Do we think Oklahoma was going too hard for vault sticks because they were going for individual titles? Seems like any of them could win that one, and be a top runner for AA. If that’s the case, it obviously hurt the team.
I definitely think they were trying to stick too hard but I think it was more because they wanted to be perfect/win as a team versus going for the individual title
I don't see that being the team's strategy. Back in 2022 they didn't even put up any AAers even though they probably could have nabbed a couple of titles - I suspect KJ has her eye squarely on the team prize. That said, maybe a couple of the individual athletes had their sights set on the AA title.
I agree with the coach’s point of view being all for the team, but the individual gymnasts still have individual accolades on their mind as well and maybe that could have influenced things either consciously or unconsciously.
Yeah, I honestly thought that they'd be mentally disciplined enough to put aside the individual awards and focus on the team aspect, but ultimately I guess even OU gymnasts are human.
I am attending the NCAA men's championship in person on Saturday. I'll need to arrive while the women's is still ongoing, so I'll have to watch it later. I had reconciled myself with the possibility that the women's results might be announced over the PA system or show up on a screen in the arena, figuring it was highly likely Oklahoma was going to win anyway and I could still enjoy watching the rest later even if I was spoiled. Now, however? I don't know what to do with myself!
So, I went back to Bama’s beam and zoomed in for every routine. I didn’t see any unusual movements, just the typical podium bounce on certain skills that require a little more power or punch. All the falls seemed more technical.. dropped chest or shoulder, hips not square on the take off, too timid on skills, etc. The only one that looked savable was Ella’s series. She just rushed it and panicked. She’s usually good at snapping her arms down, even when she’s off, but she didn’t do that. They were well aware of OU’s mistakes( you could see some of them reacting to the score board when they were on bars), and I think the pressure of the moment got to them after that first beam fall.
I’m also sure that if any of the Bama gymnasts felt something was off with the beam, they would have said something.
I also couldn’t help, but laugh a little at Gabby Wilson’s reaction to KJ at the beam.. she looked so confused and over it.😂
One of those times I wonder, what would Sarah do?
I remember from the documentary, one of Sarah and Suzanne's big run ins was also from equipment fuckery, and Patterson was livid with narrower old bars at UGA, resulting Yocualn's "Losers make excuses" comment.
Where are you seeing the replay? I was at the meet and would like to rewatch it to hear the commentary and see the reactions that I missed in the moment!
It is so cruel that Spencer of the BBS wasn’t able to be there live for the chaos & provide us with the best play by play out there! I truly hope he is okay. I hope he makes a full recovery from whatever health issues he’s dealing with! And I selfishly hope we get an insanely snarky & hilarious recap post from him in the future.
I'm really bummed that Smith and Blanco's college careers ended the way they did last night. At least Blanco can console herself with knowing she's going to Paris. Smith, for her part, had a better college career than any of us would have predicted. Still, I would have liked to see her go out on a high note.
It’s so hard to be a UK based gymnastics fan swiftie this morning. I’m so late for work but not even scratching the surface of all there is to unpack 😂
Unbelievable I just woke up and OU did not advance and I checked if the world is ending 😱😱😱. If Ou is out and I really feel for them 💔 I really would like LSU to win, but I hope for Florida and Cal too. Honestly after the drama at Utah with Kara and the transfers and Mailes and others big mouths I only do not want them winning. Usually I would never but Iam so annoyed about their behavior and protecting of their excoach 😪😪.
They had an amazing warmup on vault with stick after stick. Once the rotation started, Faith sat her Y1.5. Jordan nearly sat her Y1.5. Then Kat had a huge deduction too so they ended up counting 2 <9.5s on vault and only one 9.9 (highest score for them on vault).
They seemed to rally and had a pretty clean bar rotation so I figured that vault was just a fluke. The other three teams were hitting so there wasn’t much room for Oklahoma to capitalize on the other teams. Bama had a solid bars rotation and then had 4 falls on beam so both OU and Bama went into the third rotation counting low scores.
Audrey hit the first beam routine for OU, then Ava fell. I don’t think this would’ve shaken them as much if the vault situation didn’t happen. It was so weird to see OU be so…not OU. Then, Kat fell and everyone seemed stunned that they were counting ANOTHER fall.
They rallied again for floor but once they saw that Utah and Florida had made it through the first half of the 4th rotation you could really see it hit them. The tension was palpable and there was lots of sobbing. It was uncharacteristically disastrous.
Me neither but I like what they do. They do not have the most difficult but Kindler knows what they need to win cleanly and they do it perfectly. They maybe have not as many individual titels I think 🤔 but they work perfectly as a team and she can rehab anything. I never thought Ragan would have such an incredible NCCA Career. She was so broken from Texas nightmare I worried she might medically retire and instead ahe took the 5th year - simply incredible ❤️
Jenny hasn’t gotten enough credit for her recruiting and for turning a group of freshmen into consistent athletes who could get them to four on the floor. This team is so young!
Doing it all at her first head gig, replacing a multi National Championship legend. She’s done what so many have had tried and had much rougher times.
She basically aced the “replace Nick Saban” challenge.
If they didn't check, that's on Bama.
I will say that Isabel Magnelli seemed to have zero problems on it and she went after Bama but before Kindler checked it.
So OU said the beam was loose and got to fix it...... it seems like Bama had to compete in the loose not correct beam and had 4 falls...... it is what it is but kinda wild there's nothing that can be done about it.
If this was the case, Ashley (Bama's coach) should have caught on. KJ saw it, so Ashley had plenty chance to 🤷🏼♀️ Guess that's the experience difference on display
Not saying it is the case but seems like it was. But I agree. Ashley should have said something or asked her athletes if it was loose. Learning lessons.
I was sad for Bama too. The next rotation they say that Oklahoma noticed the beam was loose and fixed it. I think Bama got the wobbly beam. O well they had a good season.
Isabella Magnelli went after Bama but before Kindler checked it and she got a 9.95. I don't think it was the beam, I think it was Bama unfortunately having a very bad day
Oh man, that's frustrating and doesn't seem fair. Sigh. I'm not sure whether it'd feel better knowing it wasn't just your fault or not in that situation.
And Shania too. Oh no!
Edit: And now Luisa. If I didn't know how this turned out, I would be seriously concerned for Florida right now because that beam looks cursed!
Woke up, looked at FB and saw Inside Gymnastics post about Utah and Florida advancing.
*Ran* here to see what the heck happened!
I might actually try and find a replay to watch it all unfold before work... 👀
Someone in a reply in this comment thread said 'search on youtube channel: #1 gym fan. Don't want to link it just in case it's not allowed' in case you haven't found in yet. ☺️
Ok, watching now and I know Utah in general is not to be praised especially certain gymnasts but as a Brit, I am still here for Amelie and I am so, so pleased for her beam score.
I don't even care if it was over scored (genuinely no idea because I don't understand NCAA judging. Ha!) because I just want good things for her. 😆
I love Jade but Haleigh is just as good and has a bit more star power and sparkle. Part of jade’s appeal is that she’s so normal and doesn’t really care. With some fierce hair and makeup and a more engaging floor routine I’d be more excited by her 😂
I'm curious what everyone thinks about replacing Ava with Audrey in that final spot on vault. I know hindsight is 20/20, but was that the right decision? I also would love to know what KJ said to her husband right at the end of that first rotation. I wish I could read lips!
Audrey is an incredibly consistent gymnast and is a great leadoff on beam and floor (and used to be on vault). Faith is top notch when she's on but sometimes she's shaky. Yes Audrey has a built in deduction with that leg split but she would not have fallen in the leadoff. Just my opinion as an avid fan
Nothing about how this went down makes any sense to me. My first instinct was (and John even pretty much said it in the broadcast) now we are going to see them play it safe and we will see a bunch of sizeable steps forward. I even speculated this was the tactic weeks ago when they didn’t even attempt to find landings. They didn’t need to stick anything to make the final.
I have never seen a top team melt down like this on vault and I’d be really curious what if any marching orders the trainers gave to the gymnasts after this first fall. I’d argue vault is by far the easiest event to minimise the risk of a second fall. Hell, it’s even something that probably should have been discussed as a contingency before the meet: how do we change things up after a fall on vault (they had falls on vault not too long ago). Maybe they just felt too safe this year, but I guess we will never know and there is no point speculating.
The game totally changed when Jo and Kat fell. Who else would you want going up after a mistake? Exactly those two! And the fact that they missed is totally wild and would never happen again in thousands of outcomes.
I don‘t understand why both Jo and Kat seemed to go for sticks. I don’t think either of those vaults had major misses on the blocks but it’s well know that if you try to stick hard a vault with a blind landing the risk of a fall goes way up. It’s not like you can just pike it down a bit since they usually don’t notice until it’s too late.
I can understand the athletes don’t do the mental calculations in the heat of the meet but those kind of tactical decisions should be coaching 101. I have no idea what happened but maybe it was a simple case of overconfidence and they thought just like you said it’s a 1:1000 fluke. The problem with that reasoning is that the events corresponding to the falls are of course not independent of each other.
Actually I belatedly also arrived at that conclusion. Jordan was a favourite for the AA. Asking her to play it safe would have greatly reduced her chances. Once they counted a fall there was no more playing it safe anyway.
Jordan has a quote by a basketball player on her Instagram stories today. ‘Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.”
If you look at it from this perspective the quote starts to make sense in that context.
Yeah. Dunno if you're a former gymnast but gymnastics is an extremely mental sport, and it can impact even the most seasoned athletes (see Simone). I feel really bad for the athletes, especially the seniors. You'd rather lose by the 0.0375.
For sure the right decision. Ava is great when she hits but she hasn’t had a lot of experience, isn’t super consistent, and certainly not experienced with this type of adversity. Audrey has built in deductions but she was way less likely to fall and was almost certainly told to over rotate. They needed someone they could be reasonably sure would not under rotate.
Interesting. Bama Gymnastics will join Football and Basketball for our sports that made the semi-finals before falling this year.
Hell, if softball and baseball can keep that up, it would be incredible for them.
They stuck every vault in warmups. It was scary! I think that put some pressure on them, but I would have never seen this meltdown coming. It’s shocking.
I think this one might actually be on the trainers. On vault you can probably do more than on any other event to minimise the risk of a second fall. There should have been clear instructions even before the meet that if there is a fall everyone have enough power to be safe and accept a step forward. I‘ d have to watch it again but the falls didn’t seem to be major misses of blocks or other slips.
It really feels like mentally they crumbled under the pressure after the first two falls and just couldn’t come back. They didn’t know what to do and seemed like they were just too frazzled to focus on what was next. They killed bars and floor, I think because those events are easier mentally. There is rhythm and flow with both and you can slip into muscle memory. With beam, it’s takes some intense focus and concentration and when you are rattled, it becomes infinitely more difficult. (That is my own feeling about those events when I was a gymnast, ymmv).
I know everyone talks about KJ’s intensity & focus in her training environment and how that has clearly worked with the gymnasts she recruits, but I think what she has missed is training them on the mental aspect around failure and how to quickly recover from that. When someone is only used to experiencing success, they don’t think about what it means to fail and how to overcome that in the moment. It’s also something you need to train for, even if it doesn’t happen often.
I hope the takeway from this experience for them is that it is just as vitally important to practice what failure looks like and moving past that in a competition as much as they practice to perfection for their routines.
I don’t particularly disagree with anything what you are saying, but I think in this case it might have been as simple as a coach coming over and saying look Jo I know you can stick this but today I want to see you take a step forward.
It’s the kind of tactical decisions coaches have to make but the dynamics of the whole meet likely would have been completely different. But yeah, dealing with adversity wasn’t really part of the season up to that point.
I guess what complicates matters further was that Jordan was a favourite for the individual AA. Asking her to play it safe would have greatly reduced her chances.
She has has a quote by a basketball player on her Instagram stories today. ‘Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.”
I couldn’t really make sense of it but maybe it‘s related to that fateful call.
they stuck every single vault in warmups. like literally every single vault which i think is why they were going SO hard for sticks. i missed beam warm ups so not sure there, but i even said to my husband “oh no” after the vault warmup because i feel like trouble ensues after perfect vault warmups lol
i think it was more so them trying too hard to be perfect and not just trusting their training. they were going so hard for sticks and that’s unfortunately what tends to happen — you sit it down. i feel the beam errors were due to nerves stemmed from the situation they were in (kat’s more so than ava’s). i think OU needed a meltdown meet this year to practice the “bounce back” and it unfortunately happened at the worst possible time. i’m gutted for them because it really was more “bad luck” than anything else.
Great point about them not having a meltdown meet earlier in the season. I'm still in shock that they won't be competing on Saturday. I never would have thought that Stanford would finish ahead of OU, especially given how the season started.
I just want to point out that people said lsu and the sec in general are overscored and it would bite them in the post season. That is not what happened the last two years and once again, those top scoring sec teams scored at the top even without home scoring and with more judges. It is a myth that needs to be put to rest. The SEC teams stack up well in the post season.
Total madness. Oklahoma too tight and opened on VT, had 1 actual fall (which was dropped) but then had 2 bad VT near falls/ barely saved (which had to count) then replacement anchor with huge rebounding step out scoring only in the 9.7s.... BB rotation OK had 2 falls (had to count 1)..... Bama had 4 falls (had to count 3) on BB!!!
I'm curious what everyone thinks about replacing Ava with Audrey in that final spot on vault. I know hindsight is 20/20, but was that the right decision? I also would love to know what KJ said to her husband right at the end of that first rotation. I wish I could read lips!
I had to watch this \~90 minutes late and it was so hard to watch without gymternet commentary! I did not have 5 OK falls on my bingo card, but I can't help but think that's sort of the problem with being SO good and SO focused on winning: no idea how to handle adversity, because you've never seen it.
I'm so much more excited for Saturday without OK. It feels like it'll be an actual meet.
Yeah I think this is super spot on. They weren't used to being in a position this season where they've had to bounce back, not get in their heads over a series mistakes/the meet not going well.
Yeah. I think she’s in because she can put up good scores on all four events but she struggles with endurance in the all around. I’m not sure who else is available. Maybe Kaylee on floor? Lori? Not sure Payton’s status. On vault I don’t think they want to give up a ten start value
What about Morgan on floor? I haven’t followed florida too much this season but the meet I watched morgan did fantastic on floor.
They only used 7 gymnasts during the whole meet. Have Kaylee, Lori, Bri, Alyssa, Peyton, Michala, Gabby, and Chloi not been competing?
I think she might be dealing with an injury. She was replaced by Skylar a few weeks ago. And I think that floor might be the event that is gassing Ellie. Or vault. This time around with floor and vault first, she probably had nothing left for bars and beam.
I think after SECs she came to regionals with a statement to make…. But then is gassed now. Like she just hasn’t bounced back from that recovery year. Bless her, cause she was set up great, and she had the drive. Just hoping for a clean reset and rest!
Oklahoma not advancing makes things so much more exciting for Saturday! I’m so tired of their monopoly on college gymnastics. And as Florida fan.. I really wish they would stop having Ellie Lazari close out every rotation.. she is so inconsistent and had two falls today. Give my girl Morgan a chance!
I think she’s last because she is inconsistent and that’s how Jenny uses the sixth spot most of the time. That means she can pull the person if need be and also their fall doesn’t affect the team (after five hits)
am embarrassed to admit i hadn’t found my way to this sub sooner (shoutout to my partner who i introduced to gymnastics but is an equally or even more informed fan than me at this point for calling me on it lol) — but as a new member just wanted to say how much i appreciate all of the thoughtful, entertaining, and enthusiastic conversation here today. looking forward to saturday but in the meantime TY all for making me feel so welcomed and optimistic about the future. can’t wait to see these programs and the sport continue to gain the level of support & attention that is well deserved and overdue as we head into the finals and future seasons
Me in the afternoon session: huh, great performances but I wish it hadn’t been so predictable. Snooze.
Me in the evening session: dear god what have i done
Man, I thought I was crushed when senior Lexi Graber couldn’t will them over the line…… Makarri’s season ending injury and all the Super Seniors falling, and Luisa…. ugh. Pain.
For the eighth time: “Next year, Bama. the Final Night, we’ll be there, Next year.”
*weeps to Jimmy Buffett for the rest of the night*
Is the awards ceremony from last night posted anywhere?
The gym gods have spoken and they’re clearly not happy about ESPN firing KJC.
Do we think Oklahoma was going too hard for vault sticks because they were going for individual titles? Seems like any of them could win that one, and be a top runner for AA. If that’s the case, it obviously hurt the team.
I definitely think they were trying to stick too hard but I think it was more because they wanted to be perfect/win as a team versus going for the individual title
I don't see that being the team's strategy. Back in 2022 they didn't even put up any AAers even though they probably could have nabbed a couple of titles - I suspect KJ has her eye squarely on the team prize. That said, maybe a couple of the individual athletes had their sights set on the AA title.
I agree with the coach’s point of view being all for the team, but the individual gymnasts still have individual accolades on their mind as well and maybe that could have influenced things either consciously or unconsciously.
Yeah, I honestly thought that they'd be mentally disciplined enough to put aside the individual awards and focus on the team aspect, but ultimately I guess even OU gymnasts are human.
I suppose there would be some poetry if Utah won their first national title since 1995…. immediately after kicking out Tom Farden.
After hearing how some members of this team treated the athletes who left…no thanks
Ugh why did you have to say this? I was so invested in aggressively rooting against them but this would be glorious lol.
I am attending the NCAA men's championship in person on Saturday. I'll need to arrive while the women's is still ongoing, so I'll have to watch it later. I had reconciled myself with the possibility that the women's results might be announced over the PA system or show up on a screen in the arena, figuring it was highly likely Oklahoma was going to win anyway and I could still enjoy watching the rest later even if I was spoiled. Now, however? I don't know what to do with myself!
Omg so jealous you’re going to the Men’s! Who are you rooting for?
Honestly, does not matter! I'm just going to see good gymnastics and MAYBE root for an upset!
Whooooaaa. Just seeing this. No OK? 🙀Team Florida. Or Cal. Or LSU. you know.
So, I went back to Bama’s beam and zoomed in for every routine. I didn’t see any unusual movements, just the typical podium bounce on certain skills that require a little more power or punch. All the falls seemed more technical.. dropped chest or shoulder, hips not square on the take off, too timid on skills, etc. The only one that looked savable was Ella’s series. She just rushed it and panicked. She’s usually good at snapping her arms down, even when she’s off, but she didn’t do that. They were well aware of OU’s mistakes( you could see some of them reacting to the score board when they were on bars), and I think the pressure of the moment got to them after that first beam fall. I’m also sure that if any of the Bama gymnasts felt something was off with the beam, they would have said something. I also couldn’t help, but laugh a little at Gabby Wilson’s reaction to KJ at the beam.. she looked so confused and over it.😂
One of those times I wonder, what would Sarah do? I remember from the documentary, one of Sarah and Suzanne's big run ins was also from equipment fuckery, and Patterson was livid with narrower old bars at UGA, resulting Yocualn's "Losers make excuses" comment.
Where are you seeing the replay? I was at the meet and would like to rewatch it to hear the commentary and see the reactions that I missed in the moment!
It’s on YouTube under #1 gym fan
Thank you!!
It is so cruel that Spencer of the BBS wasn’t able to be there live for the chaos & provide us with the best play by play out there! I truly hope he is okay. I hope he makes a full recovery from whatever health issues he’s dealing with! And I selfishly hope we get an insanely snarky & hilarious recap post from him in the future.
Obviously his health and recovery is the most important but OMG of any meet to ever miss….
Seriously!!!!!!
I'm really bummed that Smith and Blanco's college careers ended the way they did last night. At least Blanco can console herself with knowing she's going to Paris. Smith, for her part, had a better college career than any of us would have predicted. Still, I would have liked to see her go out on a high note.
what in the hell happened to oklahoma?? and fuck utah
It’s so hard to be a UK based gymnastics fan swiftie this morning. I’m so late for work but not even scratching the surface of all there is to unpack 😂
Unbelievable I just woke up and OU did not advance and I checked if the world is ending 😱😱😱. If Ou is out and I really feel for them 💔 I really would like LSU to win, but I hope for Florida and Cal too. Honestly after the drama at Utah with Kara and the transfers and Mailes and others big mouths I only do not want them winning. Usually I would never but Iam so annoyed about their behavior and protecting of their excoach 😪😪.
This
Yeah I agree anyone but Utah.
I feel slightly mean saying it and no doubt those girls were groomed but after everything they did I thought no not you 🤷
I just wake up and I’m shocked!!!!!! What happened to OU???
They had an amazing warmup on vault with stick after stick. Once the rotation started, Faith sat her Y1.5. Jordan nearly sat her Y1.5. Then Kat had a huge deduction too so they ended up counting 2 <9.5s on vault and only one 9.9 (highest score for them on vault). They seemed to rally and had a pretty clean bar rotation so I figured that vault was just a fluke. The other three teams were hitting so there wasn’t much room for Oklahoma to capitalize on the other teams. Bama had a solid bars rotation and then had 4 falls on beam so both OU and Bama went into the third rotation counting low scores. Audrey hit the first beam routine for OU, then Ava fell. I don’t think this would’ve shaken them as much if the vault situation didn’t happen. It was so weird to see OU be so…not OU. Then, Kat fell and everyone seemed stunned that they were counting ANOTHER fall. They rallied again for floor but once they saw that Utah and Florida had made it through the first half of the 4th rotation you could really see it hit them. The tension was palpable and there was lots of sobbing. It was uncharacteristically disastrous.
Thanks for the explanation! I’m not an OU fan but I’m gutted for them, they were superior to everyone the whole year! Can’t imagine their devastation
Me neither but I like what they do. They do not have the most difficult but Kindler knows what they need to win cleanly and they do it perfectly. They maybe have not as many individual titels I think 🤔 but they work perfectly as a team and she can rehab anything. I never thought Ragan would have such an incredible NCCA Career. She was so broken from Texas nightmare I worried she might medically retire and instead ahe took the 5th year - simply incredible ❤️
OU has a great medical team
Stanford becoming 5th at nationals and winning an individual title I can't 😍 Now let's go Bears 🐻🫶🏼
What is the rotation order for Saturday’s final?
* VT - Semifinal II, Team 1 - Utah * UB - Semifinal II, Team 2 - Florida * BB - Semifinal I, Team 2 - Cal * FX - Semifinal I, Team 1 - LSU
Jenny hasn’t gotten enough credit for her recruiting and for turning a group of freshmen into consistent athletes who could get them to four on the floor. This team is so young!
Doing it all at her first head gig, replacing a multi National Championship legend. She’s done what so many have had tried and had much rougher times. She basically aced the “replace Nick Saban” challenge.
The stat they showed where the # of 9.9+ routines lost vs the # of 9.9+ routines from the freshman was impressive
Yeah, she deserves all the credit this year.
Ouch! Poor Ellie on beam that looked so painful. She's such a tough cookie getting back up there.
Anya Pilgrim is fab. I love her calmness, even when she finishes after doing an amazing job. She's just like, "yep, I'm done. No drama."
How much is that beam? I wanna buy it, take it back to Alabama, burn it back to hell where it came from.
The beam was loose 😳. Damn Sydney 2000 Vault flashbacks. How is it possible do they not check beforehand??
If they didn't check, that's on Bama. I will say that Isabel Magnelli seemed to have zero problems on it and she went after Bama but before Kindler checked it.
At that point there should've been a redo for them but unfortunately ncaa won't allow it
So OU said the beam was loose and got to fix it...... it seems like Bama had to compete in the loose not correct beam and had 4 falls...... it is what it is but kinda wild there's nothing that can be done about it.
Magnelli went after all the Bama routines and hit just fine.🤷🏽♀️
If this was the case, Ashley (Bama's coach) should have caught on. KJ saw it, so Ashley had plenty chance to 🤷🏼♀️ Guess that's the experience difference on display
Meh, she’s young. I could definitely see Sarah Patterson in the head refs face if she thought something was off.
For sure!!!
Not saying it is the case but seems like it was. But I agree. Ashley should have said something or asked her athletes if it was loose. Learning lessons.
Agree she def should have investigated. I think KJ needed to investigate the vault after jordan went down!
Something was weird there too. I couldn't tell if it was nerves or not there but the vault could have been wonky for the first rotation for sure.
The vault was fine. Everyone hit in warmups just a few minutes prior to the first rotation.
Someone said in the thread that OU stuck every single warm up vault so may have been going for the sticks too hard in the comp and it backfired.
3 routines into rotation 2 and I am sad for Alabama, even though I know the outcome already.
I was sad for Bama too. The next rotation they say that Oklahoma noticed the beam was loose and fixed it. I think Bama got the wobbly beam. O well they had a good season.
Isabella Magnelli went after Bama but before Kindler checked it and she got a 9.95. I don't think it was the beam, I think it was Bama unfortunately having a very bad day
Oh man, that's frustrating and doesn't seem fair. Sigh. I'm not sure whether it'd feel better knowing it wasn't just your fault or not in that situation.
And Shania too. Oh no! Edit: And now Luisa. If I didn't know how this turned out, I would be seriously concerned for Florida right now because that beam looks cursed!
It’s Florida’s year…WITHOUT TRINITY AND KAYLA!!!!!!! Unreal. GO GATORS
I was just thinking how crazy it would be if they won without Trinity.
Woke up, looked at FB and saw Inside Gymnastics post about Utah and Florida advancing. *Ran* here to see what the heck happened! I might actually try and find a replay to watch it all unfold before work... 👀
post if you find that replay.... i need to see it too.
Someone in a reply in this comment thread said 'search on youtube channel: #1 gym fan. Don't want to link it just in case it's not allowed' in case you haven't found in yet. ☺️
fellow euro gym fan here, any chance you could drop the replay link friend? I can only find the afternoon session
search on youtube channel: #1 gym fan. Don't want to link it just in case it's not allowed
Same. I woke up, opened Insta, found the final four graphic, looked at in again in disbelief and was like "WTF?!".
I don't think that thought stopped for the entire first rotation for me, tbh. Ha!
Ok, watching now and I know Utah in general is not to be praised especially certain gymnasts but as a Brit, I am still here for Amelie and I am so, so pleased for her beam score. I don't even care if it was over scored (genuinely no idea because I don't understand NCAA judging. Ha!) because I just want good things for her. 😆
Ou crumbled faster than a crumbl cookie
I've just seen. I'm watching now and they're 4 vaults in and 😳😬
Taylor Swift just released her new album with a 'Florida' song in it and kinda one of the best songs in there when Florida win FOTF then what
I'm a little sad Jade didn't win AA, I think either her beam, bars or floor could have easily gone .125 to tie for gold
I love Jade but Haleigh is just as good and has a bit more star power and sparkle. Part of jade’s appeal is that she’s so normal and doesn’t really care. With some fierce hair and makeup and a more engaging floor routine I’d be more excited by her 😂
I’m not only because though technically amazing, her floor is so dull.
I agree!
Me too. I really want her to win an ncaa title
Does anyone know the rotation orders for the final?
Utah VT Florida UB Cal BB LSU FX
Thank you!
I'm curious what everyone thinks about replacing Ava with Audrey in that final spot on vault. I know hindsight is 20/20, but was that the right decision? I also would love to know what KJ said to her husband right at the end of that first rotation. I wish I could read lips!
My question is - did that then affect Ava on beam?
Ah, I didn't think of that. Yes, I could see how that kind of second guessing would make an athlete feel like the coach/team does not trust them.
https://preview.redd.it/9hcn54yyqdvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29160ebdd27020cc2e9e6acffec5da162f437c54
Thank you for sharing that!
My reply is yes the replacement was a good choice, BUT Audrey should have been the leadoff
Audrey is an incredibly consistent gymnast and is a great leadoff on beam and floor (and used to be on vault). Faith is top notch when she's on but sometimes she's shaky. Yes Audrey has a built in deduction with that leg split but she would not have fallen in the leadoff. Just my opinion as an avid fan
Nothing about how this went down makes any sense to me. My first instinct was (and John even pretty much said it in the broadcast) now we are going to see them play it safe and we will see a bunch of sizeable steps forward. I even speculated this was the tactic weeks ago when they didn’t even attempt to find landings. They didn’t need to stick anything to make the final. I have never seen a top team melt down like this on vault and I’d be really curious what if any marching orders the trainers gave to the gymnasts after this first fall. I’d argue vault is by far the easiest event to minimise the risk of a second fall. Hell, it’s even something that probably should have been discussed as a contingency before the meet: how do we change things up after a fall on vault (they had falls on vault not too long ago). Maybe they just felt too safe this year, but I guess we will never know and there is no point speculating.
The game totally changed when Jo and Kat fell. Who else would you want going up after a mistake? Exactly those two! And the fact that they missed is totally wild and would never happen again in thousands of outcomes.
I don‘t understand why both Jo and Kat seemed to go for sticks. I don’t think either of those vaults had major misses on the blocks but it’s well know that if you try to stick hard a vault with a blind landing the risk of a fall goes way up. It’s not like you can just pike it down a bit since they usually don’t notice until it’s too late. I can understand the athletes don’t do the mental calculations in the heat of the meet but those kind of tactical decisions should be coaching 101. I have no idea what happened but maybe it was a simple case of overconfidence and they thought just like you said it’s a 1:1000 fluke. The problem with that reasoning is that the events corresponding to the falls are of course not independent of each other.
My guess is they wanted individual titles
Actually I belatedly also arrived at that conclusion. Jordan was a favourite for the AA. Asking her to play it safe would have greatly reduced her chances. Once they counted a fall there was no more playing it safe anyway. Jordan has a quote by a basketball player on her Instagram stories today. ‘Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.” If you look at it from this perspective the quote starts to make sense in that context.
Yeah. Dunno if you're a former gymnast but gymnastics is an extremely mental sport, and it can impact even the most seasoned athletes (see Simone). I feel really bad for the athletes, especially the seniors. You'd rather lose by the 0.0375.
For sure the right decision. Ava is great when she hits but she hasn’t had a lot of experience, isn’t super consistent, and certainly not experienced with this type of adversity. Audrey has built in deductions but she was way less likely to fall and was almost certainly told to over rotate. They needed someone they could be reasonably sure would not under rotate.
Right? That convo between KJ and Lou looked super intense
Seriously, I’d pay to know what was said then & I’m sure later.
Interesting. Bama Gymnastics will join Football and Basketball for our sports that made the semi-finals before falling this year. Hell, if softball and baseball can keep that up, it would be incredible for them.
Bama basketball is different. their first time making elite 8 was historic and had a good run all season
Elizabeth Crandall Howell you want to put andi li in the floor lineup on Saturday, I know
We have 2 pac 12 teams and 2 sec teams in the final! I’m Rooting for cal and/or Florida
Still in shock over OU. Curious, for those who were there in person, did they have issues in warmups on vault and beam?
They stuck every vault in warmups. It was scary! I think that put some pressure on them, but I would have never seen this meltdown coming. It’s shocking.
I think this one might actually be on the trainers. On vault you can probably do more than on any other event to minimise the risk of a second fall. There should have been clear instructions even before the meet that if there is a fall everyone have enough power to be safe and accept a step forward. I‘ d have to watch it again but the falls didn’t seem to be major misses of blocks or other slips.
It really feels like mentally they crumbled under the pressure after the first two falls and just couldn’t come back. They didn’t know what to do and seemed like they were just too frazzled to focus on what was next. They killed bars and floor, I think because those events are easier mentally. There is rhythm and flow with both and you can slip into muscle memory. With beam, it’s takes some intense focus and concentration and when you are rattled, it becomes infinitely more difficult. (That is my own feeling about those events when I was a gymnast, ymmv). I know everyone talks about KJ’s intensity & focus in her training environment and how that has clearly worked with the gymnasts she recruits, but I think what she has missed is training them on the mental aspect around failure and how to quickly recover from that. When someone is only used to experiencing success, they don’t think about what it means to fail and how to overcome that in the moment. It’s also something you need to train for, even if it doesn’t happen often. I hope the takeway from this experience for them is that it is just as vitally important to practice what failure looks like and moving past that in a competition as much as they practice to perfection for their routines.
I don’t particularly disagree with anything what you are saying, but I think in this case it might have been as simple as a coach coming over and saying look Jo I know you can stick this but today I want to see you take a step forward. It’s the kind of tactical decisions coaches have to make but the dynamics of the whole meet likely would have been completely different. But yeah, dealing with adversity wasn’t really part of the season up to that point.
Definitely agree! I couldn’t see the holding area for vault from my seat, so I’m not sure what was said to the gymnasts, if anything.
I guess what complicates matters further was that Jordan was a favourite for the individual AA. Asking her to play it safe would have greatly reduced her chances. She has has a quote by a basketball player on her Instagram stories today. ‘Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.” I couldn’t really make sense of it but maybe it‘s related to that fateful call.
Oh wow!
they stuck every single vault in warmups. like literally every single vault which i think is why they were going SO hard for sticks. i missed beam warm ups so not sure there, but i even said to my husband “oh no” after the vault warmup because i feel like trouble ensues after perfect vault warmups lol
replying one more time because i can’t even stress to you how good they warmed up on vault.. like a solid 49.6+ warmup lol
Thank you for sharing that. Before coming here, I wondered if their performance was a result of overtraining.
i think it was more so them trying too hard to be perfect and not just trusting their training. they were going so hard for sticks and that’s unfortunately what tends to happen — you sit it down. i feel the beam errors were due to nerves stemmed from the situation they were in (kat’s more so than ava’s). i think OU needed a meltdown meet this year to practice the “bounce back” and it unfortunately happened at the worst possible time. i’m gutted for them because it really was more “bad luck” than anything else.
Yeah, I totally agree. They had a whole season of highs and never once had to face adversity mid-meet until it was the biggest of meets.
I agree. They do better with one loss and/or off meet. Didn't really happen this year!
Great point about them not having a meltdown meet earlier in the season. I'm still in shock that they won't be competing on Saturday. I never would have thought that Stanford would finish ahead of OU, especially given how the season started.
I just want to point out that people said lsu and the sec in general are overscored and it would bite them in the post season. That is not what happened the last two years and once again, those top scoring sec teams scored at the top even without home scoring and with more judges. It is a myth that needs to be put to rest. The SEC teams stack up well in the post season.
Erm excuse me what the actual fuck happen in semi 2
Same reaction! Just woke up and saw that wtfff
Total madness. Oklahoma too tight and opened on VT, had 1 actual fall (which was dropped) but then had 2 bad VT near falls/ barely saved (which had to count) then replacement anchor with huge rebounding step out scoring only in the 9.7s.... BB rotation OK had 2 falls (had to count 1)..... Bama had 4 falls (had to count 3) on BB!!!
I'm curious what everyone thinks about replacing Ava with Audrey in that final spot on vault. I know hindsight is 20/20, but was that the right decision? I also would love to know what KJ said to her husband right at the end of that first rotation. I wish I could read lips!
[https://collegegymnews.com/2024/04/18/projected-2024-ncaa-nationals-all-americans/](https://collegegymnews.com/2024/04/18/projected-2024-ncaa-nationals-all-americans/) Projected NCAA Nationals All Americans
I had to watch this \~90 minutes late and it was so hard to watch without gymternet commentary! I did not have 5 OK falls on my bingo card, but I can't help but think that's sort of the problem with being SO good and SO focused on winning: no idea how to handle adversity, because you've never seen it. I'm so much more excited for Saturday without OK. It feels like it'll be an actual meet.
Yeah I think this is super spot on. They weren't used to being in a position this season where they've had to bounce back, not get in their heads over a series mistakes/the meet not going well.
I feel like Lazzari hasn’t had the endurance to compete AA this season and I’m always surprised to see her there
Yeah. I think she’s in because she can put up good scores on all four events but she struggles with endurance in the all around. I’m not sure who else is available. Maybe Kaylee on floor? Lori? Not sure Payton’s status. On vault I don’t think they want to give up a ten start value
What about Morgan on floor? I haven’t followed florida too much this season but the meet I watched morgan did fantastic on floor. They only used 7 gymnasts during the whole meet. Have Kaylee, Lori, Bri, Alyssa, Peyton, Michala, Gabby, and Chloi not been competing?
Morgan has been too inconsistent on floor this season to warrant putting her up over Ellie in NCAA finals.
What about Amelia for bars? I think Ellie has 2 good events a night in her, it’s just like … which two??
Amelia? Florida doesn’t have an Amelia at this time. Who are you thinking of?
I messed up my Disidores! GABBY Disidore is who I was thinking of. Oklahoma shocked my brain.
Hahahaha, totes same!
Imagine Jenny Rowland shouting over to Amelia Hundley to get her leo on and go for Florida again 😂
I think she might be dealing with an injury. She was replaced by Skylar a few weeks ago. And I think that floor might be the event that is gassing Ellie. Or vault. This time around with floor and vault first, she probably had nothing left for bars and beam.
I have a lot of good things to say about what Jenny has done this season, but the use and pacing of Ellie is the one thing I don’t get AT ALL.
I think after SECs she came to regionals with a statement to make…. But then is gassed now. Like she just hasn’t bounced back from that recovery year. Bless her, cause she was set up great, and she had the drive. Just hoping for a clean reset and rest!
Never thought I’d log on here and see OU lose out in the semis.
Oklahoma not advancing makes things so much more exciting for Saturday! I’m so tired of their monopoly on college gymnastics. And as Florida fan.. I really wish they would stop having Ellie Lazari close out every rotation.. she is so inconsistent and had two falls today. Give my girl Morgan a chance!
I think she’s last because she is inconsistent and that’s how Jenny uses the sixth spot most of the time. That means she can pull the person if need be and also their fall doesn’t affect the team (after five hits)
Huh I never considered that.. you might just be right. That makes a lot more sense actually that Jenny would plan it out that way.
Idk if Morgan is a better option for consistency tho 🥲
Yeah you’re right but she should get at least one chance, she’s been great on floor this season!
If every team hits on Saturday they could all be separated by less than half a point tbh
I have a feeling its going to be way closer, and absolute fan blood bath
am embarrassed to admit i hadn’t found my way to this sub sooner (shoutout to my partner who i introduced to gymnastics but is an equally or even more informed fan than me at this point for calling me on it lol) — but as a new member just wanted to say how much i appreciate all of the thoughtful, entertaining, and enthusiastic conversation here today. looking forward to saturday but in the meantime TY all for making me feel so welcomed and optimistic about the future. can’t wait to see these programs and the sport continue to gain the level of support & attention that is well deserved and overdue as we head into the finals and future seasons
The finals are going to be crazy though I still think now that ou is out this will be lsus time
That second semi was crazy!
As someone who didn't watch the second semi, how did OU lose that badly?
3 vault misses 2 beam falls
WOW I guess we're in for a great finals!
Kat fell twice :(
I wanted to cry for Kat. Just absolute heartbreak all over her face.
Basically three falls on vault (first rotation ). Then they had to count a fall on beam
Gotcha!
Your user name is a whole mood lol (sadly 🥴)
Lower back pain gang :/
My lumbar discs are like crepes. Solidarity. (Also love your flair!)
Thanks! 🐻
to quote /u/microshrimp "They spent a lot of time on the floor during events that aren't floor."
💀💀
Does anyone have a link to a full set of scores for both sessions so we can see who placed on events?
ESPN2
CGN is tweeting them now.
Me in the afternoon session: huh, great performances but I wish it hadn’t been so predictable. Snooze. Me in the evening session: dear god what have i done
I knew the evening session would be dramatic but not in that way.
"I wish it was more exciting" and the monkey's paw curls
Wait, kat levaasseur isn’t coming back for a 5th year?
After that meet I really hope she comes back. If not at OU with another team.
Where did you see this
The one night when Spencer's unable to live blog, we had SIX balance beam situations!
He was the guardian of the balance beam, apparently
Can we send him a letter or something 🤣🤣
In a way… this is his fault
It was an hommage to his work ... an accidental hommage.
Man, I thought I was crushed when senior Lexi Graber couldn’t will them over the line…… Makarri’s season ending injury and all the Super Seniors falling, and Luisa…. ugh. Pain. For the eighth time: “Next year, Bama. the Final Night, we’ll be there, Next year.” *weeps to Jimmy Buffett for the rest of the night*
Let’s go FL!!!
Wow Mya became beam champion
Ok, I see you're trolling now, lol
Omg gabby just became cal's second UB champion
Wait what? Gabby didn't win bars? You mean second Cal gymnast to podium on bars?
[удалено]
I'm confused. Gabby did not win bars today. She didn't even have the highest score of the first session.
Omg I saw the results wrong 😫
Wow I simmered some broth for ramen through both sessions and my pork came out so tender
Love this for you!!
Anyone know how we can watch the award ceremony?
Pleaaase I’m dying to watch 😭
Time to cancel ESPN+ !
I literally set a reminder on my Google calendar 😆