This and That

Skate For The Heart airs tomorrow, from 4-6 PM ET on NBC.  Joannie Rochette, Jeremy Abbott, Johnny Weir and Sasha Cohen will all be performing.

Ivana Hong is set to compete on all four events at the WOGA Classic.  Ivana was back in physical shape around August and has been training on all events since that time.  WOGA is buzzing that her new bar routine had potential.  It was evident that Valeri was working on her technique by 2009 Nationals, but it appeared that she was caught between the new and the familiar.  Ivana may pull off a spot on the world team this year, but her Olympic hopes depend on her being quite usable on the Uneven Bars and learning to be a sturdier competitor in general.

Paul Hamm is hoping to compete at the Winter Cup.  He broke a rib in October, but is back training all events at Swiss Turners with Andrei Kan.  Paul previously trained at the USOTC, which tends to have a frat-like reputation.  If Paul is going to ascend the ranks of international gymnastics again, training at home with the coaches who made him who he is can only been seen as a positive thing.  Miles Avery was not a true technician.  He was a third or fourth set of eyes for Paul, but Morgan and Paul largely trained themselves at Ohio State.  Paul is going to need to upgrade and be creative with the code in order to be competitive, which training at home gives him the best potential of doing.

UCLA fell to Southern Utah last night while putting up their B/C lineup.  Their top half of the lineup (A lineup) just isn't strong enough at contend in the post season (at this point in time.)  UCLA is struggling with momentum this season, but this meet could be the swift kick in the ass they need.  The Bruins didn't appear upset enough after losing to Stanford at home last week.  They can't just rely on Peszek, as they need way more than just her scores.  It appears that Mizuki Sato was carried off the mat after dismounting the balance beam.  Early reports indicate that she tore her ACL.  Mizuki was definitely someone they were looking for to be consistent on balance beam.  MDLT tweaked her knee during the vault lineups.

UF continued their winning ways last night.  They didn't break the 197 mark, which is probably good for a team that has suffered from peaking too soon in the past.  There have been years where they would've broken a 197 during the first meet of the season.  Rhonda has lineups to play around with, as it is unclear who will make the beam and floor lineups down the stretch.  Ashanee Dickerson won the AA again despite a 9.55 on beam.  Alaina Johnson didn't compete beam, but won bars and vault for the team.  Marissa King is going to add her double layout on floor and tsuk 1 1/2 back on vault later during the season.  The coaches are pacing her this season after she competed elite over the summer and strained a pectoral muscle during preseason.  She is not competing bars yet, but they may not need her to focus on that event this season.  Macko Caquatto nailed bars and tallied a 9.725 on beam.  If Macko can learn to compete beam, she will be an asset on that event.  She remains a bit of a nail-biter on that event, but most freshmen tend to be.

Oregon State continues to be a team that everyone is buzzing about.  Their improvement has been steady over the past few seasons.