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Gymnastics Outlook

Does anyone really go to Gymnastics in Boise?  Well an average 1850 people came to the three gymnastics matches at the X last year.   This year BSU has five matches at the X and they are against the new MWC teams (and one old one) and other big names like: Iowa State and Minnesota.

Why should I go:

BSU has two amazing Gymnasts in Emily Lopez and Courtney Blackson.  Each scored a perfect 10 last season in one event.  Each are fully capable of scoring TENs in more than one event this year.  While the team did not make the finals last season,   Both went to the finals and Courtney came in first runner up on the vault.  Pretty cool.

The second tier of gymnasts (but not too far from perfect)include:  Both of the above in other events, plus Emma Loyim , Adriana Popp and Alyssa Vulaj.  Each of these players have scored 9.95 on various events over the last two years.

We have several solid performers including Kylee Hamby (bars), Brantley Lucas (Floor) and Elaina McGovern (Floor and Bars) that could break out with solid 9.90 scores this year.  There are several others that are just on the verge of making the team really solid against the best competition.  Plus, a selection of Freshmen that have worked hard making the team.

Outlook:  Will we beat Utah?  If there is a year to do it, it is this year.  Utah has been a top five team for 30 years.  They have some of the best gymnasts in the nation. Most years, BSU has no conceivable chance, but UofU fired their head coach.  Who knows what they can do with an interim coach?  Probably pretty good.

We start against UofU then we have matches against the MWC teams (USU, AFA, SJSU).  We also have matches against our other mountain-pacific area teams.

I think our team will do better than the past two years due to more experience on the team.  We should take the MWC championship.  Then we will see if we advance.

Go Broncos.

 

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I watched the team scrimmage last week and came away thinking the team had quite a bit of work to do to be ready for the start in ten days.  Even our top performers from last year had a lot of hiccups in their routine.

I did notice that we had one or two freshmen that could compete this year.  I didn't notice their names and the scores were not posted since it was exhibition.

I also noticed that Blake Pascal had a good floor routine.  She did not compete last year, but was solid the year before.

Long story short, I expect that the team will start pretty slowly, but likely end up in the top 25.

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Thank you for the gymnastics review.  I wish I was still local and could attend some of the meets.  Fun times!

I watched the Utah meet and as a team, there is so much to improve.  The judges were leaning to Utah in many performances.  It is one reason that scores at home don't mean as much as road scores.

We scored a 48.825 on the Vault.  It should have been a bit more like 49.000.  We had some inexperience girls on that event, but they still gave us reasonably good scores.  However, our experienced girls should have scored higher.  I think judges were a bit harsh and then we a few steps on the landing, etc.

Bars - was really concerning.  We had two freshmen that were in the line up.  I would have hoped they both could hit a 9.75, but only one got close.  Our experienced girls were lacking due to falls and some bad landings.  This will have to improve drastically to win the MWC this year.  Our top bars performer had a flawless routine and only scored a 9.875.  She probably hasn't had a score that low in two years. (just guessing)

Beam - We didn't have a girl that fell on beam, but nobody scored 9.8 (the minimum for a "good"score).  The judges were harsh, but more concerning is that we have three girls that do triples on the beam.   These were 9.925s last year, but nobody scored higher than a 9.775 of those girls.  So much to improve.  The funny thing is that Utah had four girls that scored higher than a 9.85 including one 10.  They were really good, but not great.  Whatever.  Sometimes reputation means more than a really excellent routine.

Lastly, Floor - We had better floor performances including four girls with 9.80 or higher.  But we need more consistency with our upperclassmen.  Our seniors need to lead the team in the gym to get the routines lock step.  On the floor we have the same girls as last year and they scored much better last year.

It is the first meet and it seems like the judges are very harsh on BSU for the month of January.  Also, Utah has athletes that are taken from the top programs in the nation.  Their freshmen are usually 9.85 performers.  And our team's talent is developed over time.

Tomorrow will be another tough meet with four teams in a quad match.

 

 

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The quad meet on 12 Jan 24 was a tale of goods and not so goods.

The really good is that the team put on a really good performance beating Nebraska and North Carolina quite solidly. But the bad would be letting a substantial lead against #24 Arizona evaporate in the last event.

It started out very good on bars.  Our freshmen were solid and the seniors were good, which led BSU to a commanding lead after one event.

Then came a substandard performance on the beam.  Adriana Popp led the team with an 9.85, which should have scored a 9.9.  But our other really good performers lightened up their routines, which seemed strange.  The veterans of a really good beam team combined with two new comers gave a lackluster performance on that event.

On floor, the team was unstoppable.  Loyim soared with a 9.95 performance.  Blackson 9.9, and everyone else came in higher than a 9.825.  It was one of the best events I have ever seen.  And BSU was primed to win the entire meet.

But vault was a different story. Our best vault performer and first runner-up in the nationals last year, again lightened up her routine.  Last year she scored a 10 on vault, but last night she scored a 9.675.  This doesn't make sense.  This was after Lopez, another solid vault performer, scored a low score.

So BSU lost the commanding lead on the last event with Arizona winning by .225 of a point.  It seems to be a small margin, but it is significant

The silver lining is that BSU scored a 196.475 in the second meet.  This is very high for BSU at this point of the year.  For several reasons, BSU has been a slow starter since I have been watching (about 15 years).  Topping 197 is an indicator of a very good performance and this was a good sign.

Next week, BSU will be at home for a quad meet.  I am looking forward to the competition.

 

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Strange goings on.

A week ago, we lost 1/3rd of the match due to a bad vault performance.  This week's vault was about the same, but the two seniors had better scores.  This is what we should expect this early, but the vault team has to get better to win key matches down the stretch.

A week ago the team really shined on the parallel bars.  But on Friday, two of our girls fell, which really took our score down.  The seniors, again upped their game to keep from getting further behind.

Beam scores a week ago were quite low considering the talent we have on the beam this year. But on Friday, the girls were solid.  Including 9.995 for both Emma Loyim and Emily Lopez.  This was good to see.

Last week the floor was as good as they could be.  But this week, after three really good performances, the rest of the scores were pretty low.  In fact the three top scorers from last week were stuck in the middle of the pack this week.

So in order to get better team scores, BSU needs to find consistency and the seniors need to lead the way in all the events they do.

While this was a win, it was much closer than it should have been and it is a lower home score than that of last week.  So hopefully they can pull it together for the next match with Iowa at home.

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On Friday 2 February, BSU Gymnastics took on 19th ranked Iowa State.  During the warmups, I thought Iowa St might run away with this one.  But BSU kept up with them.

BSU started on the Vault, which has been off and on this season.  Adriana Pope and Emily Lopez led the way for the Broncos, but normally very good vaulters, Blackson and Vulaj turned in a sub par performance.  I was expecting to see the Iowa St. score be very high after their bars routine, but BSU had tied them at the end of the round.

Next came the bar even for BSU.  Of note was an old lady judge that gave BSU lower marks.  For example.  Emily Lopez had a great routine and received a 9.95 from one judge, the other judge gave her a 9.75.  Usually when the judges have this kind of disparity in their scores, they meet to discuss what they may have missed.  But the old lady, waived off the other judge and stuck with her score.  The average computed to a 9.85.  not a bad score, but certainly not the correct score.  But the rest of the team scored no less than 9.80.  This bumped BSU to a 0.050 lead.

Next came the balance beam. The bad thing is that the same old lady judge moved to the balance beam.  Normally high scorers with difficult routines included Emma Loyim, Emily Lopez and Adriana Popp.  They all scored 9.85 or above, but none scored higher than a 9.875.  Again this white haired old lady was knocking their scores down.  Again, fortunately BSU was able to have solid scores for remaining players, and advanced their lead while Iowa St. was on the floor.

Last, BSU began their floor routine.  Alissa Vulaj had a great routine going, but then stumbled a bit on one landing.  Leitch had a fall, but tried her best to pull it together.  After that, BSU rolled with above 9.825 for each player.  Topping it off was a 9.90 for McGovern and a 9.95 for Blackson.  Iowa St. had two falls on their beam and had to count one of them.  Final score 196.525 for BSU and 195.550 for Iowa St.

The goal by the end of the season will be for the team to get a few wins with score of 197.000 or higher.  It hasn't happened often but BSU has a pretty good team this year and the seniors are leading the group.

 

Go Broncos.

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A short update on BSU's Gymnastics team as of 26 Feb.

The meet on 23 Feb at Utah State was quite a success for the team.  It was the first time in several years that I recall that the team scored over 197.00, which is a benchmark for a really good team.

BSU started on Bars and BSU was really good with only one player getting below a 9.80.  That score was dropped so BSU scored a 49.400 in that event.  Very Solid!

Next cam the Beam and BSU was again very good with all players scoring over 9.8 except one.  Again that score was dropped so BSU scored a 49.325.

We were again solid on the Floor routine tallying another 49.325.

Lastly, on the Vault, we had one player fall, so we had to count a 9.775.  The event score was 48.975.

Our seniors really lead the way for most of the meet, but our underclassmen are finding their stride.

Needless to say, we beat USU, Iowa State (for the second time this year), and Texas Woman's College.

On Friday ,we have a quad meet with Washington, Minnesota and UC Davis at the X.

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