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March out is starting!!! We all have official NCAA gay rainbow sticks!!!
3:57pm - Obnoxious UCLA arena PUMP UP THE CROWD DUDE is here, and they're finally doing the camera flash test. The NCAA was so concerned about flash photography that this did not happen at all yesterday. Besides, the OU leotards provide thousands more flashes.
4:06 - Competition has begun, and Spicer hits beam for Florida - step on the gainer full dismount, bobble on the gainer layout stepout. Spears nails her fty for OU and we're off!
4:07 - Spicer goes 9.825 and Sloan mounts. She nails the bhs lso acro series, then follows it up with a nailed front aerial, back handspring. Covers a bobble on her aerial, and sticks the double full.
4:10 - and Ashanee Dickerson has a fall on beam - unhappy Gator chomp. 2 seconds earlier, the crowd gasped as DeJesus caught her Gienger insanely close, but still hung on. Dickerson goes hipster and ironically cold-sticks the double back dismount.
4:13 - Hunter is off on her acro series and already Florida is counting a fall - it's now anyone's Supah Six. Shocking.
4:15 - Hunter goes 9.35, Courtney nails her bars dismount for UCLA and goes 9.875, and Macko mounts beam for the now desperate Gators. She nails everything, and Zam is swinging bars and hitting every single handstand. Cold stick dismount for Zam, Caquatto goes clean, and there is now arena joy.
4:17 - Zam goes 9.925 as Couch's Superman music starts on fx for Georgia. Macko goes 9.85 as King nervously awaits mounting.
4:20 - HEY IT'S 4:20 ON 4/20!!! King must've vaporized something good (UCLA! Is! A! Smoke! Free! Campus!) because she hits beam and 2 judges flash 9.95, then a 9.9 and 9.85 for 9.925 total. Jay's routine starts with her huge open tucked full-in - she's the only competitor now. OOB on front double full front tuck.
4:22 - the Gators are trying to pump themselves up, but Sloan's 9.95 is little consolation - they're in last place. Everyone! March to your second event!
4;23 - All right, now we really need to toke up - and Xanax. UCLA on what Florida just made butter beam. Flashy crimson & glitter and one sleeve Bama of the Ala is on floor - don't get seizures from the sparkles flashing with the 10 cuts of music. LSU is out with PURPLE purple leos with a flashy gold V right where many of the ESPN male viewers wanted it.
4:30 - One touch is over, and Priess starts floor with a large lunge back on her opening double tuck. Baer mounts beam for UCLA as Davis nails an fty for Georgia. Slight wobble on Baer's side flip. Dismount acro series - hits, disguises step with a quick salute. Couch with a low fty with hop forward.
4:34 - Wong really hits beam for UCLA, slight hop forward on her 1.5 dismount for a 9.825. Rodgers has just stuck her 1.5y cold for Georgia and goes 9.875. DeJesus on beam nails her acro series, then her toss front changement. Cheek ruins a stick by leaning to the side on her fty. Is this enough action for you kittens?
4:38 - Cheek goes 9.85 as Bama start to build on floor with their fans cheering. Courtney now on beam for UCLA as DeJesus is awarded 9.875. Courtney is off on her series and touches the beam.
4:39 - And now Courtney has fallen on a front toss. And like Hunter & Dickerson, ironically sticks her double tuck dismount as I now must endure DeMeo on floor with a billion music cuts, because dancing is better when you only have 2 measures each! YEAH!
4:41 - Courtney goes 8.975 for UCLA, and now it's Zam time. Wobble on her Onodi, then hits her front aerial cold. Bhs lso hits cold. Slight hop on her dismount, but great way to get back on track.
4:43 - Zam goes 9.825 as Francis mounts. Covers a bobble on her jump series. Perfect but slow connection for front aerial, back handspring. She sticks the acro series dismount and the crowd goes wild as Millner mounts. Jacob got a 10.0 from at least one judge, so Bama may open going 49.5+...
4:46 - Francis goes 9.85 on beam, taking UCLA up to 49.175. Who will go 6 for 6 on beam tonight? I think Millner went 9.925, but the floor flasher seems uninterested in displaying the score for more than .5 seconds. MARCH KITTENS! orders the arena announcer.
4:51 - Commenter, there is a *slight* possibility we currently be in the same arena. Are you doing a rowdy Gator chomp in the middle of the Bruin section? I'm over by beam so I get a blow-by-blow of every team's hopes soaring then dying. Good times! Loving the LSU hella to the purple leos, would love it more without the gold "V for Victory - I Found the Boobland!" decoration.
4:54 - Shisler opens floor for the Gatorlandia and falls back on her double back. Sigh.
4:56 - Williams only goes 9.825 on her vault. I think Sledge just stuck her vault - the Bama fans in front of me were already on their feet when she landed.
4:57 - I saw a replay and yes, Sledge stuck the vault. Unfortunately Clark takes a step on her fty.
4:58 - Hey, Sloan is 2nd again, and again performing after a fall! Poor Rhonda. Clark is awarded a 9.8 on vault as Beers kinda sticks, kinda doesn't as Sloan powers through her first two passes. OU (Brewer I think?) sticks her bars dismount.
4:59 - Shisler went 9.075 on floor and now Dickerson is up and sticks her double Arabian COLD. She wants revenge for the beam fall and almost sticks her 2nd pass. Taylor goes 9.9 beam for LSU as Hall mounts.
5:02 - Olson kills her routine and sticks the dismount, and the Sooner Now And Laters are building momentum. Will LSU or OU be the first non-4 team to win a championship? Olson goes 9.9 as Spears mounts with a vengance and Courville powers through her beam routine and King rocks fx.
5:05 - Courville sticks the dismount, and the LSU fans go bananas as their team has officially rocked their first 5 routines. Hunter mounts with her huge double layout and the arena music goes full gay techno. Jordan is nailing her beam routine for LSU, but bobbles before a jump. Hunter has her huge double tuck, and Courville went 9.85 on beam.
5:07 - Jordan hops the dismount, ruining the momentum Courville set up for her - she goes 9.6. Bridgey Caquatto mounts solidly as Hunter is awarded 9.975! Legs crossed on the second pass but solid landing. Small step correction on landing of double pike, but Rhonda will take it after a disastrous start. The crazy high scoring tonight will be floor.
5:10 - Caquatto goes 9.95, and now the Gator floor score is insane. It's 49.725 - is that the highest Super Six floor score ever?!
5:15 - We're halfway, and holy cow is it close:
| Place | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 98.750 |
| 2 | Florida | 98.600 |
| 3 | UCLA | 98.550 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 98.500 |
| 5 | LSU | 98.325 |
| 6 | Georgia | 98.250 |
Riiiight? The one bad news is for Georgia - they hit the huge-score event tonight (floor) first, and haven't competed beam yet. Oklahoma is really hitting, and we'll know quickly if they'll contend. LSU has an excellent chance - they're only .425 behind and have their two strongest events coming up, including the jackpot scoring fx.
5:18 - TheJesus starts out on floor for UCLA - hits her opening double pike, as Kmieciak sticks her leadoff beam dismount cold. LSU and OU could really be the winners tonight, but it's amazing to have all 6 teams so close and in the hunt. TheJesus has an awkward last pass with possibly too large a lunge. Alexander on beam now for OU as Sloan sticks cold.
5:22 - Sloan goes 9.95, and Alexander sticks her OU beam dismount. King has a slight hop forward on her crazy Tsuk 1.5.
5:23 - TheJesus goes 9.75 as Smurf Knees Bynum mounts with a huge, high double pike. Alexander went 9.875 on beam as Clark mounts.
5:24 - Smurf Knees may get a slight deduction for a large lunge on her dismount double tuck but goes clean and now Zam is up with Waller on the podium giving her a pep talk. It's the last fx she'll ever compete in NCAA, and it's at home in Supah Six.
5:26 - Kmieciak & Alexander go 9.85 & 9.875 on beam, and now Clark goes 9.925 as Zam starts her Anchorman jazz flute routine. Get down, it's jazz flute on 4/20 in SoCal!
5:27 - I think Brewer went clean on beam - I was busy toking up virtually with Anchorman. Apparently she did - she goes 9.85 as Davis messes up her anchor spot with a short cast. Whoops, it's Pritchett time as she skies her giant tucked full-in. Mooring is on beam and hitting her series as the arena claps for Pritchett.
5:29 - Not sure why ESPN the Tres didn't show Zam's routine live - it's ending now as Pritchett ends her routine in real time - that should get an excellent score after Zam's 9.9.
5:31 - Individual judges flash 9.95 on both events, and both Mooring on fx & Pritchett go 9.925. Courtney starts with a stuck double Arabian as KJ gives Spears the beam crack and walks off.
5:32 - Disappointing - Spears has a bobble to mess up a connection as the arena freaks out for Courtney's huge ending double pike. Standing o, as Spears hops her gainer full series dismount.
5:34 - Now ESPN the TRES is showing Florida vault as Courtney's floor score of 9.90 is flashed. Waller now has the impossible - give Sawa ValCRACK to earn her scholarship as a fx anchor. Spears' 9.9 is flashed - wtf. That would've been 9.825 from me, tops.
5:36 - Sawa hits her first two passes and is now the only competitor - she's got to erase TheJesus 9.75 and will probably do it - hits the last pass as well as she can do it. Hey crowd, how do you spell UCLA? Oh, thanks for the reminder!
5:37 - Sawa goes 9.9, and it's time to March! March! March! Georgia starts staring down the beam waiting for one-touch - they're pretty much out of it, but they're back in Supah Six, so residual SuzanneCRACK is wafting in the air like chalk.
5:40 - Nooooooo - obnoxious UCLA ARENA GUY!!! is standing between the Bama of the Ala fans and cracked out Dawg fans.
5:43 - Apparently the SEC rivalries did not go away as Sledge nails her leadoff bars routine with a stuck double layout. Persinger is hitting her leadoff beam for as Dickson hits her floor routine.
5:45 - Persinger sticks her 1.5 dismount, but I think hopped between her front toss & actual jump. Dickson gets 9.85 for floor as Jordan starts.
5:46 - Jordan is hitting her tumbling as Persinger goes leadoff 9.825 on beam, and Couch mounts with a vengance. Pritchett has a rough fty and hops into a salute to make the best of a bad situation. Couch hits, with a tiny hop on her dismount.
5:48 - After nailing the vault rotation of their lives last night, UCLA is now out with 2 consecutive 9.75s. Mathis is on floor, and Couch goes 9.8 on beam.
5:50 - Cheek has a big bobble after her acro series, and Mathis incurs a small deduction on her middle pass hop, but nails a huge dismount double pike.
5:51 - Baer sticks her fty with a teeny foot movement, and Cheek hits the rest of her routine. Bama is now hitting bars, so far has a 39.45. Baer goes 9.875 on vault.
5:52 - 3 9.9s in a row for Bama on bars - DeMeo, Clark & Jacob, so with 5 routines they have 49.35. Priess hits her dismount, I think stuck as Savona hits her fiddle Michael Jackson routine. Rodgers sticks her dismount.
5:53 - Priess only goes 9.825. Zam shockingly falls on her vault, and goes 8.9. Courville mounts floor as UCLA's heart breaks.
5:54 - Rodgers goes 9.875 on beam and Courville hits the crap out of her floor - LSU is at 39.55 before her and hall as she sticks the dismount double pike. Worley on beam for Georgia.
5:56 - Worley nails her Kotchekova and shuffles her foot on the dismount.
5:57 - Llominicia Hall nails the opening double layout, and nearly hit the roof. The entire arena is watching her - Worley goes 9.9 as Earls mounts.
5:58 - Hall hops slightly on her double tuck dismount, but it will still get a great score. Earls makes a Supah Six side flip look easy, and takes a big step back on her double tuck dismount.
6pm - ROTATION SIX OF SUDDEN DEATH! UCLA and Georgia are done and done - it will be between the 4 teams left on the floor.
| Place | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA | 197.100 |
| 2 | Georgia | 196.675 |
| 3 | Alabama | 148.125 |
| 4 | Florida | 148.100 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 147.975 |
| 6 | LSU | 147.875 |
Commenter and other shy people in the arena - don't be shy. Come meet the Catty in the 108/109 aisle. You will know me by my laptop.
6:06pm - Hey kittens, log your championship predictions now! Mine is Oklahomaha - they look sharp and ready to hit the cracktastic floor judges.
6:08 - Millner is hitting the CattyCrap out of beam as Dickson hops her fty for LSU. Allbright nails her fx as Millner has a slight hop on her dismount.
6:10 - King slightly hops her double layout dismount for bars, and Millner goes 9.875 on beam. Clark is on beam now, in full SarahCrack mode and nails her acro series. Jordan steps her vault and LSU is out of it. Brewer is nailing her floor as King goes 9.875 on bars.
6:11 - Clark I think sticks her dismount, because Bama fans standing ovation yeah!!! Hunter goes 9.85 on bars and Clark goes 9.875 on beam. Williams mounts with cractastic vengeance.
6:13 - Sloan hops her double layout dismount and Williams is wobbling through her routine. Shocking. Where is the SarahCrack? No SarahCarbs for you Kayla. Dismount hop.
6:15 - Sloan gets the 9.9 and Macko of the Caquatti nails her routine - DeMeo mounts beam for Bama and Macko goes . Williams goes 9.625 and Macko goes 9.9. DEMEO FALLS.
6:17 - Johnson STICKS for Gators - it is now between Florida & OU. WE WILL HAVE A NEW CHAMPION KITTENS!!!
6:18 - Johnson goes 9.95, which takes the Gators to 197.575.
6:19 - Olson really, really hits her opening double pike. It's literally OUs to lose - they're already at 187.425 with a 9.9 from Mooring. They're trying to drop one of the 9.85s, but I think they'd have to do 9.975s to catch up. I'm ready to give it to the Gators now. I think I can hear AJ screaming across the country.
6:21 - Olson's made it close with a 9.925, Scaman is now on and rocks her double layout mount. Mathematically, OU cannot catch up. Congrats to the Gators!!!
6:22 - Scaman bounces her dismount just to prove to the Gators that they have one. Never give up chomper fans. Betcha Rhonda will have several margaritas to get over this crazy way to her first national title.
6:28 - I need to fan myself like an SEC fan after that. What a finish.
That's it from Pauley Pavilion. Congratulations Georgia Gym Durantes - you'll get your coach back next year! Congratulations LSU - you made floor a party. Congratulations UCLA - we already miss your S&M leos, and apparently your vault mojo does too. Congratulations Bama of the Ala - we'll send a search party for your beam mojo. Congratulations OU - literally, an amazing job that didn't capture the judge crack.
And congrats to the Gators - who would've thought that after last year, you had to lose beam to win the meet? Every single team went over 49 on every event except for Florida. Butter beam didn't phase your floor - congratulations!
To top it off, as Florida marched out to accept the national championships, the UCLA fans cheered, gave them a standing ovation, and gator-chomped. Good show everyone - this meet rocked.
Tune in tomorrow for the longest day - EVENT FINALS! For me and UCLA CROWD DUDE who actually wore a suit today, see you tomorrow!
Is Catty Comments in the same arena as me? Nervous Gator fan stuck in the UCLA section!!
ReplyDeleteOh Catty, I was over at beam but just moved to floor to watch the Gators...might have to return to beam soon. Sloan helped me get excited again though. Haha, I wasnt sure if you were here or live blogging from the online feed. That wasn't me doing the Gator chomp. I'm by myself so a bit shy about making a scene!
ReplyDelete(previous anonymous commenter from before)
DeleteCatty, if you happen to see a ginger that looks like Amy Adams (with some kinesio-tape on her leg) that is me.
They won't me into the 100s section as I am just a lowly general admission ticket holder...Tried to get in the Florida section earlier...will try after the last rotation!
DeleteTonight was interesting, as the judging was consistent whilst a mess. The vault scoring was rather tight, while floor was anything but. The good thing was that the judging of each event was rather consistent from team to team. One of the great issues with the judging was that the unwritten rules during the post season continue to be different than the rules during the regular season. The judges rewarded easier difficulty throughout the season. The level of difficulty went down this year, yet the scores became higher and higher. This is acceptable if it is consistent. Unfortunately, it sends the wrong message. Last year, many felt difficulty was not aptly rewarded. The double arabians were hit hard on floor. This year, Florida was rewarded for their difficulty and Oklahoma was judged tightly for having a routine with two passes and other routines with lower levels of difficulty. There is nothing inherently wrong with judges rewarding the overall difficulty, but it needs to be consistent so that teams can be adequately prepared for the post season.
ReplyDeleteOklahoma was an absolutely fantastic team. They will need to add a bit of difficulty on floor if they hope to content next year. Breaking into the winner's circle is more challenging than repeating in NCAA gymnastics. NCAA gymnastics is the one sport where winning a first title is more difficult than repeating. With the addition of Wofford, they should have an elite star who performs big beautiful gymnastics cleanly, with a name, with execution, who is capable of going 9.95+ on multiple events.
For UCLA, they did about as well as they could expect given their season. It appeared that they would be in it, but the overall season played out. Ultimately, they will be much stronger next year. Though they will lose Zam and gain back two stars in Lee and Peszek, they will be stronger because the overall core of the team was tested and ultimately responded by upping their level of competitive performance.
For Alabama, the most shocking thing was not that they had errors. They have seemed to lack a bit of the sheer force and energy needed to drive home the title at times this season. They have talent and performed to the utmost of their ability. Unfortunately, the gymnasts who were stars on night one appeared tentative on night two and vice versa. The team was not in sync in terms of the same girls performing well every night.
The fresh start for Georgia paid off in dividends. When anything shy of an SEC or NCAA title is going to be seen as an underachievement for a new coach and crop of recruits, it can create a cloud of negativity that needs to be gotten rid of. Jay Clark has proven time and again that he is a fine coach. He may not have been the right coach for Georgia at that time, but he will ultimately continue to be a fine coach and likely be a fine head coach of his own program. It is a shame that Noel Couch was injured the year that Worley and Tanella finally performed up to the level they were recruited to perform at. This Georgia team showed moments of greatness on multiple events, but they rarely ever showed championship level performances on all four events at the same time. They do appear to be building and should continue to have a modicum of success.
LSU appears to be building and will likely be even stronger next season. They do need more finesse and 'skill' type gymnasts. The biggest asset to UF is that they finally recruited girls with the skill and finesse to execute bars and beam. Johnson, Sloan and M. Caquatto proved invaluable time and time again this year. They were able to match what King, Dickerson and Hunter provided on floor and vault. The balance is difficult to achieve, but it is something that Oklahoma and LSU lacked this year and ultimately proved to be their undoing.
This was a great meet. The sheer nature of the floor scores (Multiple 9.900s for Florida, 9.875 for DeMeo with a huge step on her double arabian) will be debated for some time, but the ranking appeared to be ultimately accurate even if the scores were not always. Multiple teams were tight in the first event and missed an opportunity. Though Florida counted a fall, they had huge scores by other gymnasts on beam, and were aided immensely by hops and steps by other teams who left the door wide open. There was never enough of a separation to keep Florida entirely out of it. Oklahoma's weakest performance was on a tightly scored even and that ultimately cost them the meet. Scaman's steps on vault were particularly unfortunate, as she stuck that vault time and time again in Level 10.
ReplyDeleteAs we leave this meet, we can congratulate all six teams for really upping their game this year. There were no losers in this final. Every team ended the meet having exceeding what was thought to be their potential. Just as Florida's entering of the victory circle appeared inevitable, it will not be long before the Oklahoma Sooners (and likely LSU) are on that list.
And please, someone hammer home that while the taped boob, open back leotards may look stunning on herself and Vanessa, they are not flattering to girls who eat three square meals a day. Ever.
Great comments. I didn't really mind Florida's floor scores... They were abnormally "on" today. Like, when do you see Sloan sticking front doubles or Dickerson sticking arabian doubles? They pretty much outtumble everyone and they were hitting cold.
DeleteI disagree that scoring was consistent across teams on each event. On vault for example, Brittany Rogers got a measly 9.875 for Y1.5 stuck cold, while other teams got 9.9 or higher for Yfulls with hops/shuffles. Scoring also definitely escalated through the course of the meet. FLA definitely benefited from this - some of their bars scores were visibly inflated. Basically, scoring was all over the place, from team to team, event to event, and even gymnast to gymnast on the same event for the same team. So disappointing - judging this poor really limits my enjoyment of the sport, as it becomes all about the judges rather than the gymnasts.
DeleteAwesome live blog, Catty! Since I couldn't go to L.A., your blog plus the video feed kept me up on the action. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI did not like the wallow on the floor fest by Bridget Sloan and was way underwhelmed with her beam performance for the event finals..they need to change the event finals and actually take the girls that ranked 1-4 or something all season on the event..the beam was so boring and missing some of the best girls (#1 rank Oklahoma) due to the some really off scoring on the second session beam judges..thank gosh they rotated to bars during the super six where they got the scoring for all the teams much better..and could Bridget get in better shape? Please? Her gymnastics would be so much prettier..and maybe I can stomach the automatic 9.95 plus olympic bonus..
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