Now And Then: NCAA’s Top 10 Most Improved Seniors
Now And Then: NCAA’s Top 10 Most Improved Seniors
Only a few weeks remain in the NCAA season, which also means we’ll soon be saying goodbye to some of our favorite gymnasts in the senior class. So many of t
Only a few weeks remain in the NCAA season, which also means we’ll soon be saying goodbye to some of our favorite gymnasts in the senior class. So many of these gymnasts have made huge strides over their tenures at their respective universities. Some have gone from not competing at all freshman year or battling injuries to being a star on the team in their senior year.
We’ve decided to highlight some of these seniors - focusing on the all-around competitors who have made the biggest improvements over their four years. We count down our top 10 below:
Lindsay Mable competed in the all-around in every meet for Minnesota in her freshman season. She made an impression early, ranking #14 in the all-around for her first year. She also qualified to individual event finals at NCAA Championships for floor and vault, scoring 9.9 on both. Mable continued to improve into her sophomore year, where she finished the season ranked #5 in the all-around. She scored a 39.600 to win the all-around at Big Ten Championships, also setting a Minnesota record. In her junior season, she soared to #2 in the all-around and hit a new all-around high of 39.675.
In her senior season, Mable is ranked #8 in the all-around, #21 on vault, #23 on bars, #7 on beam and floor.
Hollie Blanske started off her NCAA career with a knee injury, keeping her to three events for her freshman season as she recovered. At the end of the regular season, her highest ranking was on bars where she was ranked #92 in the nation. She began competing in the all-around in her sophomore year, where she ranked #26 at the end of the regular season. Her rankings on all events improved tremendously from her freshman season- she went from #100 to #37 on vault, #92 to #59 on bars, and #107 to #39 on floor. Blanske added in beam this year with ease, scoring a 9.9 on the event at NCAA Semifinals and the Super Six Finals.
Blanske continued to compete in every meet of the season as an all-arounder for Nebraska going into her junior year. Her all-around ranking improved to #16 at the end of the season, a mark she has tied for her senior season as well. She also improved her ranking on vault to #24, and her ranking on floor to #17. She also matched her career high in the all-around this year with a 39.600, and matched her career high of 9.95 on floor three times. Blanske also earned a new career high on vault at Big Ten Championships (a 9.975).
Giana O’Connor is another gymnast who started the all-around as a freshman and ranked #36 nationally at the end of the season. In her sophomore year, she was relied upon heavily by the Illini as the sole all-around competitor for the team. She hit several new career highs this year, including a 9.9 on beam and a 39.3 in the all-around. In her junior year, she qualified individually for the NCAA Championships and finished 6th in the all-around with an impressive 39.425 - the best all-around score in Illini history at NCAA Championships. Her new career high in the all-around - 39.625 - hit this year, also tied the school’s record.
Now, in her senior year, she has hit her highest ranking in the all-around - #25 - and she has posted 39+ in the all-around nine times this season.
Nina McGee started at Denver in 2012 but was unable to compete due to a major injury. Despite having rods put in each of her legs as a result, she came back in 2013 to compete on all events except vault, and she won the bars and floor titles at the WAC Championship, scoring a 9.925 for each routine. She finished her first season ranking #13 on bars, #42 on beam and #9 on floor.
McGee added in vault in her sophomore season and finished #24 in the all-around that year. In her junior season, her ranking jumped to #16 in the all-around. She improved from being #156 on vault in her sophomore season to #37 in her junior season. She also jumped to be #3 in the nation on floor and tied for second place with a 9.95 at NCAA Championship event finals. McGee has improved dramatically in her senior season, especially in the all-around where she finished #4 in the regular season. She has also hit new careers on all four events and in the all-around this year - 9.95 on vault and bars, 9.925 on beam, 10.00 on floor (which she has now achieved three times), and a huge 39.775 in the all-around.
Keeley Kmieciak started competing all-around right away for the Sooners when she joined in 2013 and ended ranked #36 in the nation, despite only competing all four events in 7 meets in the regular season. Kmieciak’s best event proved to be bars, where she ranked #13 nationally. She posted a career high of 9.95 on this event in Super Six Finals in her sophomore year. She was kept out of the floor lineup for all of 2014 and 2015, but posted career highs on both vault and bars in her sophomore year (9.95).
Kmieciak was added back into the floor lineup to compete all-around for the Sooners for her senior year. She’s improved drastically since being in this spot in her freshman season, jumping to #14 in the all-around rankings and #6 on bars. Her performance on floor has improved a lot, and she has proven to be a consistent competitor that can be relied upon to score 9.8-9.85 each time. She also scored her first 10.0 this year which came on bars at the Big 12 Championships.
Breanna Hughes began competing just bars and beam for the Utes in her freshman season, ranking at a modest #74 on bars and #42 on beam for the season. She continued to compete just these two events in her sophomore year and was the lead off for the team on bars. She tied both her career highs that year of 9.9 on bars and 9.875 on beam. In her junior season, she competed mostly only bars with fairly mediocre scores. She was put in the vault lineup once to score a 9.825 and the floor lineup three times but scored fairly low.
Her senior year is when Hughes really started to shine. She was put in the lineup on all four events and has finished the season ranked #7 in the all-around, #12 on vault and floor and #15 on bars. She has beat all of her career highs this year with a 9.975 on vault, 9.925 on bars, 9.9 on beam and a 10.0 on floor. Her career high in the all-around is a 39.65, achieved twice this year.
Allison Northey worked her way into the all-around role starting in her freshman season. She competed mostly vault, bars and beam and added in floor mid-way through, but had some struggles on the event and put up fairly low scores. In her sophomore year, she competed all-around in every meet and ranked #48 that year. She made vast improvements in her junior year, setting her career high in the all-around with a 39.450 and improving her ranking to #24. She improved a lot on bars especially, where she went from being ranked #86 in freshman year to being ranked #24.
In her senior year, she holds her highest all-around ranking yet at #15. She also set new career highs in the all-around (39.550), and on bars (9.925) and beam (9.925).
Lindsay Offutt started her freshman year at Pittsburgh competing mainly bars, beam and floor. She scored a 9.9 once that season on beam, but otherwise her scores tended to be very low, but she did very well on floor and notched a season high 9.95. She continued as a 3-event gymnast in her sophomore year. She improved a lot on beam, moving from being ranked #280 in her freshman year to being ranked #95. In her junior season, she added in vault toward the end, but put up very low numbers and ended up ranked #95 in the all-around that year. She continued to improve on beam, ranking #43 that year, and she put up a new career high of 9.95 on the event.
Offutt’s senior year has been her best yet. She has skyrocketed from not competing at all in the all-around in her freshman and sophomore years, to being ranked #95 in her junior year, to being ranked #21 in her senior year. Her scores went up across the board. Her career high on vault went from being 9.675 to being 9.875, her career high on bars went from 9.85 to 9.925, and she tied her career highs of 9.95 on beam and floor. Her highest all-around score this season is a huge 39.575.
Brandie Jay did not start competing all-around until this year, having not competed beam for the team previously. Jay has always been one of Georgia’s strongest gymnasts, but she has also truly improved a lot of the past four years. She came in knowing that vault was one of her stronger events, and she met expectations in her freshman year by ranking #15 nationally and notching a career best of 9.95. She still managed to improve from here, and she’s now ranked #4 in her senior year on this event and has achieved a new career high of 9.975 for her Yurchenko 1 ½. Jay has also improved a lot on bars and is especially impressive for performing one of the most difficult bar routines in the country. She’s gone from being ranked #67 in her freshman season to being ranked #20 in her senior year.
Most importantly to note is that Jay added in beam for the first time this year to compete all-around, and she has done a spectacular job at it. Though this has not been an event that has come easy to her in the past, she has truly tackled it and she’s been one of the few gymnasts to not suffer a fall yet this season. Adding in beam has put Jay at #9 in the all-around rankings, a huge accomplishment given that she did not compete all-around until this year.
Caitlin Atkinson tops our list as the most improved senior. Out of all the gymnasts, she has shown the most consistent improvement over her four years on all four events. She’s gone from being a solid competitor in her freshman season to being one of the best in the country in her senior year.
Atkinson competed all-around right from the get go upon joining Auburn, and she impressed early on, finishing the season ranked #20 nationally, and she achieved a season high of 39.550. She matched this high in her sophomore season and also improved her rankings in the all-around (moving up to #10) and on all four events as well. In her junior season, she improved once again, not only moving up to #7 nationally but also putting up a career high all-around score of 39.750, also breaking an Auburn record.
In her senior season, she is now ranked #5 in the all-around, and it’s tremendous to see her progress over the years on all four events. She went from #51 on vault freshman year to #16 today, #41 on bars to #31 today, #30 on beam to #7 today, and #55 on floor to #12 today. It’s no wonder she was named SEC Gymnast of the year in her senior season.
Related:
Six Sensational NCAA Seniors In The Running For AAI Award
Predicting Success At Super Six - What History Tells Us
2016 NCAA Regional Assignments Announced
We’ve decided to highlight some of these seniors - focusing on the all-around competitors who have made the biggest improvements over their four years. We count down our top 10 below:
10. Lindsay Mable - Minnesota
Lindsay Mable competed in the all-around in every meet for Minnesota in her freshman season. She made an impression early, ranking #14 in the all-around for her first year. She also qualified to individual event finals at NCAA Championships for floor and vault, scoring 9.9 on both. Mable continued to improve into her sophomore year, where she finished the season ranked #5 in the all-around. She scored a 39.600 to win the all-around at Big Ten Championships, also setting a Minnesota record. In her junior season, she soared to #2 in the all-around and hit a new all-around high of 39.675.
In her senior season, Mable is ranked #8 in the all-around, #21 on vault, #23 on bars, #7 on beam and floor.
9. Hollie Blanske - Nebraska
Hollie Blanske started off her NCAA career with a knee injury, keeping her to three events for her freshman season as she recovered. At the end of the regular season, her highest ranking was on bars where she was ranked #92 in the nation. She began competing in the all-around in her sophomore year, where she ranked #26 at the end of the regular season. Her rankings on all events improved tremendously from her freshman season- she went from #100 to #37 on vault, #92 to #59 on bars, and #107 to #39 on floor. Blanske added in beam this year with ease, scoring a 9.9 on the event at NCAA Semifinals and the Super Six Finals.
Blanske continued to compete in every meet of the season as an all-arounder for Nebraska going into her junior year. Her all-around ranking improved to #16 at the end of the season, a mark she has tied for her senior season as well. She also improved her ranking on vault to #24, and her ranking on floor to #17. She also matched her career high in the all-around this year with a 39.600, and matched her career high of 9.95 on floor three times. Blanske also earned a new career high on vault at Big Ten Championships (a 9.975).
8. Giana O’Connor - Illinois
Giana O’Connor is another gymnast who started the all-around as a freshman and ranked #36 nationally at the end of the season. In her sophomore year, she was relied upon heavily by the Illini as the sole all-around competitor for the team. She hit several new career highs this year, including a 9.9 on beam and a 39.3 in the all-around. In her junior year, she qualified individually for the NCAA Championships and finished 6th in the all-around with an impressive 39.425 - the best all-around score in Illini history at NCAA Championships. Her new career high in the all-around - 39.625 - hit this year, also tied the school’s record.
Now, in her senior year, she has hit her highest ranking in the all-around - #25 - and she has posted 39+ in the all-around nine times this season.
7. Nina McGee - Denver
Nina McGee started at Denver in 2012 but was unable to compete due to a major injury. Despite having rods put in each of her legs as a result, she came back in 2013 to compete on all events except vault, and she won the bars and floor titles at the WAC Championship, scoring a 9.925 for each routine. She finished her first season ranking #13 on bars, #42 on beam and #9 on floor.
McGee added in vault in her sophomore season and finished #24 in the all-around that year. In her junior season, her ranking jumped to #16 in the all-around. She improved from being #156 on vault in her sophomore season to #37 in her junior season. She also jumped to be #3 in the nation on floor and tied for second place with a 9.95 at NCAA Championship event finals. McGee has improved dramatically in her senior season, especially in the all-around where she finished #4 in the regular season. She has also hit new careers on all four events and in the all-around this year - 9.95 on vault and bars, 9.925 on beam, 10.00 on floor (which she has now achieved three times), and a huge 39.775 in the all-around.
6. Keeley Kmieciak - Oklahoma
Keeley Kmieciak started competing all-around right away for the Sooners when she joined in 2013 and ended ranked #36 in the nation, despite only competing all four events in 7 meets in the regular season. Kmieciak’s best event proved to be bars, where she ranked #13 nationally. She posted a career high of 9.95 on this event in Super Six Finals in her sophomore year. She was kept out of the floor lineup for all of 2014 and 2015, but posted career highs on both vault and bars in her sophomore year (9.95).
Kmieciak was added back into the floor lineup to compete all-around for the Sooners for her senior year. She’s improved drastically since being in this spot in her freshman season, jumping to #14 in the all-around rankings and #6 on bars. Her performance on floor has improved a lot, and she has proven to be a consistent competitor that can be relied upon to score 9.8-9.85 each time. She also scored her first 10.0 this year which came on bars at the Big 12 Championships.
5. Breanna Hughes - Utah
Breanna Hughes began competing just bars and beam for the Utes in her freshman season, ranking at a modest #74 on bars and #42 on beam for the season. She continued to compete just these two events in her sophomore year and was the lead off for the team on bars. She tied both her career highs that year of 9.9 on bars and 9.875 on beam. In her junior season, she competed mostly only bars with fairly mediocre scores. She was put in the vault lineup once to score a 9.825 and the floor lineup three times but scored fairly low.
Her senior year is when Hughes really started to shine. She was put in the lineup on all four events and has finished the season ranked #7 in the all-around, #12 on vault and floor and #15 on bars. She has beat all of her career highs this year with a 9.975 on vault, 9.925 on bars, 9.9 on beam and a 10.0 on floor. Her career high in the all-around is a 39.65, achieved twice this year.
4. Allison Northey - Washington
Allison Northey worked her way into the all-around role starting in her freshman season. She competed mostly vault, bars and beam and added in floor mid-way through, but had some struggles on the event and put up fairly low scores. In her sophomore year, she competed all-around in every meet and ranked #48 that year. She made vast improvements in her junior year, setting her career high in the all-around with a 39.450 and improving her ranking to #24. She improved a lot on bars especially, where she went from being ranked #86 in freshman year to being ranked #24.
In her senior year, she holds her highest all-around ranking yet at #15. She also set new career highs in the all-around (39.550), and on bars (9.925) and beam (9.925).
3. Lindsay Offutt - Pittsburgh
Lindsay Offutt started her freshman year at Pittsburgh competing mainly bars, beam and floor. She scored a 9.9 once that season on beam, but otherwise her scores tended to be very low, but she did very well on floor and notched a season high 9.95. She continued as a 3-event gymnast in her sophomore year. She improved a lot on beam, moving from being ranked #280 in her freshman year to being ranked #95. In her junior season, she added in vault toward the end, but put up very low numbers and ended up ranked #95 in the all-around that year. She continued to improve on beam, ranking #43 that year, and she put up a new career high of 9.95 on the event.
Offutt’s senior year has been her best yet. She has skyrocketed from not competing at all in the all-around in her freshman and sophomore years, to being ranked #95 in her junior year, to being ranked #21 in her senior year. Her scores went up across the board. Her career high on vault went from being 9.675 to being 9.875, her career high on bars went from 9.85 to 9.925, and she tied her career highs of 9.95 on beam and floor. Her highest all-around score this season is a huge 39.575.
2. Brandie Jay - Georgia
Brandie Jay did not start competing all-around until this year, having not competed beam for the team previously. Jay has always been one of Georgia’s strongest gymnasts, but she has also truly improved a lot of the past four years. She came in knowing that vault was one of her stronger events, and she met expectations in her freshman year by ranking #15 nationally and notching a career best of 9.95. She still managed to improve from here, and she’s now ranked #4 in her senior year on this event and has achieved a new career high of 9.975 for her Yurchenko 1 ½. Jay has also improved a lot on bars and is especially impressive for performing one of the most difficult bar routines in the country. She’s gone from being ranked #67 in her freshman season to being ranked #20 in her senior year.
Most importantly to note is that Jay added in beam for the first time this year to compete all-around, and she has done a spectacular job at it. Though this has not been an event that has come easy to her in the past, she has truly tackled it and she’s been one of the few gymnasts to not suffer a fall yet this season. Adding in beam has put Jay at #9 in the all-around rankings, a huge accomplishment given that she did not compete all-around until this year.
1. Caitlin Atkinson - Auburn
Caitlin Atkinson tops our list as the most improved senior. Out of all the gymnasts, she has shown the most consistent improvement over her four years on all four events. She’s gone from being a solid competitor in her freshman season to being one of the best in the country in her senior year.
Atkinson competed all-around right from the get go upon joining Auburn, and she impressed early on, finishing the season ranked #20 nationally, and she achieved a season high of 39.550. She matched this high in her sophomore season and also improved her rankings in the all-around (moving up to #10) and on all four events as well. In her junior season, she improved once again, not only moving up to #7 nationally but also putting up a career high all-around score of 39.750, also breaking an Auburn record.
In her senior season, she is now ranked #5 in the all-around, and it’s tremendous to see her progress over the years on all four events. She went from #51 on vault freshman year to #16 today, #41 on bars to #31 today, #30 on beam to #7 today, and #55 on floor to #12 today. It’s no wonder she was named SEC Gymnast of the year in her senior season.
Related:
Six Sensational NCAA Seniors In The Running For AAI Award
Predicting Success At Super Six - What History Tells Us
2016 NCAA Regional Assignments Announced
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