So here we are again, another year passes, another program disappears. For three straight years this has happened.  This year MIT cut both of its gymnastics program as part of cuts of many teams including Hockey (one of the big four sports). Cal State Fullerton is in the midst of a USAG sponsored pledge drive to keep the program going, and rumors are flying about the status of the Nebraska mens program.  It is clear that the sport will continue to be a first choice to be cut at schools as revenues are challenged amidst a tough economy, though many gymnastics programs were cut during good economic times as well.

USAG has gotten involved in Cal State Fullerton though I'm not sure why they were not apparently involved in battles to save others. If they were I apologize, it didn't seem apparentat the time, but its possible it escaped notice.

Gymnastics costs a lot of money, it involves equipment, and liability.  As more programs get cut the distances to travel will increase and thus costs will increase as well. Though it is a credit to many athletic departments that they keep the sport and promote it. 

On the message boards debates are raging over what to do.  Gymnastics authorities like Greg Marsden are arguing for changes to the championship format, though this will do little for the numerous programs who never see the inside of the NCAA finals.  But other proposals are flying over how to better get the sport marketed and its a complicated matter to say the least.

Gymnastics faces numerous challenges:

1.) The fanbase which becomes rabid during olympic years dissipates in between.
2.) The number 1 expected fans of gymnastics, gymnasts, are often busy at their own meets during collegiate meets.
3.) The economy is putting pressure on colleges and athletics departments to cut where they can.
4.) Title IX, is a well meaning measure and has provided opportunities for women to participate in sport, but some athletic departments have been suspected of utilizing it as an excuse to cut both men's and women's sports.  This has led to some odd results. The powers that be need to cut this out so that Title IX can remain what its meant to be,  a way to provide opportunities.
5.) The sport is easy to watch but hard to follow without announcers, scoreboards, and help understanding what is happening.
6.) Gymnastics is an expensive sport.

But it also offers numerous advantages.

1.) It's popular, even if people take time off from following it, they love it in Olympic years.
2.) It's acrobatic, and the popularity of Cirque du Soleil, and action movies indicate people like acrobatic feats.
3.) It's cheap.  It's still relatively cheap to by a ticket to see a meet, sometimes even free.
4.) It doesn't involve much time commitment. There aren't that any meets per season to go, so it can easily be scheduled.

But in the meantime, teams and their histories, and their routines are vanishing.  Something needs to change.

It's gratifying that the ontd_gymnastics community has classified me as a troll despite the fact that I'm clearly not.

Oh well.

While I was posting updates on my main site, I never got a chance to update my blogs more. I'll attempt to do better in future.

Posted a modest preview of the weekend in College Gymnastics in New England and New Jersey

Click here to read it.

by David F.P.
(Scores from Troester)
Here’s just a quick look at the past weekend in New England/New Jersey College Gymnastics. (literally typed hastily for time reasons) There will be more detailed posts to come in future weeks featuring discussions of routines, and more than just score posts. The first few weeks are tough as I rarely see more than a few teams first hand, and in this case due to weather haven’t seen any except on video. As the weeks go on as well I will also delve into more context regarding the teams faced as well as the teams in the region, but in the first few weeks it’s still a period of seeing how the teams are shaping up.

Yale at Penn
Yale scored 181.475 in a defeat versus Pennsylvania who scored 184.9 - Both teams are facing injuries. Both teams only competed five gymnasts on the Uneven Bars and Yale only had five Vaulters and Beam competitors as well. Yale’s Alina Liao edged Penn’s Jordan Brewer, Elise Bowe, and Rebecca Engberg for the top All Around score. Allison Mak and Lauren Tatsuno led the team on Vault with a 8.575, Liao was third with a 9.55, and Sherry Yang added a 9.225. Laura DiPaolo led the Quakers with a 9.75 on that event.
On the bars Liao led the team with a 9.575, and Sarah Hughes added a 9.25, but no other Yale gymnast approached 9 in their depleted rotation. Tatsuno put up a 9.7 on Beam, and Brigitte Kivisto added a 9.6, but the other three Yale gymnasts approached but could not top 9. On floor it was also a tough day for Yale, but Kivisto led the way with a 9.65, Tatsuno and Yang added 9.475s as well, Hughes a 9.35, and Mak and Liao topped 9. It was clearly not the best of days for Yale’s FX squad but on the other hand, if their scores return to normal that’ll be potent. Penn’s Bowe and Lizzie Lowe led the team on Bars with a 9.45, Sarah Parsons led the team on Beam with a 9.625, and Brewer scored a 9.525 in the FX. When things were really broken down the teams were relatively close in the Vault, but Penn took a four point lead on Uneven bars managing to put up more scores despite having only five gymnasts as well. Penn’s beam scoring topped Yale but Yale gained 2 points back on Floor. In the only event Yale had six gymnasts they still put up a solid score.

UNH, Bridgeport, Air Force at Pitt.
New Hampshire set itself up well in the rankings with a 194.025 topping Pitt’s 193.025 by 1 point, but both scores are improving from the week before. D2 Bridgeport scored a 188.475 in their first meet which is quite an opening score for them and it also topped D1 Air Force’s 186.9.
For UNH Helena Diodati and Justine Turner both topped 9.8s on Vault, Katie Caliendo was right behind them and Diane Grey, Danielle Reibold and Julie Sauchuk put up solid scores as well. It was Diodati with a 9.825 on Bars to lead the team followed by Reibold and Grey’s scores above 9.7, Kelsey Alwin and Katie Lawrence added to the good scoring as well. On Beam Taryn LaFountain picked up a 9.875, Chelsea Steinberg’s 9.825 was right behind her, and Turner right behind her as well. Diodati was .025 out of the 9.8s and Keeley Smith and Reibold rounded out the scoring. Turner’s 9.775 was the top floor score for the Wildcats, Lafountain, Sauchuck, Caliendo, and Reibold were closely spaced behind. Reibold also performed as a rare UNH all arounder and picked up a 38.125.
For Bridgeport, Ravin Iasiello’s 9.75 was the top score, Miranda Der, Lorraine Galow, Niki Calderon, Amanda Goodman, and Hannah Forti were all close behind. Galow’s 9.55 was the top mark on Bars with Forti following, and Bethanne Dulany and Der not far behind. On the Beam Bridgeport had their most struggles of the day though Galow’s 9.65 set the pace and Yvonne Scott had a 9.425. On the floor Breanna Collins led the way in her lone event with a 9.625, Galow was behind her, Iasiello right behind, Der right behind her, and Repko adding the fifth highest score of 9.525. Galow posted a 38.425 in the all around and Der a 36.725.
Top performers in brief for Pitt include Dani Bryan and Molly Moyer who had 9.8s on Vault, with Alicia Talucci and Shannon McConnell close behind. Alix Croop had a 9.8 on the Bars, and Victoria McGuigan-Carl a 9.725. Croop again hit a 9.8 on the Beam, and Shannon Vafiadou and Jessica Byich were right behind. On the Floor it was Krista Rubini’s 9.775 at the top, with Talucci and Croop close.
For Air Force, Sammi Jones had a 9.675 on Vault and Abbey Rogers was close. Rogers had the top 9.625 score on Bars, and a 9.725 to lead the team on Beam. On the floor, Jenna Dudley’s 9.75 was the top score of the day. Five AF gymnasts competed all around. Dudley and Rogers had 37.1. Lisa Wong a 37.075, and Brittany Dutton and Sammi Jones were close behind.

Towson at Brown
The Defending ECAC D1 champs Towson topped Brown 189 to 185.95 as snow pelted the region.
Brown put forth a mix of half newcomers and half veterans in their lineup. On the Vault Lilly Siems had the top score of 9.35 with Carli Wiesenfeld, Chelsey Binkley, Izzy Kirkham-Lewitt, and Vicki Zanelli all adding scores above between that and 9 as well. Zanelli’s 9.4 was the top score on Bars for the team, Jennifer Sobuta added a 9.3, and Melissa Bowe and Izzy Kirkham-Lewitt added scores about 9. On the Beam, Wiesenfeld led a solid rotation for the Bears with a 9.6. Siems posted a 9.5, Katie Goddard a 9.4, Zanelli a 9.375, and Binkley added a 9.025. On the Floor Binkley rebounded from the Beam and posted a 9.725, Goddard put up a 9.6, Helen Segal a 9.55, Whitney Diederich a 9.45 to round out the scores above 9. Siems had a 36.375 all around score for the day. Brown’s newcomers have made an impact quickly. Top performers for Towson included Alise McDonald’s 9.725 and Avis Hixon’s 9.675 on Vault. Kacy Catanzaro’s 9.675 on Bars, Jackie Schweitzer’s 9.775 and Alyssa Dittman’s 9.7 on Beam, and Hixon’s 9.675, and McDonald’s 9.65 on Floor. McDonald also posted a 37.9 All Around and Megan Wooden a 37.625

Rutgers at GW Invitational
To detail all six times would take quite a while so I’ll focus on Rutgers who put up a 186.25 in the event. Alyssa Lewandowski had a 9.575 for the team’s top vault score, Kiah Banfield and Latara Northcutt were close behind her, Alexandra Belvis and Maddie Zwiebel were just a few tenths behind. On the Bars it was a tough day but Kristy Behr’s 9.5 topped the team, Nicole Schwartz, Northcutt, and Prishani Seebadri were close behind. On the Beam, Danae Johnson’s 9.675 set the pace, Schwartz had a 9.5, and Alison Hartwig, Jessica Haddaway, and Northcutt added solid scores as well. Johnson’s 9.6 was the top FX score, Lewandowski and Northcutt added scores within a few tenths as well. Northcutt had a 37.15 in the All Around as well.

MIT, SCSU, Ithaca at Cortland
Cortland and Ithaca’s score aren’t up on Troester yet so I’ll have to deal just with MIT and SCSU in a vacuum. SCSU put up a 181.8 likely in part to a tougher day than usual on the Floor. A solid Vault rotation was led by Taylor Murray’s 9.425, Briana DiPinto’s 9.3, and Justine Basley, Taylor Wierzba, Jessica Kiback, and Samantha Pernal all posting solid scores as well. On the Bars, Sarah Darst continued to score well on her specialty with a 9.65, Basley had a 9.5, Sarah Holensworth topped 9 and the rest of the competitors were below 9 on an event with some struggles it would seem. On the Beam it looks like it was a tough time, with DiPinto’s 9.475 being the only score about 9, though most of the team was close. Floor was uncharacteristic as Basley’s 9.25 and DiPinto’s 9.2 were lower then their usuals. Wierzba put in a 9 for the 3rd highest score and the other 3 gymnasts were posting high 8s. Basley’s 36.925 was the lone all around score for the Owls.
MIT put up a 170.425 while having some tough events and also only having Julia Zimmerman for one event. It was a perfect storm to create an unusually low score for the Engineers. Leanna Morinishi and Karis Stevenson put up top scores of 9.175 on Vault, and Elizabeth Stavely added a 9.125. On the bars it was a tough day with no score above 9. On the Beam a similar occurrence came about. Floor was also tough as Katie Mingo hit a 9.2, but that was the only score above 9 for a very young team.

My trip to Brown was called off by a large snow storm, a variety of accidents and an official warning from the State of Rhode Island. However I did watch the meet on line and we'll be able to provide some insights to Brown later in the week.

I am currently waiting for all the scores and info to come out about this past week and then I'll be able to start writing about this past week and look towards next week where hopefully it will not snow again. New England gets snow but this is ridiculous.

 

More updates to come!

There will be no report from MIT unfortunately today, as I was not sure I’d get back out of Boston alive. I could get there sure, but the weather reports are so sketchy other than a massive snow storm is coming, that I felt it would be better to not risk it. I generally don’t cancel due to weather and make other plans, but this is an unusual situation so it is unfortunate, but the way things go sometimes.

I will be reviewing the live stream of the Rutgers at UNH meet though and hope to have some sort of comment on it this weekend.

Next week is a new week!

The college gymnastics season is here!

I’ve posted modest team previews, which certainly have plenty of limitations as usual, but should they be of any interest they’re up. Bridgeport’s preview is coming next week. I wanted to add more color to them, but time didn’t allow it, but I will be putting that into meet reports.

http://gymnasticsreport.net/super/index.php?cat=16

As a fan the amount that I don’t know about gymnastics far outweighs what I do know so these previews are basically based on what I can write about, but admittedly I’m no expert in many areas. My goal is to increase awareness of college gymnastics as well as teams that don’t get a lot of attention, so I do what I can.

My goal is to attempt to bridge a gap between the more technical expertise of the sport and the genral fans who may not know what the moves are called but are amazed by them anyway so really my focus will never be on the more technical aspects, which are best left to those who are true experts. I believe though the growth of the sport relies on first getting current gymnastics fans out to meets, and secondly drawing in more fans who can just enjoy what’s happening without knowing that skill was worth X difficulty but it’s a balancing act.

(Edited December 2nd with the addition of this paragraph.)
Just to be clear, as it may not have not been from my original post. I do not believe Title IX caused the loss of so many Gymnastics programs. Many programs were cut for economics as opposed to Title IX compliance. This is not a piece critical of Title IX. It discusses some of the things that have gone in recently that may involve it (or may not) but I am not arguing that Title IX led to the decline in gymnastics programs.

It may seem trivial to worry about sports and maybe it is to some degree. Compared to all the problems of the world, sports is a luxury. But on the other hand, we're put here on this earth to live, and once we get through with working and doing what we have to, to survive, isn't the point of surviving to enjoy things like sports, or any other interests? If there is nothing left to enjoy, there isn't much to live for one would think.

To that end I am often worried about if Gymnastics will survive. High school programs are cutting the sport, colleges have been cutting the sport, and although over 70 programs remain at the college level and there are a ton of club gymnasts, things like the economic upheaval may hurt a sport already facing questions about whether it is in decline or not.

I live in the Northeast which has seen numerous college teams cut within the past few years and even more across my lifetime. One of my alma maters, the University of Connecticut, cut its program in the mid eighties, it's rival from across the stateline, UMASS, cut their team in 2000 or around then, and another state school URI, cut their program just last year to make way for lacrosse, though the economy actually resulted in lacrosse being shelved and swimming being axed as well at URI so in the end the gymnastics team was sacrificed not for one team but just for money. At SCSU which still has a women's program, the men's program was disbanded despite the fact that the field house sits on a road named after a male olympic gymnast. (In fairness to SCSU I'm not as familiar with the reasons for the shuttering of the program. I have read up on the other closings though. I'm not critical of SCSU just noting the loss of the program in the overall context.) One of URI's opponents, James Madison, had both gymnastics teams cut among 10 that were dismantled. The administration claims this was due to Title IX reasons but there is now a court battle ensuing. One of SCSU's fellow D2 teams West Chester University of Pennsylvania cut their gymnastics program but a court battle reinstated it. Brown University had a court battle over the status of their program many years ago, though the team seems to be well supported now as far as I can tell. Northeastern University and Vermont also got rid of their teams in the recent era. And this is JUST in my neck of the woods.

It is far too easy for rational and well meaning decision makers to look at gymnastics as a burden in tough economic times. On the men's side it is especially seen as a sport in decline, due the lack of college programs and the like, and there is admittedly more interest in the women's side then the men's side as far as fans are concerned, and I think that can be helped. Male gymnasts have to be incredibly athletic to do what they do and they take just as many risks as the women do, I'm sure high bar has resulted in many an injury. But even on the women's side. Gymnastics is a sport with a lot of expensive equipment, and no doubt liability issues. It is not seen as popular as the other "major" sports and is fending with sports like Lacrosse and Volleyball. Sports which I have no interest in knocking as I like them both and go to plenty of volleyball games. But theoretically it is easier for a person to join a Lacrosse or Volleyball team then to get into Gymnastics at a high level.

Now as for popularity, college teams like Georgia, Alabama, and Utah (and probably others) manage to sell out their arenas, Georgia gives Gymnastics a prominence on their website reserved for just football and basketball usually and they reaped rewards in terms of spectatorship. In this region, New Hampshire draws very well as well and there are plenty of fans that can be tapped. Though obviously there going to be issues with meets scheduled opposite each other as well as opposite USAG meets. Nonetheless if Georgia can do it, other schools can do it at all levels.

The fans that enjoy the olympics can also be drawn to these meets. There is untapped potential that may need to be reached to keep the sport alive. Otherwise it may contract to a few colleges, a few high schools, a few clubs. And as a fan I worry about that. I'm no expert but I know one thing. Gymnasts put a ton of time into what they do, and for them to have fewer options as they advance just doesn't seem fair.

The following programs have schedules up (though these are oftentimes tentative) as of today.

Women’s Division 1 & 2: Air Force, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Ball State, Boise State, Bowling Green, Bridgeport, BYU, Brown, Cal, Centenary, UC Davis, UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, Central Michigan, Cornell, Denver, Eastern Michigan, Florida, Georgia, George Washington, Illinois, Illinois Chicago, Illinois State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kent State, Kentucky, LSU, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina State, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Penn, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Seattle Pacific, Southeast Missouri, Southern Utah, Stanford, Temple, Towson, TWU, Utah, Utah State, Washington, West Virginia, West Chester, Western Michigan, William & Mary, Winona, Yale
Women’s Division 3: Brockport, Cortland, Gustavus Adolphus, Hamline, Ithaca, MIT, Springfield, Ursinus, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin-Whitewater

Men’s Schedules: Air Force, Army, Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, MIT, Navy, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Oklahoma, Springfield, Stanford, Temple, William & Mary

Every four years the Summer Olympics capture the attention and imagination of the countries involved and in the U.S. is it of course a really big deal. Only a few sports emerge as especially popular and get the major coverage. Usually Basketball, Track & Field, Swimming, and Gymnastics. Every four years the question is raised over whether team USA will win the gold (especially on the women's side) but as the torch goes out the sport disappears into the shadows of popular culture until the next games even as the same Olympians may even go onto college teams or many of those athletes at the same level who did not make the team continue to compete.

Obviously the popularity of gymnastics in the Olympics does not lie entirely with just getting medals or else other sports would get as much attention. The U.S. did extremely well in some sports that no one had even been thinking about. So the sport itself must interest people, but it is sad that for the time between the games, that the sport struggles to get any news coverage and fan following outside of the hardcore fans.

There is a vast untapped audience of fans who might be up for seeing gymnastics at the club, school, and college level and I hope more people realize it as programs are cut at public schools and at colleges as well.

(Scores are from my notes, verified from Troester. As usual I try to be as informative as possible despite my limited knowledge of move names at this time. I also describe the moves as I see them. Please let me know of any errors.)

URI's Senior Night would take place in the smaller venue of Mackal Field House as opposed to the larger spacious Keaney Gymnasium, but the smaller size of the arena only intensified the noise and enthusiasm from those in the stands. URI marched in to a cheer and then both teams took their places to be introduced. Among them five URI seniors, Jade Bundra, Kelly Gurney, Erica Heaney, Emily Rinaldo, and Kylie Tanner. While Rinaldo would sit out this meet dealing with an injury, Tanner would return to competition and the other three would continue in their usual events. For the Bridgeport Purple, this would be their last meet before hosting the Division 2 ECAC Championships. The Rhode Island Rams have a pair of road meets before closing out the season at the ECAC Division 1 Championships.

The announcer for URI opened the event by thanking the fans for attending, even as the URI basketball team played elsewhere for the Atlantic 10 Championship. He also admonished NOT to be quiet during the meet. It set an upbeat and downright loose tone, somewhat reminiscent of the mood at the cozy MIT events, and nonetheless I think an appropriate one. The stands were quite filled with fans and more arrived throughout the night.

The meet started out well for the Rams as they went to vault. Alex Tirado opened by tumbling onto the springboard and doing a back layout dismount off the vaulting horse 9.525, Kara Machado followed right behind with a 9.4 back layout vault, Lauren Wasilewski picked up a 9.425 with a front tuck. Erica Heaney tumbled into her entry and twisted and flipped off on her way to a 9.6. Kelly Gurney did a round off, twisting tuck off to a 9.65, and Ananda Fraser's scored a season high 9.75 with a front pike that has so much distance on it, it looks like she'll land in Connecticut by the end of it. URI wasn't done as it put up three gymnasts in exhibition as well. Melanie Mauro hit a 9.2 by tumbling in and back tucking off, Jade Bundra made a rare Vault appearance doing a round off in and back pike off for a 9.35, and Jamie Reyell scored a 9.35 tumbling in and leaving the horse with a back pike. It's one thing to go 6 for 6, but URI would have appeared to go 9 for 9 this time.

Bridgeport opened up on Bars. Amidst some back tuck dismounts and a twist or two, was Leila Behbahani's several grip changes amidst her routine, Carissa Huggin's Jaeger release and later a, front tuck dismount, and Brandi Embrey's 9.5 routine that included a Geinger and a back tuck.

URI's turn came on the Bars, and with Fraser and Tirado starting things solidly. Fraser uses a wide variety of grip changes amidst her effort, and she and Tirado do back tucks off. Next came Reyell who put up a 9.6 with a routine including a Geinger release and a stuck back tuck dismount. Kylie Tanner would follow and hit a 9.625 in what I believe was her first meet in long while. Her routine included a straddled Jaeger release and back layouts on the dismount. Reyell and Tanner both followed up their releases with a high to low bar transition. Fellow Senior Heaney scored a 9.525 with a Tkatchev release and back tuck dismount, and Gurney closed things out with a season high 9.775 after a Jaeger and back layout dismount. Kerry Cutler exhibitioned as well on the event as well.

Bridgeport did pretty well on Vault including Niki Faye Calderon's round off on, back pike off to 9.25, Carissa Huggins' tumble on and back layout off to a 9.425, Tori Aarts 9.425, and Katherine Reitz's tumble on, back layout off 9.45.

Then came the Beam where URI would have 3 falls, 2 of which would need to be counted unfortunately. Off the gymnasts who didn't fall was Bridget Hild who lead things off with a 9.2, Erica Heaney picked up a 9.425, and Kelly Gurney a 9.65. Hild does a twisting dismount, Heaney front flips onto the beam, has a back tumbling pass, and front twists to dismount from the apparatus. Gurney front flips onto the beam as well, does a back tumbling pass, and tumbles into a twist flip off the side of the beam. Jade Bundra also uses a front flip to mount the beam, and Casey Pereira has a unique balancing move on her entry on. Jordana Ginsburg's routine has more than one instance of two jumps in a row, and ends with a tumble into a twisting dismount.

Over on Floor, the event that was the hardest to see, UB had picked up some good scores including Carissa Huggins' 9.3, Kelsey Fox's 9.35, Victoria Aarts' 9.5 and Katherine Reitz's 9.55.

URI would finish on the Floor and I unfortunately didn't get to see much of it due to the architecture of the gym and my attempt to get some Beam vids. The rotation went very well though as Kara Machado opened with a 9.525, Bridget Hild followed with a 9.425, Jade Bundra had 9.375, and Casey Pereira a 9.45, Ananda Fraser than blasted up the scoreboard with a season high 9.8 and was only topped by Kelly Gurney's season high 9.825. Jamie Reyell also exhibitioned and scored a 9.475.

On beam Bridgeport had no falls among its six competitors. Kelsey Fox had a 9.075, Katherine Reitz 9.375 and Carissa Huggins lead her team with a 9.425. Fox's routine has an interesting tumbling sequence, a pair of jump combos, and a front twist flip dismount. Reitz back pikes off to the side of the beam. Huggins has a back tumbling pass, and tumbles to a twisting flip off of the beam for a dismount.

In the All Around, Rhody's Kelly Gurney would end up with a season high 38.9, followed by Bridgeport's Carissa Huggins with a 37.15, Katherine Reitz's 36.975, and Shannon Cain's 34.6. Final scores URI 189.75- Bridgeport 183.65 (These scores from Troester.)

The meet was followed by a ceremony saluting the URI Senior class, though I was unable to stay to witness it. I have seen a lot of URI in the past and I hope to continue in the future. The team will have to change a next year with the departure of so many seniors, but tonight's meet gave not only a chance for those who are graduating to perform once more for the home crowd, but also give a large glimpse of those who will take their place possibly in the lineup and those who will continue to wear the Rhody colors next season.

(Scores from Troester and a few scattered events I attended. For various reasons only six teams are really covered in this report of the eight. I do not have injury or lineup information for any of the teams so I cannot account for them in this report. As usual if I make errors, please let me know.)

As I understand it, the top 3 finishers from this meet will qualify for Division 3 nationals. The system changed I believe last year from a mix of regular season scores and performance a regionals. Last year Ursinus, Ithaca, and MIT won the trip to Nationals at host Brockport. This creates an interesting situation as Ursinus, Ithaca, and Brockport this season all have high scores the other five teams have not been able to match, however, Cortland and Springfield both have highs that are within some of the lower scores for those three teams and MIT has had some lineup fluctuations throughout this year so it is hard to know what their high team score could end up with. It could be very close or not so close, but that’s why they hold the meets and don’t just figure out scores by computer. There are also national berths on the line for individuals who aren’t on the teams who qualify. So without further delay, a brief preview, the best I can put together,

Ursinus
The Bears of Collegeville have scored at or above the mid 180’s range throughout the season with a pair of exceptions, and scored 188.3 and 188.2 in their past two meets, which puts them on par with numerous ECAC opponents, including a bunch in Division 1. Kira Oldham-Curtis has the team’s top All Around score and is the running for a Northeastern regionals slot. Oldham-Curtis also has a 9.7 high on Vault, and a 9.8 on the FX. Ursinus has two other All Arounders who can top 37 in the AA. In addition Bree Morrissey has highs of 9.75 on Vault, and 9.75 on FX. Beyond them is a large team filed with high scorers and solid averaging gymnasts.

Ithaca
The Bombers welcome their seven opponents in coming off a high score of the season of 187.45 versus nearby Cortland. The 187.45 isn’t a bad score to put up and also puts Ithaca up close to Division 1 teams as well. Their scores have been hovering the mid 180’s as well throughout much of the season as well. Kelly Stevison’s high nearly broke 38 this season, and her average is not too shabby as well. She also has a 9.7 Floor high as well. While none of the other gymnasts have a high above 9.7, Ithaca, like Ursinus has a large lineup of gymnasts who score solidly.

Brockport
The Golden Eagles returned from MIT with a victory and season high of 187.6 following a 186.45 versus fellow SUNY team Cortland the week before. Brockport is one of 3 teams in Division 3 not far behind their Division 1 compatriots in the rankings. Their scores were largely in the mid 180’s, leaning a bit towards the 183’s for much of the season. Sarah Bulka has been to NCAA regionals before, and she’s in a race to do so again with a high of 38.35 this year and an average in the 37’s. She has a high of 9.75 on the Bars, and 9.725 on Beam as well as solid highs and averages in the other events. Teammate Lauren Gildermeyer also has a high above 38 and averages in the 37’s as well. She has a high of 9.775 on the FX, and averages very well in that event among the others. Brockport is also filled with event specialists and two or three event contributors who score solidly. From what I saw of Brockport, they have a very interesting Floor rotation, which includes some moves I have rarely seen.

Cortland
The Dragons have been putting up mostly 183s and 184s in their meets though had a slight drop versus Ithaca last week. All Arounder Brittany Wiesner can top 38 for a high and has a 9.8 high on the Beam. Her AA average is in the 37’s as well. Fellow All Around competitor Christine McAulay can break 37 for a high. Cortland is also deep and has a variety of gymnasts who can hit highs, and average solidly. Cortland had a very unique Bars rotation from what I remember of them from earlier in the season.

MIT
The Engineers have been building up the scores, and posted a season high two weeks ago to 182.775. Julia Zimmerman leads the team in the All Around and has a 38.25 high, as well as an average in the mid 37’s. Zimmerman has a high of 9.75 on the FX as well. She is yet another ECAC Division3’er in the hunt for an elusive regional trip. Sophia Harrison has a high of 37.65 in the All Around as well. MIT, with a full lineup has a variety of event specialists and solid contributors.

Springfield
The Pride remain in striking distance after an up and down season which had a period of 184’s and a 185, and they have a variety of gymnasts who can score well and be a factor.

Wilson
While the scores are what they are, the Phoenix are not shrinking from facing their ECAC opponents.

March 10th is the day, Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York is the place. Eight teams, tickets to nationals on the line, and an exciting day for athletes, coaches and fans is what to expect.

(Another quick preview I whipped up. It's naturally amateur and I can't claim to have much expertise, but I do what I can. As usual any comments or concerns please let me know. Scores are from Troester.)

University of Bridgeport Purple Knights
at University of Rhode Island Rams.
Kingston, Rhode Island, March 10th, 2007, 7pm.

Last Meet: Bridgeport 181.525 Loss vs. SCSU Division 2 ECAC, Northeast Region
Rhode Island 187.625 Loss at Temple Division 1 ECAC, Northeast Region

Team Highs and Averages

Bridgeport (182.95, 180.1278)
Rhode Island (187.8, 186.2357)

Regional situation: It is unlikely that either team will qualify to Regionals as a team.
URI: Kelly Gurney is currently in the running to qualify for regionals in the All Around. Gurney is also high in the Uneven Bars rankings.
.



URI Seniors: (Scoring information and info on Seniors courtesy of
URI Sports Information.)


Jade Bundra

In addition to being a team Captain and writing "The Ram
Report" reporting on the team activities, Bundra has season
highs of 9.5 on floor, and also competed on Beam this season. She has a
career high of 9.775 in NCAA competition. Her career high
on Beam is 9.525 as well.



Kelly Gurney

URI's co-captain and the lone All Arounder for almost the entire
season. In addition to being heavily in the running for a
trip to Northeast regionals, she ahs a season high of 38.725 in
the All Around and season highs of 9.675 on Vault, 9.725 on
the Bars, 9.7 on Beam, and 9.775 on the Floor. This is in
addition to other solid scores over the past few seasons. She has
also picked up ECAC accolades and scored a 9.825 on the Bars in
2005. She went to regionals in 2006 competing in the All
Around.



Erica Heaney

Another of uRI's co-captains Has posted a season high of 9.675 on
the Vault, and a 9.625 high on the Bars. In 2006 she notched a 9.8 on the Vault, and also posted solid in the AllAround. She also has a 9.800 on Bars and a 9.750 on the Floor, in addition to a variety of quality scores from the 2005
campaign.



Emily Rinaldo

While she has not competed much this season she competed in 2006
Northeastern Regionals and also notched a career high 9.925
at the 2006 ECAC Championships. Last year she had solid highs in
all events including the all around where had a high of 38.075



Kylie Tanner

Specalized in Bars and though she didn't compete this season
scored well on that event, having a season high of 9.6 in 2006,
and a 9.650 high in 2005.





Top Scorers

While all the gymnasts on a team contribute and every NCAA gymnast represents great athleticism here are the top scorers in each event for each team this season. Season high score is listed, followed by season average. I do not usually have injury status reports available.


All Around

Bridgeport
Katherine Reitz 36.975, 36.1531
Carissa Huggins 36.925 36.0143
Shannon Cain 35.9 34.7875

Rhode Island
Kelly Gurney 38.725, 38.2214

Vault

Bridgeport
Victoria Aarts 9.5, 9.2417
Shannon Cain 9.4, 8.9406
Carissa Huggins 9.55, 9.1929
Katherine Reitz 9.6, 9.3361


Rhode Island
Ananda Fraser 9.75, 9.5583
Kelly Gurney 9.675, 9.5071
Erica Heaney 9.675, 9.5083
Bridget Hild 9.45, 8.9833
Kara Machado 9.575, 9.3625
Alex Tirado 9.4, 9.215
Lauren Wasileweski 9.55, 9.3375

Bars

Bridgeport
Behbahani 9.3, 9.0156
Brandi Embrey 9.625, 9.3417


Rhode Island
Fraser 9.55, 9.1929
Gurney 9.725, 9.55
Heaney 9.625, 9.3833
Jamie Reyell 9.7, 9.2857


Beam

Bridgeport
Aarts 9.3, 8.975
Huggins 9.425, 8.8594
Reitz 9.375, 9.0781
Taylor Rut 9.4, 9.0625

Rhode Island
Jordana Ginsburg 9.65, 9.1893
Gurney 9.7, 9.5357
Hild 9.425, 8.955
Casey Pereira 9.4, 8.5393


Floor

Bridgeport
Aarts 9.475, 9.3667
Kelsey Fox 9.425, 9.1
Huggins 9.45, 8.9786
Reitz 9.575, 9.3778


Rhode Island
Jade Bundra 9.5, 9.2786
Fraser 9.725, 9.305
Gurney 9.775, 9.6286
Machado 9.525, 9.3321
Pereira 9.6, 9.3679
Reyell 9.425, 9.1625

(As usual I am experimenting with ways to present information about meets in the East. Here's my latest attempt. I usually like to focus on more than scores, but sometimes it's all that's available. As usual I try not to make errors, but they could be there.)

Rutgers University, Yale University at Towson University
March 9th, 2007 7PM EST Towson, Maryland.

(Scores from Troester)


Participants
Towson University: ECAC Division 1 NCAA Southeast Region
Last meet 192.375 Win at William & Mary (High 194.55 Avg. 191.85)

Rutgers University: ECAC Division 1 NCAA Northeast Region
Last meet 192.575 win vs. Cornell (High 192.575 Avg. 190.5444)

Yale University: ECAC Division 1 Northeast Region
Last Meet 188.8 win vs. Brown (High 190.55 Avg. 187.1687)


Regionals implications.
Rutgers is currently in a position to qualify for regionals. Towson has some work to do in order to qualify as a team. Yale basically can only qualify individuals as of now.

Potential Regional Attendees:

Towson: Jackie Schweitzer, Decelia Willacy in the All Around. Christina Ghani looks in the hunt for FX and Vault. Other scores are up in the air.

Yale: Alina Liao (All Around, Beam) Miki Seltzer (FX, VT)

Rutgers: Will likely qualify as a team.


Top Scorers

(While all the gymnasts on a team contribute and every NCAA gymnast represents great athleticism here are the top scorers in each event for each team this season. I do not usually have injury status reports available. )

(High score and then average score is listed next to each name.)

All Around

TOWSON

Decelia Willacy (38.975, 38.2625)
Jackie Schweitzer (38.925, 38.2429)
Christina Ghani (38.475, 38.025)
Christine Logan (37.825, 37.525)

RUTGERS

Lorena Johnson (38.85,38.2643)
Elizabeth Fittery (38.475, 37.6344)
Laura Sevarino (38.1, 37.5833)

YALE

Alina Liao (38.525, 37.9375)
Brigitte Kivisto (37.9, 37.1)


VAULT

TOWSON
Stacie Hogan (9.775, 9.5857)
Christine Logan (9.85, 9.7321)
Alise McDonald (9.8, 9.7107)
Jackie Schweitzer (9.75, 9.525)
Decelia Willacy (9.875, 9.7875)

RUTGERS
Elizabeth Fittery (9.625, 9.4611)
Latara Northcutt (9.675, 9.55)
Prishani Seebadri (9.625, 9.4417)
Kelly Straka (9.675. 9.5028)


YALE
Miki Seltzer (9.775, 9.5656)
Lauren Tatsuno (9.65, 9.4906)
Alina Liao (9.65, 9.425)
Brigitte Kivisto (9.575, 9.3964)
Jessica Tai (9.55, 9.4031)

Bars
TOWSON
Amanda Clements 9.55, 9.155
Ghani 9.85, 9.55
Jessica Hannah 9.725, 9.455
Hogan 9.7, 9.3821
Cristina Lindo 9.8, 9.4833
Schweitzer 9.775, 9.6679
Willacy 9.8, 9.575

RUTGERS
Fittery (9.675, 9.411
Johnson 9.775, 9.6656
Northcutt 9.8, 9.7219
Stephanie Pannick 9.85, 9.6139
Casey Santangelo (9.625, 9.2811
Seebadri (9.825, 9.5722
Sevarino (9.525, 9.35

YALE
Liao 9.7, 9.2937
Kivisto 9.55, 9.0321
Blick 9.45, 9.1 *Hit higher last season

BEAM
TOWSON
Annukka Almenoksa 9.75, 9.475
Hannah 9.625, 9.43
Logan 9.65, 9.5167
McDonald 9.65, 9.3893
Schweitzer 9.775, 9.5821
Willacy 9.7, 9.3667

RUTGERS
Fittery 9.7, 9.1594
Alison Hartwig 9.675, 9.4
Johnson 9.775, 9.5
Northcutt 9.725, 9.4583
Santangelo 9.675, 9.15
Tiffany Schramm 9.625, 9.1857
Sevarino 9.825, 9.1833

YALE
Liao 9.775, 9.6375
Tatsuno 9.725, 9.3812
Kivisto 9.7, 9.33
Paul 9.6, 9.2437
Mak 9.575, 9.025
Lombardi 9.55, 9.335
Campbell 9.475, 9.3

FLOOR
TOWSON
Ghani 9.825, 9.7357
Hogan 9.725, 9.6357
Logan 9.65, 9.4571
McDonald 9.7, 9.55
Schweitzer 9.825, 9.4678
Willacy 9.775, 9.5333

RUTGERS
Elizabeth Bramley 9.725, 9.6
Fittery 9.825, 9.65
Johnson 9.8, 9.5028
Santangelo 9.725, 9.2889
Sevarino 9.725, 9.3786
Straka 9.85, 9.7031
Bohnsack 9.525, 9.3389

YALE
Kivisto 9.675, 9.4208
Liao 9.775, 9.5812
Paul 9.65, 9.3562
Seltzer 9.825, 9.6781
Jessica Tai 9.625, 9.0667
Tatsuno 9.6, 9.4394

(Had to rush this one a bit unfortunately due to time pressures in other areas.)

Brockport, West Chester at MIT report. 3-3-07
(Scores from Troester unless otherwise indicated.)

I arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts later than I would have liked, and as such walked onto the MIT campus in the midst of the 4th of 6th rotations in the tri-meet. Nonetheless it provided me an opportunity to see Brockport in action. I wish I had seen more of West Chester, I admittedly arrived late in their floor rotation and it's hard to see Beam as well, as Floor gets priority when I video. I wish I could write more, but I'm very ignorant about the team at this time. Still I can comment a bit on MIT and Brockport this week, but first a little history...

When I last saw a gymnast from SUNY Brockport in competition, it was in New Hampshire in 2005, the venue was NCAA Northeast Regionals. Brockport had sent not one but two gymnasts, Carrie Santore and Sarah Bulka, to the traditionally division 1 dominated event, which was quite an achievement. Santore, a seniors, would not only perform at regionals but earn a trip to NCAA nationals. Bulka had two more years left to compete and returned to Brockport the following year and was picking up a variety of NCGA division 3 accolades. She is once again in the race for a slot to regionals in the All Around.

The Brockport that stepped in MIT's duPont gymnasium was a largely different one from the group that Santore and Bulka had emerged from, and the MIT team that had met them at 2005 ECACs was largely different as well. Of the 11 gymnasts who were in the lineup for Brockport, only four would have been on the 2005 team. On MIT's side, four of the nine lineup members were on their 2005 squad.

Due to the scarcity of regional slots (only 5 going to nonqualifying team members in the All Around) it is a tall order to obtain them, and with strong gymnasts emerging from all over the 3 divisions of the ECAC, ever meet counts. Bulka is in the running, as is MIT's Julia Zimmerman, who has spent the past few weeks breaking records and raising personal bests.
Not only would the contest over who would win the All Around come down to the last rotation, and the last routine, with Zimmerman holding the traditional 6th spot in MIT's floor routines, it would give her a victory by only .10 after overcoming a deficit of .10. Zimmerman would finish with a 38.25, and Bulka with a 38.15.

Brockport Freshman Lauren Gildermeyer performed to what I believe is a personal best to score a 38.025 and third place in the All Around competition. She lead the team on Vault with a 9.65 and on Floor with a 9.775. Bulka lead the team on Bars with a 9.55, and Nikki Visnick topped the team scores in 9.625. Zimmerman also topped MIT's Vault with a 9.6, she also lead the team on Bars with a 9.625, Beam with a 9.45, and Floor with a 9.575.

Brockport would score a 187.6 to MIT's 180.575. Brockport's scoring puts it in many ways in line with some D1 ECAC teams currently, which is good for them going into the ECAC championships, given that Ursinus is scoring 188's. and Ithaca scored a 187 plus this week as well.

While every competitor on both teams contributed to the scoring in various ways, here are some of the highlights.

Brockport made it up to that score through a variety of contributions. Christina Baggetta scored a 9.525 on Bars and Stephanie Baker scored a 9.425 on Vault. Brittany Burr had a 9.375 on Vault and a 9.35 amidst a very solid floor rotation. Jessica Downs had a 9.025 on beam. Michelle Farrelly had a 9.425 on Bars and Nikki Fisher a 9.475 on FX. Lauren Gilermeyer also had a 9.5 on Beam.

MIT's Sophia Harrison had a good day, a 9.375 on Vault, 9.3 on FX, and a 9.075 on Bars. Katie Mingo had a 9.15 on Vault and FX. Sarah Trowbridge had a 9.1 on Vault, 9.05 on Bars, and 9.0 on FX. Seniors Lara Hershcovitch and and Ashley Tran competed in their last routines before the home crowd as well.

Since this is the first time I've seen Brockport recently, here's a brief summary of their floor efforts. As usual I am being conservative in describing the moves until I really get a handle on the terminology.I also have not been able to lighten the vids so they are darker than usual, thus I am not even trying to count the number of twists in any of the routines.

I will say Brockport's routines really seem to blend the music and the dance quite well amidst the tumbling passes.

Nikki Visnick
Visnick has drum beat music leads into Ricky Martin's "Cup of Life". She does a high back pike on tumbling pass number 1 and front layouts on pass 2. Her music becomes a bit different before leading back into Ricky Martin for pass three which consists of some twists.

Stephanie Baker
Her music sounds much like an adventure movie's orchestral soundtrack. She does back tucks in her first tumbling pass. Within her second she does some twists and a front flip, and on the third pass she twists as well.

Brittany Burr
She performs to Upbeat Brass band music. In her first pass, she twists than does a front flip. It looks like she twists and does a layout on the second pass. On the the third pass a twist, but it looks different than the usual twists I'm used to seeing.

Nikki Fisher
Fisher's music has drums with a dramatic orchestral backdrop which eventually becomes fully orchestral. She twists and does a front flip on the first pass. In the scond pass it looks like a layout. The third pass has a high twist.

Sarah Bulka
She uses the latin based "Welcome to Cuba" from Die another Day. Her first pass had back tucks, and she doesn't waste much time before going right into pass 2 with two front layout. Her finale has twists.

Lauren Gildermeyer
Her music has an airy orchestral feel at first. She does twists and a back tuck for the 1st pass, there is clearly twisting going on amidst the salto. Some horns and upbeat theme music kicks in as she heads into the second pass which are front layouts. The third pass soon follows and has back twists.

The ECAC Division 3 Championships will bring the 8 Division 3 ECAC teams together for a shot at D3 nationals and numerous team and individual merits next week.

After a week off due to other matters I'm headed out onto the meet circuit again. While I wouldn't mind seeing SCSU at Bridgeport tonight the entire southern part of the state seems flodded so that's probably not a good place to be right now. March 3rd presented a problem, Brown was coming up to visit Yale, and at the exact same time MIT was welcoming in West Chester and Brockport.

Aside from both of them being fun and interesting meets to watch as well as senior days for Yale and MIT, there are a lot of implications to both meets. Brown and Yale have gymnasts fighting for regional spots, as well as a group of All Arounders who faced each other just last week at the Ivy Classic. Brown's Alicia Sacramone is now competing in the All Around and her scores are shooting upwards and she needs RQS scores to play a role in regionals. Sacramone's successes should not obscure though the other talents on Brown, nor on Yale as gymnasts like Alina Liao, Miki Selter, Suchitra Paul, Lauren Tatsuno for Yale, and Hannah Goldstein, Izzy Kirkham-Lewitt, Alanna Kwoka, and Jennifer Sobuta, for Brown, among others are doing very well. This is an abbreviated list as I don't have much time to go into the entire team profiles, but I have written about them before. Both teams have plenty of good gymnasts in addition to who I mentioned quickly.

Over at MIT however, it's the last regular season meet for the Engineers, and the Brockport Golden Eagles. West Chester still has several left. MIT and Brockport are jockeying prior to the ECAC championships next week, and MIT has Julia Zimmerman and Brockport has Sarah Bulka potentially in a position to make it to regionals, though the rankings are very incomplete right now. Regardless of their scores currently their scoring habits have made it a potential result. Both will be in the same room again this week. And that's just scratching the surface considering that Brockport has a variety of high scoring gymnasts, and MIT seems to be getting some of their stalwarts back from injury, including senior Ashley Tran who rebounded from injury and was vaulting well again. She had lit it up two years ago on that event as well. MIT also says goodbye to senior Lara Herschovitch who has been steady for several years. It's hard to describe her impact on the team, as that would require an insider view but from the perspective of someone in the stands, it seems that she takes on an anchor role when opening on Floor, or performing on Beam, and this year with a mix of veterans injured and newer gymnasts experimenting, it would logically be a very important thing.

So I had to choose between these two meets. The clincher is that Yale and Brown will be airing on the internet through CSTV so hopefully I can catch it later on, whereas MIT has no video coverage. It's only logical to get to the meet I can't see online, but it was nonetheless a very tough choice.

(All scores from Troester unless otherwise noted, the actual results come from me being there. I do my best with the moves, but I use very few technical names at this juncture. I apologize for any mistakes in terminology or identifications and urge any corrections to be sent to me. This pursuit has been a learning process for me. I also don’t count the number twists and flips, it’s taking me some time to develop an eye for just how many times the gymnasts are flipping or twisting. I realize this leads to less detail than perhaps readers might want but it’s all I can manage right now. )

URI at Yale (2-17-07)

As I walked across the New Haven green and made my way across the Yale campus, a mix of courtyards and buildings from another era, I wondered what I would find when the URI Rams and the Yale Bulldogs met in a rematch from both team’s season openers. Since that time Yale has maintained a relatively stable lineup, URI however has had to deal with a variety of injuries which have hit some of their top veterans and up and coming rookies.

I made my way into Lee Ampitheatre on the wing of Payne Whitney Gymnasium about a half hour before the meet and began to worry as the gym was nearly empty. The warm ups wrapped up and more spectators began to fill in, and around the time the meet itself started, the crowd had swollen swell and Yale’s student section would largely be filled with Bulldog fans from end to end. On the other side the URI fan had formed a cluster of support, in a separate section, the familiar massive Yale banner supplied by some fans was spread across railing. Dotted throughout the arena are signs in support of various athletes, appearing and disappearing depending on what even the team was on at one time.

Into this arena would enter a variety of potential regional attendees. While both teams are currently not in a position to make it as a team, the All Around and Individual qualifying is a different story assuming that Michigan, Penn, Rutgers, UNH, and Pitt are likely going to be the team qualifiers. According to the Troester scores, Rhode Island’s Kelly Gurney lead all the All Arounders not on the aforementioned teams going into the meet. Alina Liao sits at third and there’s a lot of potential athletes trying to get those five spots. On the individual event side, where only one competitor from a non qualifying team can make it, there are a lot of people in the hunt. URI’s Ananda Fraser and Yale’s Miki Seltzer are among a large group of gymnasts in the rankings on Vault. I don’t know how the math would work out, but Lauren Tatsuno of Yale and Gurney aren’t that far behind the others. Gurney is second in the Uneven Bars among potentially non-qualifying teams. On the Beam, it’s a bit murkier, but Liao and Gurney could be in the running. Finally on the Floor, Miki Seltzer leads everyone among teams who probably won’t make it as of now. Gurney would have some work to do to get to the top of vault. Liao might be in the running as well.

And the season is by no means over either, there’s a lot of time before the season closes. The ECAC Championships isn’t until late March, so there’s a lot of gymnastics left. Both crowds, though Yale obviously outnumbered URI, made themselves heard. The gymnasts themselves seemed very upbeat, to the point it was noticeable over other meets, including last year’s meeting between the two. The Yale crowd often let loose a barrage of chants in support of specific athletes, which was a new experience. There was also something, that I had rarely seen at gymnastics meets, though it might just have been I had noticed it this week. There was a greater degree of clapping with the beam routines. The Yale gymnasts got quite an ovation when they hit their difficult sequences especially. Rarely have I seen much clapping for individual elements before.

Rotation 1

URI began on the Bars and Jamie Reyell went first. Her routine included a gienger, a flying high to low transition and a back tuck dismount that was stuck. Alex Tirado followed with a routine including an release high to low transition as well as a back tuck dismount. Ananda Fraser would follow with a routine with a lot of grip changes. She did a low to high transition straddled and a high to low transition. She back tucked off and stuck the landing.
Erica Heaney mounted the bars leaping over the low bar to the high bar. She did a tkatchev and also did a back high to low aerial transition to a handstand and immediately followed it by traveling back aerial from the low to high bar. Her dismount was a back tuck and she scored a 9.625 for her efforts. Kelly Gurney has a jaeger, a high to low aerial transition, and a back layout dismount which she stuck to net her a 9.7. Kerry Cutler did a high to low transition and a low to high transition with jumps. She does a back tuck dismount and she stuck it today.

Over on the Vault Laura Lombardi lead of with her front entry back pike vault for a 9.25. Alina Liao rounded off onto the apparatus, and did her back layout off, hopping slightly, and scored a 9.55. Jessica Tai’s vault is still indescribable as it involves a twist across the table, with some steps on the landing for a 9.4. Lauren Tatsuno did a round off on and a back layout off with steps on the landing to acquire a 9.525. She seems to have a lot of power behind this vault. Miki Seltzer, did her round off on, and back twisted off, with a step. She would score a 9.65.

Rotation 2

URI moved to Vault. Bridget Hild lead off on and was followed by Erica Heaney. Heaney’s vault was a Round off on, followed by a front tuck on. Her score was a 9.45. Lauren Wasilewski did a front tuck off the vault and stepped, but still notched a 9.35. Kara Machado followed up with a front entry, back layout that was stuck and also brought the team a 9.35. Kelly Gurney followed and won herself a 9.6 by sticking a round off on, back layout off. Ananda Fraser topped her teammate with a 9.725 with a stuck front pike vault that had a great deal of height and power attached to it.

Back on the Bars, Yale’s Cynthia Leung lead off with a 9.25. She began with a mount from the back to the high bar, and a high to low and low to high aerial transition. She back tucked off and stuck the landing. Brigitte Kivisto followed, she has one high to low release transition. She also does a back layout dismount off and stuck it that afternoon. Suchitra Paul was next, and she also entered the Bars from the back and leapt to the high bar. She does a gienger and has one high to low release transition. Her dismount was a back tuck maneuver. Laura Lombardi would follow her in the lineup. Specialist Jessica Blick does a twist while changing grip before releasing high to low. On the low bar she swings in a straddled move under the bar right to a low to high straddled transition. She did a back pike off and basically stuck it scoring a 9.4. Alina Liao leaps onto the bars from the back like many of her teammates. She does a high to low and low to high aerial transition. She back layouts off the bars and landed this routine with a step. She topped Yale’s bars performances with a 9.5

URI moved to the Floor, and Yale to the Beam with the team scores close. At the time, URI had come away with a 47.475 on Vault and Yale had a 47.375 on that event. URI had a 46.575 on Bars, and Yale had a 46.15 on Bars. URI entered Rotation 3 with a .5 lead.

Rotation 3

Reyell opened the Floor for URI with a rock based routine. Her tumbling passes consisted of a twisting move for the opener, followed by a twisting and front flipping 2nd pass. Her final pass some a snapping layout and front flip. Bridget Hild’s routine had a background music I find hard to classify, but it really fit a sports performance. She does a back pike in the opener, front layouts for pass 2, and twists on pass 3. Kara Machado has a drum danceish beat piece based routine. She opens with twists and a front flip. The second pass has a twist then a layout. She finishes with twists and a front layout. Drums in her music fit well with her dancing prior to the 3rd pass which is built up to by the mood set the beat. She scored a 9.35 for the routine
Jade Bundra’s routine has a drum background, though unlike any of her other teammates. She opens with twists and a front flip. Pass two has twists and a front layout. The drum beat then speeds up and pass 3 has twists and a front flip. She scored a 9.375. Casey Pereira has an exotic background music which builds into a fast based dance beat. She opens with twists on her first pass. More twists follow on pass 2, and finally pass 3 has twists and a front flip. Between pass 2 and 3 the music slows for dancing, but builds back up for the finale pass. This meet she had a 9.375 as well.
Kelly Gurney closed out the rotation. Her performance opens with “I just died in your arms tonight” before getting fast paced. She does a powerful back pike. Her second pass has twists. Eventually her music slips into a contemporary song for the last pass, which involves twists and flips. She hit a 9.725 this meet.

Over on Beam it was a bit harder to follow. Sarah Campbell, Allison Mak, and Laura Lombardi put solid scores up. Suchitra Paul then scored a 9 .4, and Lauren Tatsuno and Alina Liao followed that up with a 9.725 and 9.775 respectively. From what I could catch between URI’s floor exercises, Lombardi does a variety of jump combos. Paul has a triple element back tumbling pass. She also follows a split type leap before leaping down and catching the beam amidst her routine. Tatsuno has a powerful tumbling pass during her routine as well. Liao has an element where it basically looks like she takes off from one foot and does a side flip on the beam. She also turns on one bent leg while holding the other out in a dance move that looks quite precarious.

After 3 rotations, the scores were very tight with URI at 140.775 and Yale at 140.525.

Rotation 4
On the Beam URI counted a 9.25 from Periera, 9.15 from Bundra, 9.425 from Hild, 9.525 from Ginsburg, and a 9.7 from Gurney.

On Floor, Yale lead off with Sarah Hughes. Her music seemed to be reminiscent of ballroom dancing, but worked very well for a floor routine. She began with twists in her opening pass and her second pass had a front layout and front flip. Finally she wrapped up with some twists. Jessica Tai has a mix of orchestral and slow dance music. She opens with a front flip and tumbling twists. Her last two passes also involved twists as well. Lauren Tatsuno begins her floor performance with a rock song, which is also the opening to a Japanese television show, and front flips into a tumbling pass which ends with a back tuck. In the 2nd pass she has a layout and twists. The music slows to a slower rock piece, and becomes almost orchestral before building up into the original piece for the twisting tumbling finale.
Suchitra Paul’s new music has a dance beat. Pass number 1 has a powerful back tuck. Her second pass has 2 layouts. Finally she wraps up with some twists. Alina Liao’s routine opens with “Wherever I may Roam” by Metallica and she twists and does a really fast front flip immediately afterward. The music slows and builds into “Enter the Sandman” before pass two which has a back pike. The music slows again and dips back into the first piece before “Sandman” takes over for the final twisting pass. Miki Seltzer’s new routine uses a song from the Matrix Soundtrack. Her first pass is a twist, the second has a powerful back pike move. Finally she ends with twists and a layout. The music slows in the middle of the routine but she keeps flying around during the dance with several aerial moves. For their efforts, Tatsuno notched a 9.6, Paul a 9.6, Liao a 9.675, and Seltzer a 9.575.

In the end the team scores were razor thin close, so close the scores were checked several times. with Yale scoring a 187.8 to URI’s 187.775. Gurney would win the All Around with a 38.725, inching out Liao who had a 38.5. Fraser took the Vault, with Seltzer coming in second, and Gurney third. Gurney would win the Bars, with teammate Erica Heaney coming in second, and Liao third. Liao would capture the Beam title for herself, with teammate Lauren Tatsuno right behind, and Gurney third. On the Floor, Gurney would capture her second event title of the night, with Liao and Yale’s Suchitra Paul following.

Both teams are in action this week, as URI is at Rutgers and Yale is at the Ivy League Classic.

Want to watch gymnastics but can't find a meet nearby?

More and more meets are ending up online. Some cost money, but plenty are free including Utah home meets and UCLA home meets. It depends on how fast a connection you have too as CSTV, the provider for some requires a faster connection than some people may have, but there's options. There's a lot more chances to see meets now. Collegegymfans.com has a list of all the teams that have video and each weekend lists the live online meets for the day.