Friday Live Blogs - Oklahoma v. Florida, UCLA v. Cal

Friday – 1/31/14
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – [1] Oklahoma @ [2] Florida (Scores) (Video - school subscription)
7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Michigan State @ [4] Michigan (Scores) (Video - all-access)
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [7] Alabama @ [3] LSU (Scores) (Video - school subscription)
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – [12] Auburn @ [10] Arkansas (Video - school subscription)
8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Iowa @ [17] Illinois (Scores)
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [9] UCLA @ [22] Cal
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [16] Boise State @ Southern Utah (Scores)
9:00 ET/6:00 PT – [18] Denver @ BYU (Scores)

Current top 10:

The Oklahoma and Florida clash will get underway at 7:00 ET/4:00 PT. Be there. For now, feel free to muse about who will receive 10s tonight.

Lineups - looks like Charity Jones is doing exhibition on bars, which is nice to see. Kanewa is also in that lineup. No Brewer on bars, but she is back on beam and floor. Apparently. Wofford is only doing exhibition on beam because no one listens to me. Florida's lineups look the same as last week.

We're done with Oklahoma introductions, and now we're meeting the Gators. Dancing, etc. You haven't missed anything yet.  

Rotation 1 - Florida on vault, Oklahoma on bars
Florida vault:
1. B Caquatto - yfull - clean in the air but a very large bounce back on landing, not as controlled as last week. 9.750
2. Spicer - yfull - pretty strong, controlled her landing with just a small hop in place, a little piking. 9.850
3. M Caquatto -Better than last week, better block and landing farther up, hop back though, so the landings haven't been great so far. 9.850.
4. Johnson - Also better in the air than last week, higher, small hop back. 9.875.
5. Sloan - Big and excellent on the yfull with a stick. Similar to the stick against UCLA I would say. 9.950. 
6. Hunter - Gorgeous 1.5, but she'll still be looking for the 10 with a small hop forward there. Nice job, though. 9.950.

Oklahoma bars:
1. Kmieciak - nice tkatchev, clean in bail, step back on the tuck full dismount but looked clean on the bars themselves, didn't see any problematic handstands. 9.825.
2. Clark - Leg break in shaposh on the swingback but clean in the skill, also hops back on her dismount (double tuck). 9.875
3. Scaman - Nice piked jaeger, bail looked a little floppy but hit - near stick on her full out, small adjustment. Strong. 9.800.
4. Kanewa - Strong jaeger, it's a clean routine overall but she cowboys her double front dismount quite significantly, which is unusual for an Oklahoma bars lineup. Not the cleanliness we expect from them. 9.825
5. Spears - beautiful handstands and big jaeger, everything was going quite well until a hop forward on the double arabian, so not as strong as we saw from her last week. 9.775. Not sure what I missed there, but we'll see. Maybe short on the bail? Couldn't tell. 
6. Wofford - Excellent handstands, clean on the bail, her jaeger is gorgeous and the tuck full dismount is very nice in the air but she had a step (borderline two) on the dismount. 9.875.

Charity Jones has trouble on her overshoot and goes wonky in exhibition but stays on the bars. She has big gymnastics, but there are areas to clean up to get into the lineup.

After 1: Florida 49.475, Oklahoma 49.200

Florida has the lead after the first rotation, and it's due to a much-improved vault performance over last week. Macko and Alaina blocked way better and had more height, and Bridget Sloan stuck very well. This is the best Florida has looked on vault so far this year, but there's still room for improvement in the landings from everyone except Sloan. We're getting to the point in the year where we can start expecting more sticks.

Oklahoma looked pretty on the bars themselves. It's tough to judge handstands from this camera angle, but I didn't see anything that looked too bad. I assume I missed something on Spears' routine for a 9.775, but that's definitely possible. The dismounts were not that great. Lots of steps except for Clark, so they gave away probably a couple tenths in the rotation score just on those dismounts. Definitely advantage Florida so far, which is not what Oklahoma needed. They needed a lead after the first. 


Rotation 2 - Florida on bars, Oklahoma on vault


Florida bars:
1. BDG - Excellent shaposh, hits bail, this is her usual routine including the high DLO with splayed legs on the second layout, fights for stick and may have kept it, lots of bending for it, though. 9.875.
2. Hunter - Excellent Hindorff as always, solid bail, lands hunched over on her tuck full with a step - looked a little close to the bar on that. 9.875. 
3. B Caquatto - Very big Ray - too big? - had to work for that next handstand, strong bail, sticks her DLO. Her dismount is very nice. 9.875.
4. Sloan - Another great Ray, floppy legs in her bail handstands and has to struggle for her next handstand. Amazing DLO, but not her best routine because of some awkward low bar action. 9.900. 
5. M Caquatto - strong shaposh and bail, good counter rotation on her tkatchev, lands low on her tuck full with a large lunge forward. 9.850. 
6. Johnson - Her Ray is the best of the Ray sisters, lovely stalder, small leg break in bail, DLO with a step back, but overall strong. 9.875.

Oklahoma vault:
1. Mooring - Pretty yhalf, a little short on the landing so had to take a step back, but fine. 9.800.
2. Lovan -Fine yfull but not the power we have seen from most of the other vaulters today, some piking. 9.825.
3. Kmieciak - nice stick on her yfull - comparatively with Sloan's stick I would say she didn't have the same distance, but a very good vault. 9.900.
4. Capps - Pretty yfull with very good distance, tries her hardest to hang onto the stick with the smallest of adjustments. Very nice. 9.900
5. Scaman - It's probably smart that she's down to the full instead of the 1.5 because it's beautiful and she controls it so well. Good, just a small step. 9.925. 
6. Kanewa - Pretty good yfull, very high, hop back, not her absolute best, but this has been a strong vault rotation. 9.875.

SCP gives us a bars exhibition to show off her stalders, as she should. Would make most lineups but enough deductions in this routine to keep her as a backup - also some leg bend in her DLO.  

After 2: Florida 98.875, Oklahoma 98.625

Pretty strong rotation for both teams. Florida is still giving away too much at the end of that lineup. Macko and Alaina did not get their dismounts again this week. Sloan did but wasn't at her best on the bars themselves. They can still get stronger here but have the lead at halfway, which is very important for them. Oklahoma looked much better on vault than on bars, pulling out that rotation with four strong vaults to end the lineup. A couple more landings would have given them a 49.5.

Rotation 3 - Florida on beam, Oklahoma on floor
Florida beam:
1. Spicer - Small adjustment just standing there but not a wobble, hits loso series, just a few very small corrections here and there. Switch leap is OK, sticks gainer full. Fine start, a little tentative early. 9.825
2. Johnson - hits opening aerial + bhs series, hangs onto her leap series after the split and does well to connect, comes off strangely on her side aerial into the dismount and has to tuck her dismount a little and lands pretty much completely off the mat. 9.750.
3. Boyce - hits aerial to bhs combo, a little sluggish in connecting the two but it won't be a problem or deducted, hits loso series, switch and split look fine, solid stick on gainer full. One of her better beam routines so far this year. 9.900. 
4. Hunter - Better front tuck mount this week, check on the loso but it could easily have turned into a bend at the hips and she saves it from going that far, everything else looks good, one small step on the double tuck. 9.875
5. Sloan - Hits loso series well, hits her aerial to scale as well, excellent fluidity on the full turn, wobble on her side aerial - that's the one issue area in this routine it seems - excellent double full dismount with a stick. 9.950. 
6. M Caquatto - Strong loso series, wobbles slightly on her aerial before connecting it to the swingdown, strong switch and split, steps back on her gainer full. Oh, Macko! 9.875.

Oklahoma floor:
1. Spears - She always has my favorite Oklahoma floor music - all moody, split full wasn't quite there, front double mount is OK - perhaps could use a touch more control? - 1.5 + layout middle pass, small bounce back on rudi, but a good starting off point. 9.825
2. Capps - Bounces back on her double pike, layout + full is strong as a second pass, pushing the truck choreo before her final pass - double full to loso is strong - biggest problem was the landing on the mount. 9.800.
3. Brewer - Strong double tuck to open, bounces on her layout + full, gets good height on her dance elements to complete them, secure double pike to finish. 9.800.
4. Kanewa - missed her opening pike full unfortunately, clean middle pass, it's good for them to get that big E difficulty into the lineup. Secure double pike to finish. There are small areas of refinement, but nice routine. 9.875
5. Albright - promoted to fifth after leading the team for the last two weeks with 9.900s. Clean front double full to start, and a strong 1.5 to full as well, best landing control on the team so far. It's worthy of this spot in the lineup. Hits rudi to finish. Good routine. 
6. Scaman - Strong DLO - she has the biggest gymnastics on this team - and you know how I always love a loso out of a pass, bounces back on her double back dismount so not the score she could have had.

Colussi-Pelaez doing exo on beam - wobbles on her switch and her back tuck knocks the cap off the end of beam. Has a large break on her side aerial as well. Oh, Silvia. You're not going to make the lineup with this.

Florida extends the lead after the third event. Florida 148.300, Oklahoma 147.925

Much like on bars, Florida looked pretty good on beam but can do better than this. Johnson botched her dismount and Kytra and Macko both had a break or two that we wouldn't expect them to have. So the verdict for Florida so far is good, but there is clear room for fixing on every event, which is probably what we would expect for January 31st. On floor for Oklahoma, it was a bit better than the last couple weeks, but there's still room for more control on these landings. Some bouncing that really brought the scores down. 49.300 is not a problem; it just won't help them win this meet.

But now we're arriving at the moment of truth. Florida and the floor. I think we're all dying to see what happens here. WAIT. I muted it during the commercial so I could type and I missed Marissa King talking! I'm the worst. What's the point of anything if I miss an interview with Marissa King?  

Rotation 4 - Florida on floor, Oklahoma on beam
Florida floor:
1. Boyce - front double full, small slide of the back leg there, 1.5 to front pike second pass, splits look OK this week, secure rudi. 9.825. Appropriate.
2. M Caquatto - front double full - minor lack of control in the landing as well but OK - full + pike with a little bounce, 1.5 + layout is strong. Funny that this routine was better or equivalent to last week. 9.850.
3. Spicer - pike full but not stuck this time, an awkward locked landing and bounce there, full + pike looks good, question on leaps but not major, a little squatty on the dismount landing, so not as strong as last week. 9.850. 
4. Sloan - Another excellent landing on the front double full mount, good splits in the corner before her ASac rub, double pike looks equivalent to last week, excellent stick on the 1.5 + layout. Very nice routine. 9.950. Didn't have a strange 9.975 before her this time or a crowd shouting 10.
5. Hunter - DLO is her DLO, didn't look like there was a bounce this week, either. Her middle pass is such a good decision because it is both impressive and low risk for her. Straddles look fine, and the double tuck dismount looked more secure than last week. Now this will be interesting because I thought this was better than last week's routine that got a 10. 10.000. Here we go.
6. B Caquatto -front double full to front tuck is strong to open, 1.5 to split jump and has to struggle to control the big split jump - she got too high for herself it looked like - good straddles and secure double pike. Good.

Oklahoma beam:
1. Kmieciak - Loso series looks good, small wobble on straddle half, step back on double tuck but a solid opening. 9.825.
2. Capps - pretty mount, she moves very well on beam, but comes off on her bhs + loso + bhs series on the final bhs - just off on the loso and couldn't get either foot on the beam there on the last bhs. Strong aerial, as well as switch and straddle, step-salute on her gainer full.
3. Brewer - strong loso series to open, good straddle 1/2, large step back on double back, but that's most of the deductions. 9.850.
4. Mooring - Lovely legs in her loso series, clean aerial, switch leap is good, this is excellent so far, large hop forward on her 1.5 dismount, which once again will account for most of the deductions.  
5. Spears - beautiful onodi to open her routine, nice leaps. Clean aerial, this is lovely in every way so far, small boucne on the gainer full it looked like, but best routine so far. 9.900.
6. Clark - Clean aerial, hits her sheep jump, controls her side somi, sticks her 1.5 dismount. Another good beam rotation for Oklahoma, coming back from the fall. 

Final Score: Florida 197.875, Oklahoma 197.225

A really strong meet from both teams overall. There weren't really any problems except for the one fall for Oklahoma on beam. All things taken into account, this was a stronger meet for Florida than last week's I think. There were places of high scoring throughout as we would expect, but nothing that went too too crazy this time. On floor, the score was a 49.575 for a performance that was probably mostly equivalent to last week's. A few people were better, a few people were worse, but overall the same. The difference is that the judges kept it under control for the first couple routines, so the final score didn't seem as strange. As for Kytra's 10, I doubt we'll hear much argument because it was better than last week's 10. Sloan's routine was probably about the same as last week's.

Oklahoma wasn't really in this for the win after the first rotation, but it was a solid meet. The story of their falling behind will be landings. A couple floor landings weren't there, and those who are doing the double back beam dismounts are giving away tenths on landing that bring the scores down below where we would expect them to be, but they had only one stick on six beam dismounts, which hurt. If they had some more sticks, this meet would have been very close.

I was pleased by Florida's vaulting. Best vault performance of the year for them. Still some areas to work on for those bars and beam routines, though, with the bars landings and the beam wobbles. They can be better than this. Sloan wins the AA with a 39.750. 39.7s are just normal for her now.

OK, bonus coverage! I'm going to stick around to do UCLA against Cal.

Rotation 1 - Cal on vault, UCLA on bars.
Cal vault:
1. Crawford - some leg break on her yfull block and a big hop back but strong. 9.700
2. Owens - big pike on her yfull with a very low landing and short. 9.600.
3. Howe - much better yfull with only a small landing adjustment - piked in the air as well. 9.850. 
4. Leong - Strong yfull, some small piking at the end and a minor hop but a good vault. 9.850.
5. Asturias - Good height and distance on her yfull, large step back on landing, but nice. 9.800
6. Paz - Not a ton of height or power but OK on the landing of her yfull. Didn't look like she came onto the horse as intended there. 9.650

UCLA bars:
1. Francis - Thank you for being back, very clean until the double pike dismount with a hop forward, but it would have been one of the best of the rotation last week. 9.825.  
2. Sawa -good first hs, high tkatchev, short final handstand, and short on the double pike dismount with a hop. 9.850.
3. Craddock - good handstands, leg break on her pak, but this is a bit better than last week but very late on her giant full and a small hop on the double back. OK. 9.775.
4. Courtney - Good shaposh, clean bail, hits her toe on, buffered on the dismount but they seem pleased. 9.875. 
5. Mossett - good first handstand and stalder shoot, bail and pak look strong, lets see this stalder, though - a little better this time but still a big elbow bend there - small hop on the dismount, pretty good overall though. 9.900.
6. DeJesus - clean first handstands, crazy legs on the gienger (or as Amanda says, "flawless form"), bail looked borderline, big chest down on her dismount with a step but otherwise things looked OK. 9.850.

Well, UCLA looked much better on bars this week than last week. They got some more benefit of the doubt in the scoring as well, which certainly helps. They still need some Peszek action. A 49.300 doesn't speak to some of the form mistakes and non-stuck dismounts we saw, but it's a hit and they can go on from there to events like vault and floor where they have looked stronger so far. Cal has some good vaults in the middle of that lineup but didn't get enough landings to receive the scores to get them into the 49s, lots of big steps and hops.  

After 1: UCLA 49.300, Cal 48.850

Rotation 2: Cal on bars, UCLA on vault
Cal bars:
1. Richardson - Big taktchev and very nice handstands, some form on the bail, misses final handstand, hop on double pike. Good start, some sloppiness crept in at the end, but potential there. 9.675.
2. Howe - hits jaeger, close on her pak and had to adjust, some form breaks there on the low bar, nice double back, but struggled on the pak and had some handstands. 9.775. 
3. Owens - Nice bail and I love that she does the clear hip up to the high bars. Also missing some handstands, way off on the dismount with a large lunge forward. 9.725.
4. Asutrias - Bhardwaj time! You can deduct for form but I'm glad that she did it. Best handstands so far and one hop on the double back. 9.900. 
5. Crawford - Excellent tkatchev, pretty handstands early in this routine, straddle back. I have a really jumpy stream so apologizes for missing some things. 9.825. 
6. Alferos - She has a nice line, very clean legs on this routine throughout, double front with a step forward. 9.875.

UCLA vault:
1. Pinches - Most secure landing on her yfull so far this year, definite piking and lands pretty short but solid. 9.725. 
2. Mossett - Good power but lands a little over and hops to the side. OK. 9.750.
3. Sawa - Good stick on her yfull, doesn't come in as upright as she can and a little piking but nice form overall and a very secure landing. 9.875. 
4. Cipra - Clean in the air on the yfull, the hop that we have come to expect from her now. 9.775.
5. Bynum - Yhalf - probably the best she has done it this year, just one smaller step back and a slightly short landing. 9.850.
6. Courtney - Her usual big yfull, but she does hop back again, not the stick that we saw at the beginning of the year. Still strong, though. 9.900

More conservative scoring for UCLA in that rotation, but it looked like they did get docked pretty significantly for some of the height and landing position issues. Sawa had a very strong vault, just a tad weaker than her one that got a 9.950 at home, but they are not landing well enough or maintaining strong enough body shape early in the lineup right now to get those higher scores. I'll be saying it a lot, but they're also missing the Peszek here. A lot of form errors early in the bars lineup for Cal, but the back half looks very nice.

After 2: UCLA 98.450, Cal 97.925

Rotation 3 - Cal on beam, UCLA on floor
Cal beam: 
1. Asturias - good full turn, a little short on the aerial but holds on well, a little tentative on that switch split, sticks a front 1.5 dismount, a little hunched over. 9.750.
2. Owens - Some form on the loso series but hits it, wobble on full turn, hits aerial well, good leaps, large lunge back on the double full dismount. 9.800.
3. Leong - wobbles on both of her dance elements to start, very strong layout to two feet, though, right on. Does the double back but lands it short with a big hop. 9.750.
4. Palomares - wobble on opening aerial, hits loso series and the side aerial, wobble on the sheep jump, large step forward out of 1.5 dismount. 9.800.
5. Howe - small pause in her aerial to split connection but OK, strong loso series and the best leg form of the group so far, does the side aerial to layout full dismount like Alaina Johnson and sticks it. 9.900.
6. Paz - Large break at the hips on her three series, just some wobbles here on most skills, again on the full turn, nice gainer full to finish though - good stick. 9.750.

UCLA floor:
1. Francis - slide back on the double pike mount, has to save her middle pass with a very very low double back, splits look great, small stumble on 2.5 dismount but covers it up by dancing out of it well. 9.775.
2. DeJesus - It's good that they're getting the dancers into the rotation this year. Huge stumble back on her double pike mount and OOB. Oh, UCLA. Has anyone else ever tried to watch an online stream on the Pac-12 netowrk website? It's a disaster. Sophina had a disaster to start but the rest of the routine was very clean. 9.550. 
3. Bynum - Huge DLO but steps OOB, front tuck through to double back is low but securely landed, but she's exceptionally short on her double pike with a large lunge forward and barely hangs onto it. 9.650.
4. Cipra - High double back to open with a small hop, 1.5 to layout is OK, lovely choreo before her final pass - it really makes the routine, strong double pike to finish. First one to really hit a floor routine in this rotation. 9.900.
5. Courtney - Better landing on the double arabian than we have seen in some of the previous meets. 1.5 to half to loso is strong - maybe a slight adjustment after the loso but this looks good. But then she lands very short on the double pike and lunges forward. 9.775.
6. Sawa - Strong double back mount and a secure double pike as well, this is very good so far, just the dismount to go, and very strong, maybe came in a little short on her final half but saved it by going into the stag jump. That should be the highest UCLA score so far in a blah rotation.

That was kind of uninspiring, everybody. I want you to know that. Cal was fine on beam and should be happy about staying on, but there were a lot of wobbles throughout that rotation. Howe's routine was the clear highlight there. UCLA, oh UCLA. Floor has been the good one! What was this. Lots of missed passes, and they needed to be saved by Cipra and Sawa just to break 49. And they still have to do beam. UCLA probably has to hit beam for the first time this year (actually hit it) or they could lose to Cal, which would be a thing.

After 3: UCLA 147.475, Cal 146.925

Uh oh, we saw Danusia in the touch miss her dismount. Why would that happen, people? We can't emotionally handle this.

OK wait. Is there a sign behind beam that says "Tears of Hitler"? I have to think it doesn't, but that's what it looks like. 

Rotation 4 - Cal on floor, UCLA on beam
Cal floor:
1. Palomares - Low double pike mount with a hop back but just does stay in bounds, solid on the middle pass, and again just does stay in on her 1.5 to layout. Big deductions on the landing control, but she hit. 9.725
2. Owens - A little low on the double back, punches to a front double full which was awesome but does barely get it around with a little stumble, 1.5 to front layout dismount looks good. 9.675.
3. Asturias -Of all the losos out of passes, hers may be the best. She gets major points for that. Nice splits, 1.5 to layout is very good. Layout + full is the dismount, strong routine. That should help get them out of the 9.7s. 9.850.
4. Howe - Really strong double pike to start, 1.5 to layout is very strong but unfortunately she does a pretty elite stag jump out of it, just landed her front tuck full on the dismount low and stumbles OOB on it. 9.425
5. Leong - Strong double back mount with a bounce, again a little bouncy on the front layout front full but a clean routine so far other than small issues of landing control, a little low in double pike but secure. Strong routine. 9.900
6. Paz - Lunges back out of her double pike, looked like she would be able to control it better than that, stumbles on her front layout + front full and takes a seat, so they'll be counting some low scores in this rotation, which is the tagline for this meet. "UCLA vs. Cal: They'll be counting some low scores in that rotation"

UCLA beam:
1. Craddock - small correction on full turn, again on the walkover to front handsrping, and again on the side aerial - just very small - might not even warrant deductions, small step on her front layout - good routine for her overall. 9.825. 
2. Mossett - wobbles on opening full turn, good splits, hits the aerial to bhs, she's slowly looking more comfortable, just hangs onto the side somi with a small correction but that could very easily have been a fall, sticks gainer pike this time. 9.875.
3. DeJesus - She hasn't really hit a beam routine yet, pauses between her aerial and her bhs loso but no wobbles, correction on her split jump, front toss is OK, front full dismount is stuck. She's getting there, still not there, but no major mistakes this week. Question: did she get her leap combo? Watch the score for that. 9.775
4. Cipra - she's another looking for her first real hit, another big wobble on her loso series, good full turn, switch half looks strong, but comes off on her side aerial. They're playing "Who comes out when Peszek is back?" and she might be winning so far. 9.300.
5. Francis - The rotation started well, but they need some help now, aerial to bhs is excellent, switch and dance elements are perfect as well, strong y spin, here comes the dismount, pauses in the connection between the aerial and the layout full. Sticks it, but is she going to get the connection that she needs for her SV? 9.700. So yes, that means she started from a 9.8 not a 10. Boo. This is what I was afraid of. 
6. Courtney - Olivia Courtney in a must-hit beam situation, which is a very scary sentence. Secure early in her routine, but pauses after her kickover front before the bhs, hits her splits, good full turn, sticks her double back dismount the best I've ever seen it.  Long conference, but she gets a 9.875 after all.

It looks Gerber is waiting to do an exo on beam, but we won't see it because of the TV broadcast. Boo to that as well.

Final Score: UCLA 196.575, Cal 195.550

Mehhhhh. Done.