Scoring Controversy!

A scoring controversy? For me? Oh, you shouldn't have!

Fortunately, after a meet of flat, uninspiring gymnastics, a scoring controversy has broken out to give us all something to talk about. Throughout the meet, scores were noticeably lower than they have been at Utah all season. I thought they were actually quite fair and reflected the level of scrutiny I would like to see from judges in the postseason. No one will talk about that, though, because of the issue regarding Stephanie McAllister's start value on floor.

Individual video of the routine in question is not currently available, but you can view the whole meet here. McAllister's routine begins around 1:44:20.

The Salt Lake Tribune provides an account of the controversy, noting that the judges bumped down McAllister's start value (they gave her 9.8) because she lacked a leap passage beginning on one foot. Meg Marsden says that she already received the OK from Linda Fenton for McAllister's routine.

Greg Marsden gets a special A+ from me for also receiving a yellow card during the meet (though his card was for walking by the judges, which is the lamest reason for anything ever).

I have several reactions to this whole brouhaha. We'll start with the most childish, which is, "Eeeeee! An argument! I hope this lasts forever!"

But honestly, whether or not she should have received the deduction doesn't even matter that much to me. Stupid requirements for dance passages are one of my bigger gymnastics pet peeves. Just do some dance elements, hit your positions, and move on. Whether it started from one foot or whether it was immediately connected (or whatever other problem you can come up with) is so irrelevant to the overall quality of the routine that the amount of time spent on it is ridiculous. 

What are your thoughts? Fair deduction? Unfair? Who cares?

#5 Utah Preview

Utah continues to be the most fan friendly program in collegiate gymnastics.  Given the numerous training videos and free live streams of their meets provided by the Marsdens and Utah Athletics, the general fan is usually more familiar with Utah gymnastics than with most of the other programs in the country.  This is both a blessing and a curse.  It's a blessing because it cultivates a dedicated and knowledgeable fan base, not just in Utah but all over the country.  It's a curse because we know the deal.  We know that, on December 9th, Utah is going to look like the most prepared team in the country.  We've been here before. If we didn't know anything, we would look at the routines from the Red Rocks Preview and say, "Wow, there are a lot of 9.750-9.800 routines.  If they can clean up and refine, they will be great this year." Because we do know something, we understand that even though some landings and body positions will improve in the coming months, the overall gymnastics we see now is the same as we'll see in April.

That being said, this level will still probably be good enough to place in the top 6.  The comparison between Utah and Romania is not a new one, but it is apt.  They've perfected the science of being fine. They will go to championships, they will be one of the most consistent teams, they will capitalize on others' mistakes, and they will reach their highest achievable place.  Back in the day, that highest achievable place was a championship.  Then, it became more like top 3.  Now, it's a 5th or 6th place finish.  Going better than that is probably beyond the talent level of this team.

The biggest reason Utah will get that far is that, unlike some of the teams ranked below them, they have numbers on each event.  While they won't necessarily want all of these numbers competing, they have that sought after 10-12 routines on each event from which to choose.  An injury to any one of their gymnasts won't put them out of contention.  The downside of that statement is that all of their gymnasts are replaceable.  They don't have that star who is going to lead them on the score sheet.

Stephanie McAllister was their top all-arounder last season, but she is a 39.300 gymnast, not a 39.600 gymnast.  The consistency is there, but the crisp execution on four events isn't.  Of the other returners, we can expect a bunch of 9.825s from Corrie Lothrop and Nansy Damianova on 3-4 events and from Cortni Beers on 2 events (though not if that wackadoo form on bars during RRP keeps up).

The return of Kyndal Robarts will be the biggest boost to this team, particularly on vault where she performs very well.  She is different from McAllister (who is solid but unamazing across the board) in that she has some really compelling qualities but some definite weaknesses that keep her from staking claim to the title of big scorer.  Looking at the floor routine in the above video, we see that the leaps in particular just aren't happening right now.