ASU at UCLA 1/20/02

by BruinsFan (UCLA portion) and Olin (ASU portion)

(Editor's Note:  First its Olin's turn on ASU:)

Well, we’ve heard about UCLA’s performance today, now here’s how the ASU Sun Devils looked.

First of all, this is the first time I’ve gotten the chance to see ASU in person, and I have to say that they have some of the best floor routines I have ever seen. It was really nice to sit back and watch 12 well-composed, superbly choreographed floor routines from ASU and UCLA.

 ASU has a lot of good routines, and the addition of Laura Moon will only boost the team further. They had nice skills and great composition, they just had a lot of breaks on this particular night.

Also, really nice to hang out with Devil Momma and the entire ASU parental crew. I sat behind Maggie Germaine’s family, and I don’t think I got a chance to tell them how much I enjoyed their daughter’s performances. Maggie comes from Desert Lights gymnastics club, and her coaches did a nice job teaching her techniques that accommodate her 5’8” frame – especially on bars. Her lines are amazing, and her floor routine to “American Beauty” is my current NCAA 2002 favorite.

And, I promise, these good things aren’t just for the benefit of the parents on the board. ;-)  In terms of “needs improvement”, I just think ASU needs to get a few more meets under their belt – they’re a young team, and I think the mistakes they made were a combination of nerves and getting used to some new routines.

Okay, the good stuff:

Bars

Trisha Dixon – hecht mount + backuprise h.s with ½ pir. + overshoot (not to h.s.); double tuck flyaway with a step. 9.625 (10 SV)

Carla DeMartini – mount on LB with toe-shoot to HB; giant 1/1 + blind change + straddled Jaeger (leg separation on pirouettes); cast h.s. (short and didn’t go over the top for ½ pir., so swung down to ½ turn) to counterswing to straddle back (missed h.s.); toe-front tuck dismount (stuck). 9.650 (9.9 SV?)

Rhonda Robinette – straddle over mount; Tkatchev; two healys to straddle back h.s.; double tuck. 9.750

Kari Muth – really nice elements here; hecht mount; blind change + Endo circle with 1/1 turn; transition to Pak salto (can’t remember how), got a little crazy on LB, did switch-glide on LB to cover, but had to stop in a front support on LB before casting to squat on to HB; fall on double front dismount. 9.0

Maggie Germaine – Shaposhnikova; straddle back to handstand; backuprise h.s. + Tkatchev; giant 1/1 to double tuck flyaway. 9.75

Margaret Wojciak – straddle over mount + back uprise h.s.+ giant 1/1 + giant 1/1 (hop-1/1?) + Gienger (close and had to take an extra swing); back uprise h.s.; released early on double layout flyaway and took a large step forward. 9.425

Vault

Wojciak – tucked Phelps, step backward, 9.575

Cassidy Vreeke – Yurchenko layout; completely missed her hands off the front of the horse, managed a whippy salto, stumbles back on landing, 9.475

Dixon – Yurchenko layout; low landing with a heavy step forward, 9.525

Melissa Lewis – handspring front tuck; stumbles backward, 9.375

Jada Cox – tucked Phelps; large step forward, 9.650

Germaine – Hristakieva; nice position, but sat on the landing, 9.250

Floor

DeMartini – 1) RO + whip-1/2 + front-1/1 2) handspring + front layout + front layout 3) RO + whip-1/2 + barani; really nice dance, great music, sort of rhythmic, western-style music?  I’m curious what the name of it is (hint hint). 9.775

Muth – 1) RO + ff + double tuck 2) RO + whip-1/2 + barani 3) “front-1/2” (not sure what that was); sort of big-band style, really played to the crowd. 9.825

Vreeke – 1) RO + ff + full-twisting double tuck (step out of bounds) 2) RO + whip + ff + double tuck 3) RO + ff + back 1.5 twist (step out of bounds); Spanish music, big improvement over last year’s routine, IMO. She’s another very artistic dancer, well done. 9.675

Germaine – 1) RO + whip + ff + double pike 2) front handspring + front layout + front tuck 3) front handspring + front layout-1/1; Medley from “American Beauty”, fantastic choreography, the routine really suits her. 9.875

Ashley Ellsberry – 1) RO + ff + double tuck 2) RO + ff + back 2.5 twist 3) front tuck + RO + back tuck with 1.5 twists + front tuck; another well-choreographed routine to Russian-style music (I think). 9.875

Dixon – the announcer said she scratched, no idea why, she marched over to beam and warmed up with the team

Beam

Dixon – switch leap + gainer layout; ff + layout; wolf + split-1/1 (big wobble); RO + 1.5 twist dismount. 9.700

Wojciak – ff + layout + layout (fall); beat jump + split ¾; wolf + back dive-1/4; RO + 1/1 dismount. 9.075

Ellsberry – ff + layout + ff (nice); switch leap (pause) + back tuck (fall); wolf-1/1; RO + double tuck (one step forward). 9.300

Muth – illusion turn; gainer ff + ff + layout (step forward, nice save); switch leap + ff; cartwheel + gainer 1/1 off side. 9.625

Robinette – press handstand to planche; illusion turn (fall); ff + layout + layout (wobble); split-1/1; cat leap + aerial cartwheel; split jump + straddle jump; ff + layout + 1/1 off end (great dismount). 9.350

Germaine – ff + layout + layout (fall); switch leap + wolf; split-1/1; cartwheel + gainer 1/1 off side. 9.325

All in all, I think the meet was actually judged pretty fairly. UCLA looked pretty sluggish today, and everyone struggled on vault. UCLA’s floor routines are amazing as always, and I saw no “NCAA deductions” in Dantzscher’s floor routine.

Alyssa has a beautiful voice. Wonderful job with the National Anthem!

(Editor's Note:  Now's its BruinsFan turn on UCLA)

 Vault

Michelle Conway - Hristakieva - bent knees at the end, stumbled backwards (9.475)

Malia Jones - Malia has successfully made the switch from handsprings to Yurchenkos. Yurchenko-layout - nice body position, hop back (9.575)

Yvonne Tousek - Hristakieva - sat down (9.275)

Onnie Willis - Yurchenko-full - powerful, close to a stick (9.9)

Kristin Parker - piked barani - awkward landing, chest low, knees kind of straight, step forward (9.625)

Jamie Dantzscher - Yurchenko-full - beautiful, hop back (9.925)

Natasha Desai (exhibition) - handspring-1 1/2 - similar to Friday night, turned around for the double and sat down

Bars

Kristin Parker - hecht vault mount-uprise HS-Tkatchev; blind change-piked Jaegar-overshoot; double layout (fought for the stick) (9.8)

Malia Jones - straddle over; blind change-Jaegar-cast 1/2-straddle back HS; double layout Beautiful routine. She hit her handstands, nice body position on dismount with the tiniest of hops back. (9.85)

Yvonne Tousek - straddle over; Kim pirouette-piked Jaegar! (She hit her heels on the Jaegar before her hands caught and somehow managed to stay on); Pak salto; double layout (slight pike) Because of the Jaegar, she left out the Hindorff that she warmed up. (9.325)

Onnie Willis - jump to HB; blind change-front full pirouette-Tkatchev-straddle back HS-toe shoot to HB (this sequence was beautiful, pirouettes were right on top); slightly short on last cast HS; double front-1/2 (step back) (9.85)

Jamie Dantzscher - Shaposhnikova-Pak salto; toe shoot to HB (she's kipping out of this now instead of uprising); toe-on toe-off to Gienger (came in close, bent arms on regrasp, tucked her knees a little casting out of this one); full-in (9.75 - maybe a little big high)

Doni Thompson - straddle over; giant full-Tkatchev-full turn-straddle back HS; full-in (9.8)  Her only deduction was a small hop on the landing.

Beam

Doni Thompson - ff-ff-layout (small step back); switch leap (small break), straddle jump-straddle jump; cat leap-front handspring stepout; solid wolf-3/4; gainer front-full off the side (9.75)

Jamie Dantzscher - ff-ff-layout (off to the side but nice save); straddle jump-straddle jump; punch front; wolf jump (break); beat jump-Korbut; ff-gainer-1 1/2 twist off the end (stuck)  (9.625)  It was nice to see her save the series and then not panic with the front combination and keep on going.

Kristin Parker - switch leap-gainer layout; ff-layout; sissone-cartwheel; 3 straddle jumps; gainer-full off the side (small step back) (9.825)

Yvonne Tousek - ff-layout-ff; straddle jump (break) straddle jump-tuck jump; wolf jump-Chen; she turned sideways as if she was going to do the Tousek that she warmed up but just did a few hand movements instead; RO-double twist (stuck) (9.725)

Onnie Willis - She's now tucking her front mount (had to grab the beam to save it); stopped between her pike jump and piked Shushunova; switch leap-switch side leap; punch front; ff-ff-double tuck (step back) (9.575 - too high IMO)

Alyssa Beckerman - full turn with leg horizontal-wolf jump; front aerial-ff; ring leap (break); then did another one but without the head back into a tuck jump; break on full turn in Y-scale; cartwheel-gainer full off the side (9.575 out of 9.9 SV)  She also warmed up a great front mount to beat jump.

Michelle Conway (exhibition) - only did two flairs as a mount this time; illusion (nice); ff-layout (a little off); double turn (fall); switch leap-wolf jump; front full dismount

Floor

Michelle Conway - double pike; two illusions in a row; front full-front pike; triple turn (slightly short); double tuck (way short) (9.625)

Christy Erickson - double pike; 1 1/2 twist-punch front; wolf-1 1/2; double twist (9.575 out of 9.8 SV) Nice job, again!

Kristin Parker - Arabian double front (a little bit of an awkward step); RO-whip 1/2 stepout-RO-layout stepout; Johnson-Popa-wolf full; double pike (9.85)

Yvonne Tousek - I really like this new routine, it's very dramatic; triple twist; 2 1/2 twist-punch front; outside double turn-Popa; whip-1 1/2 twist-punch front (a little cowboyed, step back) (9.825)

Onnie Willis - tucked front-full through to double tuck. came right back with RO-1 1/2 twist-RO-double stag jump-punch front; Johnson-Popa-Shushunova; double tuck (9.975)  Typical Onnie routine, lots of fun.

Jamie Dantzscher - double layout; RO-1 1/2 twist-barani-full twist-layout stepout; Johnson-Shushunova; Popa-wolf full; double tuck (10.0)  Again, just perfect. Absolutely amazing routine.