12 teams plus individual qualifiers will compete in 2 preliminary rounds on Thursday at the start of the 2010 NCAA Gymnastics Championships. Here are some of the top beam routines to watch this week at the Championships.

Hollie Vise of Oklahoma is currently ranked 1st on beam with a Regional Qualifying average of 9.93. The construction of her routine is really unique and it's beautiful to watch:

Another big routine out of the Big 12 comes from Sarah Shire of Missouri. Sarah will be a contender for the all around title as well. She is the only gymnast in the competition to compete a 4 skill flight series. It's ridiculously amazing. 

Sarah's former GAGE teammate, Courtney McCool of Georgia, will be the only Gym Dog in attendance at Nationals. She qualified as an individual on both beam and floor, and will have a chance to win both. Courtney is absolutely beautiful on beam and has scored as high as a 9.975 this year.

Megan Ferguson of Oklahoma qualified for the beam final last year as a freshman and is even better on beam this year.  She's currently ranked 7th on beam, just ahead of teammate Kristin Smith who is 8th. Here is one of Megan's routines that earned a 9.90:

Like Oklahoma, UCLA has a couple potential beam champions. Vanessa Zamarripa is coming in ranked 4th on beam, and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs scored a perfect 10 on beam earlier this season. Elyse's routine is very unique and packed with difficulty:

Casey Jo Magee of Arkansas has potential to win the beam final. She (along with Michelle Stout) was the very first All American gymnast for the University of Arkansas and has potential to become the first individual national champion for Arkansas with this routine:

The Newcomer to watch on beam will be Liz Green of Florida. Liz graduated high school early and joined the Gators just before the start of this season. She's made an immediate impact in their beam lineup. I love her high releve before every skill. Here is her very first routine as a Gator, and she's gotten even more polished since this:

Another newcomer with an amazing beam routine is Sharaya Musser of Penn State. She was Big 10 Freshman of the Year and competes probably the second toughest series after Shire, a 1-arm back handspring to 2 layout step outs, and her whole routine is beautiful to watch.

 There are so many more great routines out there, but these are just a few that have caught my eye over the course of the season. Here are the current NCAA top 10 on beam (names crossed off are those who did not qualify):

BALANCE BEAM

Rank	First Name	Last Name	BB RQS	Team	Region	Ave	High
1	Hollie	Vise	9.930	Oklahoma, U. of	SC	9.865	9.950
2	Casey Jo	Magee	9.925	Arkansas, U. of	SC	9.860	9.950
-	Ashley	Priess	9.925	Alabama, U. of	C	9.898	9.950
4	Grace	Taylor	9.920	Georgia, U. of	SE	9.804	10.000
-	Sarah	Shire	9.920	Missouri, U. of	SC	9.890	9.950
-	Vanessa	Zamarripa	9.920	UCLA	W	9.885	9.975
7	Megan	Ferguson	9.910	Oklahoma, U. of	SC	9.852	9.950
8	Kristin	Smith	9.900	Oklahoma, U. of	SC	9.777	9.950
9	Carly	Janiga	9.895	Stanford Univ.	W	9.823	9.950
10	Laura-Ann	Chong	9.890	Oregon State	W	9.815	9.950
-	Brandi	Personett	9.890	Penn State	NE	9.750	9.950
-	Susan	Jackson	9.890	L.S.U.	C	9.846	9.900

To watch more of the best beam routines competed this college gymnastics season, click here

Who do you think will be this year's NCAA Champion on beam?