NCAA Snapshot Week 5

Khalen Curry of California competes at Stanford (photo by me)

The View From My Couch

For the second week in a row, Illinois pulled off an upset win, this time over Michigan (which this time had the aid of Paul Juda and Fred Richard). The Illini came into the meet with at least a 7 point deficit in difficulty (Illinois totalled 153 in total D score to Michigan’s 160.1), but pulled out a 413.8 to 410.35 victory, with an average E score of 8.69, right behind Oklahoma for the second highest execution average so far this season. The Illini established their lead right out from the start on floor exercise. Michigan had an over 5 point difficulty advantage over Illinois on the last two events (including the HB triple threat of Crew Bold, Fred Richard, and Paul Juda), but were not able to capitalize on this advantage, while Illinois hit routine after routine.

Full replay of Michigan @ Illinois

Stanford narrowly defeated California 392.85 to 391.85. They ended up with about equal difficulty. Stanford rested Asher Hong, Khoi Young, and Colt Walker, and give freshmen a chance to join the lineup. The combination of lower difficulty and some unusual errors on Stanford’s part allowed the Bears to take the lead up until the last three routines, where an error on horizontal bar enabled Stanford to pull ahead at the end. It was an exciting meet to watch, despite - or perhaps because of some unusual gymnastics. Full disclosure: I’m a Cal Bear. For about 5 minutes it felt like the old days, when Cal and Stanford were closely matched and Cal beat Stanford on a regular basis (and no, this was not during WWll). California does what it can with the resources it has. The team was marked from destruction in 2011, but was reinstated based on donor funding, which still constitutes much of its support.

Full replay of California @ Stanford

Oklahoma defeated Ohio State and Arizona state, which was probably the expected result. The big news from that meet was Oklahoma setting an attendance record of with 2,0ll fans. This is a respectable number for any non revenue sport. Cleveland Cubs night is always well attended. Oklahoma has a longstanding relationship with Cleveland elementary school, where the Oklahoma gymnasts do gymnastics demonstrations and volunteer. The meet also featured exotic animals for kids to pet.

I was not there in person, but from the sound of the broadcast the crowd had a big response for the floor routine from Jackson Harrison of Arizona State, particularly for their transitions and personal touch.

Post coming soon putting the Oklahoma attendance numbers in perspective.

Full replay of Ohio and ASU @ Oklahoma

Cleveland Cubs night (mine from a few years ago)/Oklahoma Twitter

Greenville set another program record with a score of 392.95. Simpson also set a program recordof 376.5 in the same meet. Greenville is one of the execution leaders so far this season, with two team average E scores in the top 10 so far this season. In this meet the Greenville average E score per routine was 8.662 (Illinois had an average of 8.69 to defeat Michigan last weekend).

There is much more to explore - here are all the resources you need to know what happened in week 5

For rankings, results, and videos Roadtonationals

Media Reports (will add more links as they become available) - Neutral Deductions

School reports - Army , California, Greenville, Illinois, Michigan, Navy, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Simpson, Stanford

Full replays of meets

Penn State @ Nebraska

Army @ Navy

Greenville @ Simpson

Quick Hits

The Stanford score indicates nothing about how they will perform in any meet where they compete optimal lineups. Last weekend they ended up with a total team D score of 148.5 (as opposed to their usual mid 160s). I expect them to be pushing 170 by the time the post season comes around.

Brandon Dang of Illinois achieved his highest pommel score of the season (15.2), with a lowered D score of 6.1 (he competed 6.5 earlier this season). Balancing difficulty and execution is like sharpening a pencil - not sharp enough and it won’t write, too sharp and the pencil breaks. Not enough difficulty and you can’t compete. Too much - major errors.

Keep your eye on Nebraska.

15 + Club

Brandon Dang (Illinois) PH - 6.1/15.2
Max Bereznev (Oklahoma) VT - 5.3/15
Zach Snyder (Ohio State) VT - 5.3/15

80 + AA

Paul Juda (Michigan) - 82.8
Sam Phillips (Nebraska) - 80.5
Colin Flores (Oklahoma) - 80.3

Routines with D scores high enough to have made 2023 World Championship Event finals.

Javier Alfonso (Michigan) SR - 6/14.3
Ashton Anaya (Illinois) SR - 5.8/14.4
Mark Berlaga (Stanford) SR - 6/14.55
Taylor Burkhart (Stanford) HB - 5.6/13.75
Crew Bold (Michigan) HB - 5.6/13.75
Brandon Dang (Illinois) PH - 6.1/15.2
Emre Dodanli (Oklahoma) HB - 5.4/12.75
Jack Freeman (Oklahoma) HB - 5.5/13
Josh Karnes (Penn State) PB - 6/14.55
Josh Karnes (Penn State) HB - 5.4/14.05
Connor McCool (Illinois) FX - 6/14.55
Fred Richard (Michigan) HB - 5.7/14.9
Caden Spencer (Ohio State) HB - 5.7/14.3
Ignacio Yockers (Oklahoma) PH - 6.5/14.7

Check out the charts below for a snapshot of last weekend’s meets. Home scores are in red. Stick bonus is included in the D score. Neutral deductions are included in the E score.

For the purposes of the snapshots, I disregarded the 1 point neutral deduction incurred by Greenville for an injury substitution. These are meant to be a picture of the gymnastics that happened, not an official document.

Free advice from an old lady

NCAA Snapshot Week 4