesn't cut it. This injury really hurts them because Jay has said all along that depth was going to be an issue. Missing Nuccio and Ding on several events will hurt the team score. They should still be able to beat Denver, but it is unlikely to be the start of the season that they were hoping for.
thanks for the honest reply.
ReplyDeleteHow does one get a stress fracture in their femur!? Oh my.
ReplyDeleteThat is about the motliest crew for a show I've ever heard about.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Jay take over recruiting for the last 4-5 years anyway? I think Suzanne was just done. She had won 5 years in a row, it was time to retire on a good note.
ReplyDeleteThe Dawg's post streak slump is reminiscent of UCLA in 2005-08 where they were just riddled with injuries and lackluster performances and a few questionable recruits that didn't pull their weight. I suspect that after a few years Jay can right things.