Tag: college

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NCAA bar difficulty rank of 2018

LEWA EVANS

In NCAA gymnastics, execution is important to an athlete’s success. Gymnasts strive for perfection and look to minimize form deductions as much as possible, and difficulty often takes a back seat as a result.

At the same time, the NCAA’s top athletes will also aim to include high difficulty in their routines without sacrificing on execution. In fact, routines on bars, beam, and floor all start from a 9.5. Gymnasts are required to achieve bonus points to get to the 10.0 start value, and they do this by adding in difficult skills and connections. “D” level skills get an extra 0.10 in bonus, and “E” level skills get an extra 0.20. In addition, connection bonus is determined differently on each event. Gymnasts can only receive a maximum of +0.40 in bonus from connections and +0.40 from D/E skills.

Have you ever wondered which NCAA teams have the most difficulty in their line ups?  The Super Six lineups were looked at and ranked by difficulty. For the observation, any falls that took place in the competition were ignored.

The Florida Gators have the most difficulty distribution of D and E skills within the Super Six teams. Next, Oklahoma gained their bonus from mostly E level skills. They had seven different “E” level skills, which were competed by various gymnasts in their lineup.  Next for UCLA, they had four of their “E” level skills competed by Peng-Peng Lee, which is a lot. LSU was fourth when it came to difficulty in their bar routines, they had one “E” level skill and the rest of the routines included “D” level skills. As for Utah, they also tied for fourth place with LSU when it came to bar difficulty. They had one routine with an “E” level skill, and the other routines included “D” level skills. Finally, Nebraska came in sixth. Overall, their line up only had “D” level skills.

Overall, there were a wide range of “D” and “E” level skills that were exciting to see in the team’s routines. What team bar line up was your favorite? My personal favorite was UCLA’s bar lineup.

sports

The LSU Tigers claim the SEC title!

LEWA EVANS

Image result for LSU gymnastics sec championships 2018 The LSU Tigers marked their second straight team win at the Southeastern Conference meet and earned their second- straight SEC regular season title this past Sunday afternoon in the Maravich Center.

The Tigers opened the meet with a 49.325 on vault. JuniorsFinnegan and Cannamela posted 9.825’s, and sophomore Harold earned a 9.875. Concluding their vault rotation, senior Hambrick and sophomore Edney, both earning 9.90s.

The Tigers then went onto bars, where they continued their outstanding performances. Freshman, Durante, led the bar group off with a 9.850, and Hambrick followed her with a solid 9.950. Edney also posted a career high of 9.975, and the tigers closed the rotation with 9.850 from junior Priessman, and a 9.925 from Finnegan in the anchor spot.

Onto the beam rotation, the girls performances tied for a season best of 49.525. Senior, Macadaeg, started off the rotation with a 9.950, and Finnegan and Hambrick both earned 9.850s. Freshman, Desiderio, and  sophomore Edney each got 9.925s to end out the rotation.

Lastly, for the floor rotation, LSU finished the meet off on a high note. Freshman Desiderio, achieved a season best 9.875 and Cannamela received a 9.850. Additionally, Edney got a 9.975, and Hambrick and Finnegan got perfect 10s.

This meet was a wonderful experience for LSU. They proved that they once again could rise to the occasion and became the SEC champs for the second year in a row. This shows that even though LSU has had some setbacks (Mckenna Kelly’s Achilles injury), they can overcome those set backs and handle the adversity head on. I personally had no doubt that LSU would not be setback by Kelley’s injury since they’re a well-balanced team. I hope they continue to achieve major accomplishments this season and I hope that they can take home the national title this year because they deserve it. What do you guys think? Do you think LSU deserves to win the national title this year?

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The Gators “chomp into” the Sooners!!

LEWA EVANS

It’s a victory! In a turn of events, No. 5 in the nation, the Florida Gators, came out with a victory over No. 1 in the nation,  the Oklahoma Sooners. The meet was a nail biter, and so far, the most memorable meet of the year in the college gymnastics world.

One individual that stood out on the Florida Gators, was Alex McCmurtry. The senior out of Virginia, was able to achieve two perfect 10.0 scores, taking the first-place title on beam and on vault. Her beam score for this meet was able to complete her “Gym Slam”, as she now is joining a former gymnast of the Gators, Bridget Sloan, as another gymnast to earn a perfect 10 on each event.

Another individual that stood out within the meet was Maggie Nichols (whom also earned a gym slam last year). The sophomore out of Minnesota, took the all-around win with a total of 39.775, and the uneven bar win with a 9.975.

At the beginning of the meet, the Gators trailed by 0.025 after the first rotation and OU pushed ahead,  leading by a tenth after the second rotation. After a new school balance beam record for the Florida Gators, the two teams were tied going into the final event rotation.

In the final rotation, Oklahoma had finished all their beam routines and Florida needed at least a 9.9 from their last competing gymnast, freshman Alyssa Baumann, to tie up the score for the meet. Fortunately for the Gators, Baumann landed all her passes and was able to get a 9.925, leading the Florida Gators to take victory over the Sooners. After flashing the final floor score, the Gators jumped up and down in the middle of the floor waving to the crowd and doing the famous “gator chomp”.

I personally got to see Baumann’s floor routine, and although she made all her passes, I did not think she deserved a 9,925. Some of her landings were sloppy, causing her feet to move a lot. Additionally,  on most of her passes, she ended with her chest down (you’re supposed to end with your chest up). With all the little mistakes that I saw in her routine, I think that she should’ve gotten a 9.7 or a 9.775, which would’ve caused the gators to lose the meet. I think the judges were very biased when judging her floor routine, they wanted the Gators to win, so they gave her the score she needed. Don’t get me wrong, I think that Oklahoma is very overrated due to the fact that they always win. It’s definitely nice to see when other teams beat OU, but in this case, Florida should not have won the meet. For those of you that saw the meet, what did you think of it?