Friday Scores – Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU

Friday Schedule:
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Missouri @ [17] Kentucky Scores Video(All-access)
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [24] Central Michigan @ [22] Kent State Video
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Perfect 10 Challenge ([2] Oklahoma, [16] Boise State, BYU, Texas Women's) Scores
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [20] Arkansas @ [7] LSU Scores
8:30 ET/5:30 PT – [15] Auburn @ [5] Alabama Scores Video
10:00 ET/7:00 PT – [6] Utah @ [23] Washington Scores
10:00 ET/7:00 PT – [25] Arizona State @ [10] Stanford

Things will begin a little bit slower than usual today, but there is action from Kentucky, and a free stream from Kent State if you're interested. Otherwise, the big name action begins at 8:00 ET/5:00 PT.

Kentucky is coming off a season-high 195.825 against Georgia but has been dropping in the rankings every weekend compared to teams that have shown 196 abilities. Kentucky and Missouri are the only SEC teams yet to hit 196 this season. In fact, Missouri is yet to hit 195.

Kentucky has several gymnasts in this vault lineup who are capable of 9.850s, but they must get their landings. They are not among those who can miss a landing for 9.8s. The main thing I'm noticing from Missouri on bars is leg separations, especially on blind fulls and high to low transitions. There's a solid skill set, though. 

A nice stuck double front from Missouri's fourth on bars. That was the cleanest routine for them in the legs and handstands as well. Better landing from Cunningham on vault for Kentucky, near stick but step/salute. Missouri's fifth, who I recognize as Updike (yay me!), showed a strong tkatchev but also deductions with a few handstands and a step, followed by a stuck DLO from the anchor. A lot of these form breaks from Missouri seem resolvable. This is a three-routine rotation right now, but those were three solid routines at the end.

Still waiting on a score for Kentucky's vault maybe (Fixed now, just a rotation behind. No big deal), but for right now Missouri leads 49.075-48.900. That rotation was much better than Missouri's ranking suggests (a season-high by nearly three tenths) and was about on par for Kentucky. 

The beginning of the second rotation has been a rough one. Mistakes, big breaks, and non-10 vaults. I'm understanding more about Missouri's scoring history this season now based on this vault rotation. Kentucky is getting much cleaner on bars as the rotation goes, as would be expected. Some high 9.7 gymnastics going on now. Nice stuck DLO from Harrison. The bars landings overall look strong, but the bails are an area for improvement. Updike vaults well for Missouri, but they have no depth on this event.

After 2: Kentucky 98.050, Missouri ?. Still waiting on Updike's vault score to save Missouri from a 47.725 on the event.

On vault, Kentucky exceeded its season average by about a half tenth, and on bars they recorded a season high by over a tenth. I could see another high 195 coming from this meet. Still waiting on that last score for Missouri on vault. Floor looks like it will be a bit better than vault for Missouri.

Falls from Kentucky in the first and third positions on beam, two falls from Beucler in that third position, falling on the dismount as well after missing a foot on the round off. Both of those scores will be under 9.000, so this will be a disastrous score. Beam falls are the worst to have to count because they often result in a non-10 SV in addition to the fall, and when there are two falls, it gets really ugly.

Harrison is very nice on bars and beam for Kentucky and tries to save this rotation with a good routine. Missouri's floor 9.7s could very well be good enough for the lead after three if they keep up. Aliceaacosta went very clearly out of bounds but did not get knocked for it. Now they fixed the score. Good because it wasn't close. Gross for Kentucky had to touch the beam after a major wobble on her series.

Wow, another fall from Kentucky - that makes three routines with falls as well as another with a hand down. This is almost (almost) as bad as Cal's beam rotation last week and will result in something around a 47, meaning that a 194 in this meet will be the hope. Ouchie. Missouri's sixth takes a fall on a double back and another on a punch front, but they won't have to count it. 48.525 on floor.
----------------------------------------
Now it's time for some of the higher profile action to begin, with Oklahoma and LSU soon to get underway. Oklahoma's scoring page appears to be taking a gap year in the middle of the second rotation, so let's hope that gets worked out.

Of lineup note, Grable is leading off beam for Arkansas, which is a common move to give a team more stability, but for Arkansas it also results in throwing away their biggest potential score.

For LSU, Jessie Jordan has struggled on bars and is out this week in favor of Hall. I'm interested to see Hall's floor score because my assumption is that the judges opened the flood gates last week and that they will be very willing to give her 10 again at home this week.

Oklahoma is already underway at the quad meet with a 49.325 on vault. Nothing wrong with that score, but it's not quite the 49.450 recorded last week. This week, the Sooners received the one 9.900 from Scaman as well as 9.875s from Olson and Kmieciak. Good 197.3 pace so far.

Remember that time I said the judges would be eager to give Hall another 10 on floor? Well, they warmed up for it by giving Morrison a 10 on vault. The rotation had looked lackluster until Courville's 9.950 and Morrison's 10, which brought it up to 49.400. Sarie Morrison's 10 on vault is not one of those things I expected to write.

Salsberg took a fall on bars, but Arkansas dropped it for 48.875 in the first rotation. Salsberg has not been the same after her injury last season, and they've missed her AA 9.825s almost as much as they have missed Pisani.

BYU records a nice number on bars with 49.050, but it will be far from nice for Boise State and TWU in the first rotation. Boise State's extreme 48ishness on beam has been holding them back from the mid-teens in ranking this season. They'll hope to make it up on bars.

Also note that the judges have been really pleased with LSU's bars performance so far, so take that as you would like. This rotation is looking to go quite positively as well, potentially even into the 49.3s. 

49.325 for LSU on bars, and the Tigers lead Arkansas by over a point at the halfway point and are looking quite mid-197 as things are going right now. Unless there's a beam issue, I expect that pace to be realistic since floor will be quite high.

We have a final in Kentucky, and Missouri was so worried about Kentucky feeling bad after their beam rotation that they decided to do almost as poorly and lose. Final Score: Kentucky 194.250, Missouri 194.200. Let's pretend it never happened. 
----------------------------------------
Alabama time now. Beers is in on vault. Milliner will be leading off beam this week with Williams in the third position.

P.S. Oklahoma went 49.525 on bars. The lowest score was a 9.850.

Kluz - UB - Aub - Handstands not quite there, step on DLO.
Sledge - VT - Ala - Good power as always, better control on the landing, just a step back, minorly low chest on landing.
Guy - UB - Aub - looks well contained, the pirouetting is a little late, tkatchev is nice, stuck dismount.
Williams - VT - Ala - wonderful height on yfull, slight stumble on landing with a bend and step. back to the yfull from the y1.5
Habicht - UB - Aub - Good jaeger, pikey DLO with a hop forward.
Beers - VT - Ala - Similar to Williams, good height on yfull, but slightly short leading to a bend and step forward.
Walker - UB - Aub - good line, leg sep on the full but better finishing position, floaty stuck DLO that was better than its height would suggest it would be.
Gutierrez - VT - Ala - There we go. I'd call that a hop in place, but otherwise it was a stellar yfull. Hers looks flatter than Williams or Beers, but she hits it with the distance.
Atkinson - UB - Aub - Floaty pak salto, short on hs before tkatchev, hugely high stuck tuck full. There's nothing to take on the big skills in this routine, it's the little ones.
Milliner - VT - Ala - Similar hop in place to Gutierrez on her Y1.5. They are almost there on the landings this week.
Yokay - UB - Aub - Late pirouetting but enough difficulty that I decide to forgive it a little bit, hop full into double back, step back.
Domier exo on vault with a nice stick on a hs pike 1/2. She'd make most lineups, but won't here because of lack of distance, mostly.

Alabama goes 49.475 on vault. The final four all gave away .050 on steps, so factor that in when attempting to evaluate what an ideal vault score for this team would be. I expect to see a 49.600 at hom ebefore the season is out. Auburn goes 49.000 on bars.
----------------------------------------
In that foreign land called Louisiana, Savona took a fall on beam, so Hall, Courville, and Jordan will be competing against that to keep the team on track.
----------------------------------------

Webster - VT - Aub - Fine yfull, not the power/distance of alabama, hop back.
Sledge - UB - Ala - has to muscle up her hs after the gienger a bit, but sticks the DLO and it's an excellent routine.
Yokay - VT - Aub - Mistake in trying to hold onto her stick, she wanted it so badly she swam multiple times and bent before having to take a step. Those are deductions. She could have just taken the one step early and scored higher.
Alexin - UB - Ala - has her usual late 1/2 turn on the low bar, but otherwise it was a stronger routine for her.
 Garcia - VT - Aub - legs on the block, hop of the side. Fine but just fine.
Jacob - UB - Ala - good Ray, the hs are slightly better but a harsh judge could still take for all three. Hunched on dismount with a step forward.
Guy - VT - Aub - That's better. Good stick and nice power obviously. That was a better vault than Garcia's 9.850 for sure.
Clark - UB - Ala - Misses her hs after the shaposh and again on the bail hs, they still need to work on these handstands, the DLO 1/1 was one of the nicer ones she has done, small step.
Atkinson VT - Aub - Coach in the way, but step to the side on a y1.5 with some bent legs.
Demeo - UB - Ala - slightly short n her 1/2 turn, cleaner than Jacob and Clark overall though, small step on DLO. Fine.
Kluz - VT - Aub - Takes a fall, she was protected in this spot, and they don't need her score.
Priess - UB - Ala - her tkatchev pak makes the routine, piked second salto on the DLO with a hop forward. The dismount keeps her from 9.9s. Sledge is the top routine in this rotation right now.
Sims exo on bars, strong routine overall, a little sloppy in the legs here and there, and I'm not thrilled with the composition in several of these routines with these 1/2 turns that break flow.

Alabama gets a 49.250 on bars to Auburn's 49.200 on vault. After 2, Alabama 98.725, Auburn 98.200.
----------------------------------------
Elsewhere, LSU had to count two 9.6s on beam for a 48.675, which puts them closer to 197 pace than mid-197 pace. Is beam the new bars for LSU? Arkansas got a 49 on floor to keep the vague 196 hopes alive.

Oklahoma got a 9.950 from Brewer and 9.900s from Olson and Mooring to go 49.300 on beam, which almost seems low for them because of a fall from Alexander (that was dropped) and a 9.750 from Spears. The Sooners still look goof for mid-197s, though.

That's it from me for today. A feeble effort, I know, but I'll be back for two live blogs tomorrow - Florida/Georgia and UCLA/Oregon State. Enjoy the rest of the meets and all the score following you can handle.