Friday Live Blog – January 13, 2023 – The Balance Beam Situation

Today’s action will start with LSU/Kentucky in an early slot, followed by the Auburn/Florida showdown—the meet that last year provoked a tie at 198.575. It’s probably a little early in the year for 198.5s, but you never know. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Sprinkled in there will be the Michigan tri meet and Georgia’s visit to Missouri, so I’ll try to keep an eye on some key Denver and Michigan routines as well.

Following Auburn/Florida, I’ll be divorced, beheaded, live on GymCastic for the members’ aftershow to talk about who got a 9.850 for a fall, I assume.

As for LSU and Kentucky, we have two teams that will feel various degrees of “why is there a 6 next to our 19” about their first-meet performances and will be hoping to join the club with some better bars scores at this one. Bars was the weak score for both in their season openers with people like Shchennikova and Worley stuck in the 9.7s.

“The Florida Gators were the team champs in 2022” is misleading. There are places besides the SEC.

John and Alicia on the call.

Rotation 1

LaClair – VT – UK – solid height on yfull, loses her leg position at the end, bounce back. 9.850 very high start. Possible scoring error? Seems like…obviously wrong. Yeah, they have one judge on 9.950 there, which can’t be right.

And now we have a delay. Fun! Jay and Tim talking.

Johnson – UB – LSU – maloney to bail, hit – strong cast hs on high – toe on – DLO, holds landing. Very clean, improvement on last week. 9.900

Procasky – VT – UK – similar yfull to LaClair – also some legs at the end, only a small pike at the beginning, shuffle back. 9.800

Arenas – UB – LSU – good amplitude on tkatchev, connets to pak with a leg break – a bit short on final cast hs – DLO, small movement, leg separation. 9.825

Wilson – VT – UK – strong handspring pike 1/2 – medium bounce back. Chest up. 9.825

Jeffrey – UB – LSU – “A UCLA transfer” and that’s the end of the story – good first hs – maloney to pak isclean, small leg break on pak – cast 1/2 on low – short final hs with some body position – good high FTDT, stuck with a little absorbing. 9.900 is high, Johnson’s was better.

Patterson – VT – UK – handspring pike 1/2 – she gets the stick on it, very nice, one of her best ones – not the biggest dynamics, possible height and distance to take, but great landing. 9.900

Finnegan – UB – LSU – good first hs – piked deltchev, excellent – solid hs – toe on to bail, good vertical, maybe some loose back position – strong hs on high – double arabian, stuck. Nice. Better than Jeffrey, so we’ll see where is left to go. 9.900. Everything is 9.9.

Magnelli – VT – UK – handspring pike 1/2, she sticks the landing as well, very good, chest up more than Patterson’s, some foot form. Some position on block. 9.925

Shchennikova – UB – LSU – shortish first hs – Rauy to pak, good pak, high Ray, some feet – 1/2 turn on low, a bit late – better cast hs on high this week – usual DLO, but struggles on the landing as well this time, chest down, two small steps.

Worley – VT – UK – his her Y1.5 – medium hop forward and some knees, solid. 9.850

Judges conference about Shchennikova. One judge watched the dismount and one didn’t?

9.675 Shchennikova

Original judge split on Shchennikova was 9.600 and 9.850, which means they have to conference because it’s a separation larger than .2.

The 9.850 judge went down to 9.750 so they could be in range. With two steps forward on the DLO, plus the chest on landing and the body position in the air, you can’t go 9.850 on that routine.

Bryant – UB – LSU – good first hs – blind to jaeger, high, the hip position in her jaeger is a little tight, but that’s not super a thing – solid hs – bail is clean – hits cast hs on high – blind to double front 1/2 out, stuck. Very strong.

They fixed LaClair’s vault score, so that’s now 9.775 and is the drop number. Kentucky on 49.300 on vault with some of their strongest handspring pike 1/2s.

Bryant goes 9.950 to bring LSU up to 49.475 on bars, which is a big improvement. A combination of lighter scoring and much better cast handstands and dismount landings compared to last weekend.

After 1:
LSU – 49.475
Kentucky – 49.300

Rotation 2:

Arenas – VT – LSU – another good yfull from her, smaller hop back. 9.800

Davis – UB – UK – good first hs – blind to jaeger, good height, some feet – small arch in hs – bail, good feet – rushes final cast hs a little – DLO, nice stick, closed-ish position but in the good way, not the piked way. 9.875

Shchennikova – VT – LSU – lands short on her Y1.5 today and sits it down. She heard us talking about her bars scores and was like SHUTTT UPPPP, damn it I have to vault.

Bunn – UB – UK – blind, hit – jaeger, some feet and knees, solid hit – good toe point on bail as well – final hs looked solid – DLO, low but gets the landing, step salute. 9.825

KJ Johnson – VT – LSU – great amplitude on yfull and good direction this week – medium hop back. 9.875

Reigert – UB – UK – blind to jaeger, slightly close on catch but fine – toe on, a bit of elbows into a nice high bail – DLO, too piked on that one, chest forward with a step.

Finnegan – VT – LSU – Omelianchik a little shorter than last week but hit, step back. Allegedly they have to take .100 for short and .100 for step, but we’ll see.

9.750 for that vault, which is a correct and accurate score, but it looks stupid compared to the others because it’s a prettier and better vault than most of those 9.8s. Let’s bring that same energy to Yfulls now.

DeGuzman – UB – UK – blind to jaeger to overshoot, nice jaeger toe position compared to the others – a bit short on cast hs on high – DLO, some legs, basically finds the landing, a little movement. 9.900

Kiya Johnson – VT – LSU – nearrrrly sticks her DTY, small step forward. 9.875

Luksik – UB – UK – Ray, hit – toe on to bail, solid height, can’t tell vertical from our direction but maybe something there – a bit short on cast hs – finds stick on her DLO. 9.925. Bars…not going to be a “trouble spot” with this scoring.

Bryant – VT – LSU – handspring pike 1/2 – medium hop back, the rest her usual. 9.900.

Compared to the Kentucky handspring pike 1/2s, we see the tiring supremacy of the stuck landing.

Tim Garrison pointing at something in the crowd, John telling us about flash photography. YES EJECT THEM.

Worley – UB – UK – clear hip to tkatchev, hit, just varely loses her feet at the end – pak, good toes, very small leg break – 1/2 turn on low is nice – solid vertical on final cast hs – FTDT, bounce back. 9.800

Kentucky goes 49.325 on bars, LSU 49.200 on vault. Kentucky closes the gap in the second rotation.

After 2:
LSU – 98.675
Kentucky – 98.625

Between the pre-bars delay and that crowd-pointing delay and some of these scores (both real and later corrected) we’ve been through it in the first two rotations here.

Tim and Jay both have real “dads after a few beers at the country club fundraiser” energy. They are going to OUTBID each other for that yacht cruise.

Rotation 3

Luksik – BB – Kentucky – onodi, solid amplitude – bhs loso, clean position, secure landing – cat leap to switch 1/2, very short of split position – beat – gainer pike, a little short, step back. 9.750

Ballard – FX – LSU – DLO, solid control, keeps front foot down – back 1.5 to layout to stag, a bit low on the later elements as that series progressed – switch ring to switch 1/2, a little under – double pike, holds the landing, looked chest forward. 9.850

Procasky – BB – Kentucky – bhs loso, good lift on loso, clean work – cat leap to switch ring, break, turn to the side and a swim, under ring position there – nice amplitude on cat though – aerial to beat jump, pretty –  double stag, check before beat jump, no combination credit there – gainer pike, small slide back. Things to take, but I also appreciated her attention to amplitude on the simpler elements like the cat and the beat jump that for most people have negative lift.

9.575 with a 9.700/9.450 split, so we’re going to need to have another conference. And we have both judges changing their scores (now 9.650/9.500) which keeps the score at 9.575.

Shchennikova – FX – LSU – front 2/1, a bit of a crossover step – back 1.5 to front lay, good lift in second element there – switch to switch ring 1/2, some lack of control on landing – rudi to split jump, good rudi, a bit too much travel. 9.850

Bunn – BB – Kentucky – full turn, good – bhs loso loso, right on – switch, back leg low, connects to a solid split – 2/1 dismount, step to the side, chest forward. 9.850

KJ Johnson – FX – LSU – open full in, controls step back – back 1.5 to front lay, good height, slight rebound – switch side to popa, shows clear split positions – double tuck – a bit of a “I just stepped on fire” hesitation step forward – 9.850

Patterson – BB – Kentucky – bhs loso series, hit, good height – aerial, hit into split jump, a bit low – switch to switch combination, really nice positions – gainer pike, stuck. Nice one. 9.925

Finnegan – FX – LSU – double arabian short today, similar to her Omel, under with a step back – 2.5 to front tuck, awkward punch, large lunge forward – switch ring to split leap full, hit – 1.5 to layout, also looked mistimed, very low layout, deep squat landing. Will need to drop that. 9.500

Michigan is underway, Guggino large lunge sideward on her Y1.5 on vault. Wojcik nearly sticks, lean forward college stick. Wilson really sticks with some direction.

Worley – BB – Kentucky – cat leap, lower amplitude, to a solid switch side – aerial to bhs loso, right on – full turn, hit – 1.5 dismount, holds the stick with a lean forward. 9.950, OK here we go.

Bryant – FX – LSU – stuck double front, excellent – front lay to rudi, chest a bit forward with an adjustment step – front 2/1, slide forward, a bit out of control, some leg form in the air. 9.775

Michigan got three 9.950s on vault, some of which were stuck. 49.650 for Michigan. So that happened. Brooks vault was the highlight for me. Identical to last week for 9.950 again.

Magnelli – BB – Kentucky – bhs loso loso, very solid – switch to straddle 1/4, good amplitude – aerial, a bit low, arm wave correction – gainer pike, stuck. Nice. 9.850

Kiya Johnson – FX – LSU – full in, excellent control – back 1.5 to front lay, elegant layout position, good landing control – big amplitude on leaps – NOOOOOOOOOOO double pike and she’s down and injured. She’s being carried off by the coaches.Super deep landing and then just collapsed to the side.

Meanwhile Denver goes 49.300 on bars, dropping Hutchinson going over the wrong way on a handstand, compared to Michigan’s 49.650. 9.900 for Mundell and Brown.

Kentucky goes 49.325 on beam, while LSU will be on 48.825 on floor after counting the Finnegan 9.500. Also everything is terrible.