re: Remove

Speaking of the “legacy” routine that Gunter is doing, I really wish they’d chose Edney to do Lloimincia Hall’s 2014 floor routine. That is by far my favorite LSU floor routine.

Also, I wouldn’t get too bent outta shape regarding Johnson’s floor choreography and her being on all fours. Alicia Boren had similar choreography and brought home a national title for Florida. Boren’s routine was 9.9+ weekly. I have no doubt that Johnson will score in that range consistently.

WCGA Preseason Poll
1. Oklahoma (1813 points; 36 first-place votes)
2. LSU (1755 points; 11 first-place votes)
3. Florida (1680 points; 2 first-place votes)
4. UCLA (1671 points; 1 first-place vote)
5. Utah (1559 points)
6. Michigan (1515 points)
7. Denver (1493 points; 1 first place vote)
8. Georgia (1438 points)
9. California (1315 points)
10. Alabama (1306 points)
11. Oregon State (1271 points)
12. Kentucky (1240 points)
13. Auburn (1213 points)
14. Minnesota (1196 points)
15. Nebraska (1137 points)
16. Missouri (1000 points)
17. Washington (925 points)
18. Boise State (900 points)
19. Arkansas (798 points)
20. Iowa State (765 points)
21. Arizona State (749 points)
22. Stanford (746 points)
23. BYU (742 points)
24. Ohio State (654 points)
25. Penn State (638 points)

This seems like quite a stretch at this point unless they know more than we know at this time...

11 first place votes?

Way too high right now. Too many unknowns. We are leaning on true freshmen to provide big scores and kids are still not healthy. The juniors have to step up if we are to be in this spot.

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We know a lot about lsu , but whas going on with the other top programs? Big holes to fill in the lineups? injuries? Quality of new recruits?

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Florida returns pretty much everyone minus Borren. Their really good freshmen class is now a year older. They get Foberg back from injury. Florida was pretty much a top 5 team last year but choked during regionals. On paper they should be up there.

OU is number one because they are ridiculously consistent and clean. Losing Brenna Dowell is a big loss but they replace her with Ragan Smith who should be a big all arounder for OU with Nichols.

UCLA lost Ohashi, who was a scorer but that team is loaded with a lot of elites and return most of that team, including Ross.

Utah losing Skinner was a big blow to that program. One of their star freshmen recruits is out indefinitely with a knee injury too.


Not saying LSU won't end up in the top 4, I just think we have too many question marks early. Team score wise, the senior class has carried these scores the last few years.I believe Kiya by the end of the year will be putting up 9.9+ scorers on essentially all 4 events but I am going to be cautious with expectations for her early. Leaning heavily on a freshmen to do all around is a lot but she was the top JO recruit for a reason. Not only is Kiya doing AA but her routines are dramatically more difficult than the rest of the team minus bars. Kai is probably the X factor for this team outside of Kiya, what she can bring to this team score wise on vault, bars, and floor could be a game changer but her staying healthy is the main concern. I think we can be very good but we need to get Desiderio, Ryan, and Alyona healthy as possible.

Jay Clark was the guest on Taylor and McKenna’s weekly Chalk Talk podcast. He talked a little about the team and how things are progressing. He did confirm that Caitlin Smith does indeed have a kneecap problem and that’s why she had surgery. I know some of posts mentioned what type of injury did she have.

Jay also mentioned that he is worried about depth on vault. He said they plan to have six 10.0 sv vaults. However, those are likely the only vaults that they may plan to use. Of course that’s barring injury or some other unforeseen circumstance. I’m hoping for the sake of the team that Nibbs, Ryan, or even Desiderio at this point can offer some type of relief at some of the meets.

Jay also noted that beam is the team’s strongest event right now. They are hoping to get Alyona in the lineup at some point. Makes me wonder about Kai making the final lineup. The only person I can see losing their spot is Dean because of her leaps and bent knees.

Jay also questioned the “personality” of the team and if they’d have that killer instinct. Seems like it’s too early to determine exactly what kind of team they really have. Hopefully the picture will become clearer once more athletes get healthier.

Just got done watching the Meet the Bruins intrasquad. UCLA will be strong once again on bars and beam. Ross has an upgraded bars routine, and she overcast twice on her handstands. I don’t expect those mistakes anymore from her. The choreography on beam keeps getting better each year. They had some slow connections. Some of the connections were unusual but I enjoyed the variety, especially since everyone on bars does a DLO dismount. Floor will be strong again this year...though they will definitely miss Ohashi. They went with themed inspired leotards. Some of the leos were hideous, but at least they tried something different. I think they had four 9.9+ routines on floor. Overall nothing was super spectacular. But I do expect them to contend for a title this year.

In comparison to LSU at this point in preseason, I would give UCLA a slight edge, mainly due to depth on vault. Bars, beam, and floor are pretty much even if you only count the top five scores.

Re Utah, their freshmen class is absolutely killer and can go toe to toe with ours. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of polish and cleanliness that Utah showcased on beam and floor.

Re UCLA, some of their routine compositions and skill selection almost seemed suicidal.

Ross' way too difficult bars with shaposh x 2, Flatley's FTDLO bars dismount, Frazier's front aerial + front full beam dismount.

Interesting to note that neither UCLA or Utah are going for the double salto last pass bonus, because they pretty much already build enough difficulty throughout the routine.

Meanwhile, DD at Gym 101 almost seemed obsessed with that new rule, insisting that all of our lineup finish with a double salto. Not sure if that will backfire in the long run.

Also, big-name gymnasts like O'Keefe and Kocian are doing two-pass routines, maximising on their beautiful leaps instead. OK does this a lot too. Perhaps we should explore this approach for someone like Desiderio, who struggles with doing three passes.

Also, I thought the commentating and video quality was really bad at UCLA compared to Utah. Janay Honest didn’t know many of the skill names. I found that troubling as she is a former gymnast. She kept saying ‘jump’ or ‘turn’. I was getting so irritated. UCLA should have brought Amanda Borden in to do the commentating like she did at Utah the previous night.

I really hate two pass floor routines. I think one pass should be an E, and if not the routine should start from 9.9

Livvy Dunne competed this weekend. She got a 9.4 on bars and a 9.625 on beam. This was good enough for second on both events in her division.

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Livvy Dunne competed this weekend. She got a 9.4 on bars and a 9.625 on beam. This was good enough for second on both events in her division.

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She did 2 events as a precautionary. Her beam was great, she had one little mistake on bars. She will do really well with NCAA level routines. Her main focus this season is getting fully healthy and getting ready for LSU with her routines.

I do think Haleigh Bryant is sure bet to do AA next year after Edney leaves. Her difficulty and execution across all 4 events is superb.

Good news for LSU is we got some big vaulters and bar workers on the way so depth will be dramatically better next year across all 4 events. Our walk on's Brock and Rau are bringing in big 1 1/2' on vault.