Recapping The Action: NCAA Gymnastics Week 10

Recapping The Action: NCAA Gymnastics Week 10

Catch up on the Week 10 action as the NCAA gymnastics regular season wraps up.

Mar 14, 2017 by Lauren Green
Recapping The Action: NCAA Gymnastics Week 10
Catch up on all of the action from the final week of regular season action, including four perfect 10s, some more regular season hardware, and a rough day for Stanford.

Perfection reigns again out West:

UCLA sophomore Katelyn Ohashi earned her second straight perfect 10 of the season on balance beam in Sunday's meet against North Carolina. Ohashi opted not to do the layout full in her acrobatic series and was actually better than last week's perfect score against California. Peng Peng Lee also picked up her second 10.0 of the year, again on the uneven bars.

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And then there were some firsts. Oregon State senior Kaytianna McMillan picked up a 10.0 of her own on Saturday night against Illinois-Chicago for a flawless performance on the uneven bars. Southern Utah's Stacie Webb added a 10.0 as well in Monday night's final meet at BYU. It was the first 10.0 in Southern Utah program history.

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Upset in Athens

The Georgia Gymdogs topped No. 5 Utah on Saturday afternoon after a huge floor rotation for Georgia. The Gymdogs put up a 49.600 on floor exercise to close out senior day with all six scores of 9.875 or better. GiGi Marino and Rachel Dickson were the highlights with matching 9.950s. Beam was tricky rotation for Georgia, as it has been all season, but the Gymdogs escaped without having to count of a major mistake.

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MyKayla Skinner's winning streak on vault and in the all-around came to an end as Utah teammate Kari Lee edged Skinner in the all-around. It was the first all-around competition for Lee since an Achilles tear sidelined her part way through the 2016 season.

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For a Utah squad that was hammered with two major injuries early in the season, it will definitely be a boost for the team heading into postseason. The Utes now head to the Pac-12 Championships on Saturday, March 18, as the No. 2 overall seed.

Oklahoma finishes undefeated

Oklahoma rounded out its season with a win at California. Maggie Nichols returned to the lineup on balance beam and competed on the uneven bars. Nichols has not competed in the all-around since Feb. 17. She's been nursing a bruised bone in her knee, and the Sooners are looking to have her back on vault and floor exercise for the postseason.

The Sooners had a solid, consistent meet with 49.425s on vault, bars and beam and a 49.525 on floor exercise. AJ Jackson's floor exercise was a definite highlight to close out Oklahoma's floor rotation with sky-high tumbling and great control on her landings.

UCLA: Still figuring out the vault lineup

The lineup for the Bruins on Sunday afternoon was missing one very familiar face as Madison Kocian was rested on all four events. Kocian's absence gave several other athletes the opportunity to fight for a place in the lineup. One of those openings was on vault where Napualani Hall competed her Yurchenko 1 1/2. The vault has not been consistent enough to break into the lineup, and Sunday's competition didn't do much to prove whether it should be or not. She put it to her feet though with a hop on the landing and some form deductions in the air. 

Vault has been the Bruins' weakest event this season, and some of that comes from not having enough 10.0 start value vaults to bring in the bigger numbers. Also factoring in are Madison Preston's and Angi Cipra's absences from the lineup for lengthy stretches. Finding the vault lineup that's just right will be a key in the postseason if the Bruins hope to claim the title.

Michigan, Nebraska tie for Big Ten regular season title

The Big Ten regular-season title was up for grabs over the weekend at the Big Five meets with top seeds Michigan and Nebraska battling it out in separate competitions. With both teams coming out on top, it was shared hardware for two of the country's top 10 teams.

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Michigan overcame falls from Nicole Artz (beam) and Olivia Karas (floor) to win the second Big Five meet convincingly with a 197.150 against Iowa, Penn State, Minnesota, and Rutgers. The Wolverines came away with individual wins as well: Karas on vault and Artz on floor.

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For Nebraska, it got a little bit dicey as the Huskers had two falls on balance beam in the final rotation. Forced to count one of those falls, Nebraska edged out Illinois by two-tenths to earn a 196.650. Nebraska earned individual titles as well with Ashley Lambert taking the vault title, Grace Williams winning on balance beam, and Jennie Laeng coming away with the all-around title. Laeng's all-around total of 39.400 set a new career high.

Stanford struggles continue

Stanford has struggled mightily this season with injuries and consistency. Sunday's quad meet against George Washington, North Carolina State, and Yale was unfortunately not an exception. The Cardinal put up their lowest team total since the opening week of the season with a 193.275 to finish fourth at the meet. Stanford was forced to count a fall on both the uneven bars and balance beam. Due to injuries, the Cardinal only put up five athletes on the uneven bars.

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Elizabeth Price has been a highlight for Stanford with an impressive 9.925 on the uneven bars. While the Cardinal have secured a place at the NCAA Regionals, it will be tough for them to advance unless they're able to get healthy and start hitting at the right moments.

George Washington had an excellent final meet with a 196.500. The Colonials were consistent on all four events and did not count a score below 9.725 on any event.

Conference Championship split sessions:

With several conference splitting up the postseason championships, here's a look at three of the major conferences and which teams are slated to compete in each session on Saturday. In both the SEC and the Pac-12, the seeding is based on how the teams finished in the regular season, with the top four teams heading to the night session.

In the Big Ten, seeding was determined at the Big Five meets. The top three teams from each of those meets will compete in the night session while the early session consists of the bottom four teams from the Big Five meets.

Early sessions:
Pac-12: California, Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford
Big Ten: Maryland, Rutgers, Michigan State, Minnesota
SEC: Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Auburn

Evening sessions:
Pac-12: UCLA, Utah, Oregon State, Washington
Big Ten: Ohio State, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan
SEC: LSU, Georgia, Alabama, Florida

On the bubble:

The top 31 teams have secured their places at the NCAA regionals with five spots still up for grabs. The conference championships this weekend are the last opportunity for these squads to make sure their seasons keep going.

The bubble teams: Penn State, North Carolina, Maryland, BYU, Central Michigan, Minnesota, and Western Michigan.

Three of those teams--Penn State, Maryland and Minnesota--will need great scores at the Big Ten Championships to claim a place at regionals. Western Michigan and Central Michigan go head to head at the MAC Championships while North Carolina will be fighting for another good score at the EAGL championships. BYU will be the last program to know its fate on Saturday night as the Cougars compete in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Championships.