2023 National Semifinal #2 – Live Blog

On to the second semifinal, where the title of favorite heading into the final still looks very much up for grabs.

The lesson we learned from the first semifinal was…just find a way to stay on somehow? That Florida survived that beam rotation and still advanced was solely by the grace of the Sky Gator. 

How much Utah elects to use McCallum here will be worth a watch. Seems like she’s in place to go. Today in the warmup, we saw her stick a dismount on bars, step back on the other attempt, going in the anchor position there and on beam. Had a little trouble on the beam dismount on her turns, but not major.  

Two heroes just brought me a margarita in the media zone, so the entire 11 years of this website have been worth it.

No Bourque here in the vault lineup for Kentucky. Oklahoma’s intro video is fully gold. This intro video said, “We watched the first semifinal too.”

By NQS, UCLA would have a verrrryyy slight lead on Utah (not Oklahoma, Oklahoma would be winning) after the first rotation, but how that plays in reality will be interesting to watch.

Rotation 1

Lee – BB – UCLA – good aerial, hits loso series – switch to straddle, nice positions – full turn, smooth – bhs gainer full, hops heels together

Sievers – UB – Oklahoma – good first hs – maloney to pak, legs together well – hits hs on high – sticks dismount with little lean.

Brenner finishes floor with a secure double tuck. Procasky chest down landing on yfull.

Wilson – VT – Kentucky – very nice stick on handspring pike 1/2, just some leg stagger.

Fletcher on bars for OU, small step back on FTDT. Following 9.900 for Sievers. Lee also 9.900 on beam for UCLA. Brenner 9.8875 floor.

Alipio – BB – UCLA – aerial to back tuck, hit combination – side aerial, comfortable – gainer tuck full, gets stick, some direction

Good height for Patterson on handspring pike 1/2, bounce back.

Trautman – UB – OU – maloney to pak, solid – 1/2 turn on low, hip angle – hits hs on high – DLO, a little forward but controls the landing.

Medium bounce back on handspring pike 1/2 from Magnelli. Alipio gets UCLA’s second 9.900.

Padurariu – BB – UCLA – candle mount – wolf double, solid – side aerial to bhs, hit – switch, nice – short landing on 1.5 dismount with a bounce back.

Smith sticks DLO with the piking for OU on bars. LaClair finishes Kentucky with a yfull, slide back.

9.7875 for Padurariu, which UCLA will aim to drop.

Chiles – BB – UCLA – bhs loso loso, goes for the big series, solid landing – switch to wolf jump, good – full turn, holds it – side aerial, solid – double pike, chest down, lunge forward. Could be the AA right there on that landing.

Bowers hop forward on dismount for OU.

Smith for Utah finishes floor with good rudi to loso, rudi to a struggle on a…double stag attempt? Didn’t get much on that. 

Just 9.825 for Chiles on beam. But with minimum .2 on the dismount, she’ll accent your lovely gift.

Harris – BB – UCLA – bhs loso bhs, was a little off line throughout but held it with not too large on check, a little teetery throughout but staying on

Davis – UB – OU – huge piked jaeger as always – good pak – 1/2 turn on low, hits vertical – solid hs on high – higgins to front giant to a little hop on her dismount.

Harris goes 9.9375, so apparently they did not see the teeters we did.

Rucker controls the step on her FTDT on floor.

Malabuyo – BB – UCLA – wolf single, good – bhs loso, smooth – aerial to beat, nice – solid split ring jump – bhs gainer full, holds the stick.

Nice one from Heiskell on bars with a stick on double tuck.

O’Keefe – FX – Utah – double pike, controls step, a little forward – front lay to front full, good control – split leap 1.5, looked around from this angle – back 1.5 to lay, solid.

9.950 for Heiskell ties for the bars lead.

Hannah Scharf is felled by the wolf turn.

9.950 for O’Keefe on floor, taking Utah to 49.500. In a bit of a surprise, Oklahoma will be in third after the first rotation.

Gobourne – FX – Auburn – music delay – now starts – open double tuck, rebound – switch side to wolf full, around – front full to front lay, hit – doubel pike, controls the step back. 9.9125

After 1:
UCLA 49.5125
Utah 49.500
Oklahoma 49.4875
Kentucky 49.3125

Super close among the top, but Oklahoma definitely dropped tenths on their potential so far.

Chiles just warmed up a DLO 1/1 on floor.

Rotation 2

Dunn – BB – OU – bhs bhs loso, solid – gainer full, stuck with chest position

Moors – FX – UCLA – front 2/1 to front tuck, hop to present – lovely loso from side – switch to switch 1/2 to wolf full, well done – rudi, chest down, step forward, was going great until the end.

Brenner – VT – Utah – Y1.5, rises up onto toes and then a step forward after, some knees.

Dunn gets 9.9125

Trautman – BB – OU – full turn, hit – bhs loso, hit – kickover secure

Procasky a little deep on double tuck floor landing, hop.

Music goes out in the middle of Malabuyo’s floor. Trautman with a good hit on beam. How did the music come back on Malabuyo’s routine in exactly the right spot? Did someone just big-hand the mute button?

Smith – VT – Utah – Omel, pretty solid, hop forward.

Bunn pretty close on her jaeger on bars, loses leg form.

Bowers – BB – OU – full turn, hit – bhs loso, large break, bend at the hips – 2/1, dismount, stuck, some leg crossing.

Rucker hits her Y1.5 on vault for utah but short landing with a step back.

Bowers 9.825 on beam with a .2 lean at the hips to horizontal.

Harris – FX – UCLA – FTDT, solid, one of her better landings on that element in chest position and control – double tuck, hit – split leap full to popa, some travel – back 1.5 to 1/2 to double stag, good control.

Torrez – BB – OU – side aerial to loso, secure – hops heels together on dismount.

49.3625 vault for Utah. That will make OU and UCLA happy. Also making UCLA happy, 9.950 for Harris on floor.

Frazier – FX – UCLA – whip through to double tuck, controls the step back – split leap full to popa to popa, OK, nice attack on the final popa position – double pike, knees, hit

Davis – BB – OU – full turn, hit – bhs loso, secure – aerial, nice – beat to split ring jump, very small lean – 2/1 dismount, stuck with crossing.

Worley on bars for Kentucky with nice Pak, finishes FTDT, small slide back.

Campbell – FX – UCLA – FTDT, good control – split leap full to popa, good height – front lay to front full, controls the step – double tuck, good.

Smith – BB – OU – bhs loso, wobble – aerial, smoothly done – straddle 1/2 to korbut, nice – bhs gainer full, stuck.

9.9375 for Campbell.

Chiles – FX – UCLA – DLO, controls step back, good chest up position – front tuck through to double tuck, little rebound – split leap full to wolf full, around – double pike, solid. Glad they had her not do the DLO 1/1, this meet is too close for that.

Heiskell – BB – Michigan – cat leap to side aerial, small check – switch to switch, good – bhs loso, check – 1.5 dismount, hoppy

9.9875 for Chiles on floor to take over the lead there. 9.850s for heiskell on beam.

After 2:
UCLA 99.225
Oklahoma 99.0375
Utah 98.8625
Kentucky 98.4375

It’s 49.7125 for UCLA on floor.

Utah now the one needing to do work on bars coming up. UCLA leading but done with what are typically their two best rotation scores. They’ll have to vault like the regional final.

Rotation 3

Davis – FX – OU – front 2/1, hit, minor leg crossing –

Morgan hits maloney with legs into bhardwaj, a bit late on 1/2 turn on low – giant full, a bit past into double tuck, hop back into salute.

Largeee bounce back from Frazier leading off vault for UCLA. Someone still went 9.850.

Emily lee also struggles on a yfull landing, chest down, hop forward.

Moors – VT – UCLA – handspring pike 1/2, hit, chest up pretty well, bounce back.

Smith – FX – OU – double tuck, controlled step back – back 1.5 to front lay, dance out – switch side 1/2, overturns into popa – double pike, controls her step today, chest down

Stuck DLO for Brenner on bars for Utah.

Campbell – VT – UCLA – great height on yfull, small bounce back. One judge still went 9.950 because nothing matters at night. Their first vault out of the 9.7s.

Bowers – FX – OU – front full to front tuck, hit – double pike, chest down, hop forward – lovely leap positions –

Chiles hops back on her DTY, mostly 9.90s and 9.850s I’m seeing.

Bowers gets 9.950 on floor.

Sievers – FX – OU – FTDT, hit, little rebound -front tuck through to double tuck, controls it.

Nice stick from O’Keefe on her bars dismount.

Chiles does get 9.900, but that will be 49.175 on vault for UCLA. Not ideal.

Seeing mostly 9.950s for O’Keefe on bars.

Isa – Ub – Utah – Ray, hit – bail, hits to vertical, some back position – giant full, a little crooked, into DLO, low but well controlled on landing.

Torrez – FX – OU – DLO, little rebound – split leap full to wolf jump full, around well – leg up hop full, nice – front tuck through to double tuck, controls.

Worley on beam, aerial to bhs loso with a small check, 1.5 dismount, little hop.

McCallum – BB – Utah – maloney, legs together into pak, 1/2 turn on low, a bnit late – FTDT, deep landing, holds onto the stick. Good one.

Fletcher – FX – OU – whip to double tuck, a bit out of control with a slide back – front lay to front full – switch 1/2 to popa, around – 2.5, crossover step, will be the drop for them but they already have a 49.6625.

Good hit from Blanco on her bars routine, sticks her FTDT with a stagger.

McCallum goes 9.950 to get into the bars tie.Also Blanco 9.950 with a range from 9.850 to 10/

Carey – BB – Oregon State – hits full turn – aerial to straddle jump, solid – bhs loso, feet, hit – switch, little pause before switch side, secure – gainer full, slide back. Good but the dismount will probably cost her the beam title.

NVM Carey got 9.9625.

Heiskell finishes floor with a hit back 1/5 to front full with dance out. Hit her double arabian with a hop to the side.

After 3:
Oklahoma 148.700
Utah 148.5375
UCLA 148.400
Kentucky 147.850

UCLA now the falling-out team after that 9.7berg on vault, and will ahev to make it up in a tough scenario, going against Utah’s beam and Oklahoma’s Y1.5-a-thon.

Rotation 4

Sievers – VT – OU – y1.5, hits with a medium step forward. 9.875

Campbell, hits maloney to bail, solid hs on high – giant f1/2 to double front, cowboy, good stick

Morgan – BB – Utah – bhs lbsh loso, holds it with a little lean – front gainer full, stick, legs pretty far apart

Stern does the same thing as Sievers, step forward.

Steele has a miss on the low bar for UCLA, struggles to cast back up, following a 9.900 for Campbell.

Bowers – Vt – OU – y1.5, pretty large lunge forward, extra slide. OU hitting but not HITTING.

Paulson – BB – OU – side aerial to loso, secure, some feet – secure dance series landing – beat to side aerial to 1.5, hop forward.

Davis for OU, smaller on the hop forward on y1.5, legs apart on block

Padurariu – UB – UCLA – maloney to bail, hits vertical solidly – hits hs on high – FTDT, deep landing.

Trautman was like, ALLOW ME TO SAVE YOU.

9.950 for Trautman into first place. Patterson lands short on double tuck on floor and falls.

Eaker is solid on her side aerial to loso series – gainer full, low, stuck.

Harris bounce back on dismount on bars.

OU went 49.4625 on vault. Not their standard but will be enough.

Frazier – UB – UCLA – maloney with some legs into pak, nice height, good form – hits hs on high – DLO, little hop.

Eaker 9.9125

Isa – BB – Utah – candle mount – bhs loso loso, ecure landing – full turn, little adjustment – gainer full, solid height, stuck.

Chiles – UB – UCLA – good first hs – piked tkatchev to pak, good – hits he on low – maloney to gienger, solid – FTDT, stuck landing. That could win.

Isa 9.9625 on beam to tie Carey for first on beam.

O’Keefe – BB – Utah – side aerial to loso, strong – good leap combination – bhs gainer full, stuck.

10.000 for Chiles.

Worley finishing up for Kentucky with a solid FTDT, Good control on double tuck to finish.

And now it’s a 10.000 for O’Keefe on beam. She’ll move ahead of Chiles to win the AA. Did not see that one coming with a full.

McCallum – BB – Utah – wolf triple to wolf double, good – bhs loso, flexed feet, solid – split jump to straddle 1/4 – gainer tuck full, stuck.

We’re seeing a range of 9.9 to 10 for McCallum.

9.925 for McCallum and Utah will go ahead of Oklahoma as the two of them advance.

Flatley – BB – Arkansas – aerial to bhs loso, nice, good foot positions – L turn, holds it to split jump to beat jump – bhs 1.5, little movement. Good.

FINAL
Utah 198.225
Oklahoma 198.1625
UCLA 197.9125
Kentucky 197.125

So Utah takes the second semifinal. They’ll be feeling it heading to tomorrow. UCLA gets to feel righteously wronged with their 197.9125 being eliminated from this semifinal, though the scoring in this semifinal was WILDLY different than the second semifinal. The evolution of that beam scoring from LSU’s opening rotation today to the end was something else.

O’Keefe takes the AA, Trautman takes vault, Chiles takes bars, O’Keefe takes beam, and Chiles takes floor. All coming from the second semifinal.

In the championship, LSU will start on vault, Oklahoma will start on bars, Florida will start on beam, and Utah will start on floor.