Passion Blog #3 – Review of Week 6 in NCAA Gymnastics

This last week of college gymnastics included numerous key head-to-head challenges that undoubtedly expressed which teams are either gaining or losing momentum heading into the final stretch before postseason. For my team, this week was crucial in not only securing a top spot in the power rankings, but regaining our confidence and focus after a few rough weeks. Furthermore, the importance was exacerbated by the fact that we were facing the Michigan Wolverines at home, the defending BIG 10 champions and tentatively ranked 3rd best team in the country. While Michigan has historically demonstrated dominance in the BIG 10 and began the year with a 2-0 interconference record, my team knew that it was our meet to lose.

For our first time in the season, we finally had a meet where all are best guys would be able to compete together. It seemed as though that in every previous week, at least one of our best gymnasts was plagued with an illness or injury that either inhibited their performance or took them out entirely. Moreover, we understood that we needed to make a tactical adjustment in our routine difficulty as a team; the failures of the previous weeks conveyed to both ourselves and our coaching staff that the routines we were competing were simply too difficult. Quantitative analysis from our associate head coach revealed that even slight adjustments to some routine constructions could greatly minimize our risk for huge mistakes while still keeping our difficulty (maximum potential score) above that of most other collegiate teams. Thus, we were ready to take on Michigan as the most prepared and refined team we had been all season, eager for something to prove after a mid-season slump. While we certainly did not have the best meet, we still obtained a decisive victory over Michigan by a six-point margin (407.6 – 401.45). Much credit for our victory performance is due to our phenom sophomore Josh Karnes, who easily won the individual all-around competition for the day in addition to claiming multiple event titles. Even as Michigan’s performance in this dual meet was certainly not indicative of their typical team caliber, it further demonstrates the unpredictable nature of gymnastics as a sport. On any given day, even a competition between two teams that are not so evenly matched can go either way depending on who performs and who doesn’t.

On the other side of the BIG Ten, the Ohio State Buckeyes also pulled out an upset at home against the Illini after a disappointing loss on the road to Michigan the previous week . Despite being down over 8 points at the halfway mark of the competition, the Buckeyes were able to put up nearly flawless high bar and parallel bars rotations. Ironically enough, the Buckeye gymnast that secured the win as the last high bar competitor, Kazuki Hayashi, is a friend of mine who actually went to my high school and trained at my club gym. His sky high releases and impeccable form certainly had the crowd on their feet at the Covelli Center in Columbus.

The last notable competition of the week was a tri-meet matchup between Stanford, Oklahoma, and William and Mary in Norman. In possibly the biggest surprise this season, the 3x national champion Stanford Cardinals were defeated by the Sooners in a high scoring matchup that finished with the Sooners on top by over 5 points. As characteristic for Oklahoma, their performance consisted of strong, steady performances across the board with little to no falters. Thus, despite the fact that Stanford has significantly more talent and harder routines on paper, their underwhelming performance showed that they are in fact beatable. Stanford will look to rebound from this loss and come back to full strength for the post-season where they will hopefully have additional help from World Championship team members Brody Malone and Colt Walker, both of which have yet to compete this season to rest and recover from nagging injuries.