Recapping The Action: NCAA Gymnastics Week 5

Recapping The Action: NCAA Gymnastics Week 5

Oklahoma's Maggie Nichols nabbed a perfect 10 on balance beam while Kiana Winston was perfect on floor for Alabama in Week 5 NCAA gymnastics action.

Feb 7, 2017 by Lauren Green
Recapping The Action: NCAA Gymnastics Week 5
Catch up on all the highlights from Week 5 of the NCAA women's gymnastics season, including another 10.0 from Swaggie Maggie, Boise State making the climb and Kyla Ross' first appearance in the all-around.

Perfection strikes again

Alabama junior Kiana Winston scored the first perfect 10 of her career on Friday night as the Crimson Tide hosted Florida. Winston had impeccable form on all three tumbling passes, including her opening double layout. Winston also showcases great flexibility, extension and amplitude on her leaps and jumps.

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The 10.0 clinched the meet for sixth-ranked Alabama. It marked the third perfect score on floor exercise this season.

Maggie Nichols grabbed her second career 10.0, this time on balance beam when Oklahoma hosted a quad meet on Friday night. The Sooners freshman was solid on all of her skills and stuck her double back dismount to garner the first perfect score in the nation on beam.

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Nichols is halfway to a "gym slam" -- a perfect score on all four events with a 10.0 on vault earlier this season. The freshman is still looking for her first career 10.0s on floor exercise and uneven bars. She has come agonizingly close with a 9.975 at least once this season. She has not scored below a 9.900 on any event this season.

Injuries nag trio of teams

The injury bug bit again as California standout Toni-Ann Williams tore her Achilles tendon on Tuesday during practice. Williams has been a mainstay in the uneven bars, vault and floor lineups for the Bears this season. She scored at least a 9.9 in three of four floor routines this season and did not score below a 9.750 on any event this season.

Utah freshman Kim Tessen was confirmed out with an Achilles tear this week as well. Tessen suffered the injury in warmups a week ago when the Red Rocks faced Washington. It is the second season-ending injury for Utah this season. Sophomore Sabrina Schwab went down earlier this season with a torn ACL.

Georgia's Sydney Snead and LSU's McKenna Kelley both missed their teams' meets this weekend with back injuries. Snead was out of the lineup for the Gymdogs for the second straight weekend with a nagging back issue. Kelley missed the Tigers' battle against Missouri after suffering a back injury on vault last weekend. She expects to be back in the lineup in a couple of weeks.

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Boise State keeps climbing

The Broncos entered Friday night's meet tied with Southern Utah at No. 11 in the country. When all was said and done, Boise State hit the 197 mark for the first time this season and finished with a 197.025 total to rise to No. 8 in the country. The ranking sets a new program best.

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The Broncos got a huge uneven bars rotation with all six gymnasts hitting at least a 9.800 and scored an event total of 49.400. Sandra Collantes and Diana Mejia each hit a 9.900 to share the uneven bars title. After the impressive team performance on bars, Boise State is ranked fifth in the country on the apparatus.

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Shani Remme led Boise State with a win in the all-around, the balance beam title and a share of the floor exercise title.

The Broncos scored a 9.800 or better on all but four routines for the entire competition.

Utah, Michigan stumble on bars

While Boise State soared on bars, it was a rough weekend for two of the top 10 teams in the country on the event.

Utah struggled with landings in the first half of its uneven bars lineup on Saturday with the first three gymnasts -- Makenna Merrell, Missy Reinstadtler and MyKayla Skinner -- scoring a pair of 9.750s and a 9.800, respectively. Kari Lee overarched on a handstand at the top of her routine and had a scary moment on her dismount to take an 8.900. Senior Baely Rowe had an uncharacteristic slip on her bail as the anchor.

Tiffani Lewis notched what became the top bars score for the Red Rocks with a 9.850 in the fifth spot in the lineup.

Utah's team total of 48.425 is the lowest score on bars this season by seven-10ths of a point. It is the first time this season that Utah has slipped below the 49.0 mark on any event.

Michigan had an even rougher start on Sunday with falls in the first two spots in the lineup to open up the road contest against Maryland. Lexi Funk (8.950) and Emma McLean (7.200) came off the bars. The rest of the lineup hit a 9.775 or better, capped off with a 9.900 from Nicole Artz.

The Wolverines came back strong with big scores on balance beam and floor exercise. Talia Chiarelli had a meet-high 9.975 on floor exercise. Funk had a 9.925 on balance beam, while McLean had a 9.900 on vault and a 9.925 on floor exercise.

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Cardinal put it together

After struggling in the early meets this season, Stanford finally put together a complete meet on Sunday against Washington. While the Cardinal didn't put up huge scores, Stanford was not forced to count a fall on any event.

In its best event of the day, the Cardinal posted five scores of 9.750 or better on uneven bars, including a pair of 9.900s from Danielle and Nicolette McNair and a huge 9.950 from Elizabeth Price.

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The McNair twins struggled on balance beam, with Danielle coming off the beam for a 9.225 and Nicolette having a wobbly set for a 9.550. Despite the shaky balance beam rotation, the Cardinal came out on top with a solid floor lineup.

Split day for Kyla Ross in first all-around

Kyla Ross made her first appearance in the all-around for the Bruins on Saturday against Arizona State. Her day was split between near perfection on two events and struggles on two others.

After scoring a 10.0 on the uneven bars last weekend against Oregon State, the UCLA freshman came off the low bar on her bail on Saturday. Ross typically showcases beautiful handstands, but it looked like she was trying just a little bit too hard to hit a perfect one when she fell over the bar.

Ross roared back on vault with a near-perfect Yurchenko full. She had impeccable form in the air and stuck her landing to come away with a 9.925 and an individual win on vault.

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Ross made her debut in the floor exercise (as did Katelyn Ohashi) but didn't quite look ready to be put in the lineup. She showed a good landing on her opening whip to double tuck. But her second pass -- a double pike -- went out of bounds, and she sat down on the layout on the end of her combination pass to end the routine.

Again though, Ross rebounded with a near-perfect performance on the balance beam. Her lines on beam are beautiful, and she seems to have this routine down after some start-value issues earlier this season. She grabbed a 9.975 to win the event title on balance beam.

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Regional qualifying scores are right around the corner

As the season progresses, the rankings will take on a different form as regional qualifying scores (RQS) come into play. In the upcoming weeks, the weekly rankings will no longer be determined by averaging total scores. Instead, the top six totals will be taken with at least three scores coming from away meets. The top score gets thrown out, and the remaining five are averaged to get the regional qualifying score.

Because three scores must come from away meets, it becomes crucial for some teams to start hitting great scores on the road. A team like UCLA, which has already had three away meets, will be looking for one more strong score to add to its group of away scores since its top score currently comes on the road and would be knocked out of the five average scores.

A team like Michigan, which has also had three away meets, only has one more chance to drop a sub-196 mark from its away scores.