The season is rapidly approaching and teams are finalizing their preparations for the season. Many teams have held intrasquad meets, scrimmages and exhibitions in preparation for the season. Some are posting video highlights or complete coverage online. Here's a collection of what's available online this season:
The L10 season is underway and early season scores are trickling in. We will post links to meet scores as they become available. Watch for your favorite recruits and recruitables throughout the season by clicking the RESULTS tab at the top of the site's home page.
UCLA edged Bama for the top spot in the 2012 Preseason Coaches' Poll, as compiled by Troester GymInfo. Defending champ Bama earned 17 first place votes, but was outpointed overall by six points by UCLA. In third is Florida, with 8 first place votes, the same as UCLA. OU is fourth with a pair of first place votes, followed by Utah, with one first place vote.
All through the off season, the teams have been training and preparing for their shot at a trip to Georgia for the NCAA Nationals. Here's a quick look at the teams, as we head into the final preperations before the start of the season.
Last season Bama entered the campaign needing to replace 10 routines from some key veteran champion athletes. But, bouyed by one of the top recruiting classes in the country, Bama finished the season on top, winning yet another National Championship. Could they repeat? They certainly have the firepower. They lose just four routines from last year (from star Kayla Hoffman) but have a strong incoming class that features three elites, including one former World Champion Kayla Williams.
However, a host of old and new challengers for the title are back and ready to take on the Tide. Last year's runnerup UCLA is back and potentially stronger, with the return of star Vanessa Zamarripa and a standout frosh class that includes National Team members Mattie Larson and Cassie Whitcomb. NCAA BB champ Samantha Peszek and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs lead a strong and deep veteran core.
Only a select few teams have ever won a National Title: Bama, UCLA, UGA and Utah. Could another team join that club? Florida boasts another strong class of frosh, and will use the added strength while seeking to bolster their consistency. Beam was a problem area last year and they'll look to build a strong lineup on the event. OU's well-coached crew maximizes their potential on each event. The experienced core is looking strong, led by Megan Ferguson, Natasha Kelley and Kayla Nowak, but they may need to boost their dynamics on VT and FX to maximize their chances. This could come from their frosh, especially Erica Brewer and elite Rebecca Clark.
Utah has a large incoming class of L10s and former elites, let by potential standout Georgia Dabritz. The Utes will also get back the services of Kyndal Robarts. These additions should give an "end of the lineup" boost and added difficulty on VT and FX, while providing for a very deep lineup. A number of other teams will be making a run for the Super Six this season, but first, all the teams will have to try to earn one of 12 spots at Nationals.
Overall, the frosh have a huge potential to boost various teams into National meet contention. We'll see teams that finished outside the Top 18 last season being now able to push the returning teams for a spot at Nationals. In all likelihood, at the end of the season we may have at least 20 programs in contention for the 12 spots at the National meet. We'll have our ranking of incoming classes published later this month. The final ranking will be a tough decision, with many excellent and impactful recruiting classse in the mix. A full list of the newcomers is posted here. .
This season is unusual in the number of high level US and foreign elites entering school this season. This bumper crop of talent is usually seen in a post-Olympic year. Other elite standouts (on other squads) include National Team members Ivana Hong and Samantha Shapiro at Stanford, Chelsea Davis at UGA and Jessie DeZiel at Nebraska. The class also includes former VISA Championships senior international elite qualifiers Rheagan Courville at LSU, Annette Miele at Michigan, Jackie McCartin at Washington, and Morgan Steigerwalt at ASU. Foreign elites (like Emma Willis at Iowa), former junior international elites (like Randi Lau at LSU) and top L10s (like '11 Sr D co-champ Allison Flores at Arizona) should also make a big impact. Add to this rising talents in the L10 ranks and improvements among the returning veterans and most teams will feature improved squads this season.
Last season, we saw a number of nail-biting finishes at Regionals. Traditional powers like Florida and Utah saw strong challenges in their Regions, and the Tuscaloosa Regional saw just 0.65 separate 2nd from last. The increasing parity is partially due to a rising pool of talent, a higher level of coaching talent, and a relatively static NCAA code (by which routines are evaluated). This combination creates the potential that at least one of the preseason Top 12, and possibly a traditional top qualifier, will once again not be qualifying to Nationals. Last season, Stanford went from Super Six to the sidelines, and in prior seasons, both UGA and UCLA missed the National meet.
The tables below are as complete as we know at this point in the season. (Click the links to be taken to the full charts). The tables will be updated as the season gets closer and new information becomes available.
Illinois' Paul Ruggeri won the gold medal on HB at the Pan Games as competition concluded in the event finals.
Other results for NCAA related athletes:
Men's VT: Ruggeri, 6th
BB: Kristina Vaculik, Stanford, 2nd
PB: Ruggeri and Luis Vargas, ex PSU, tied for Silver. Sho Nakamori, ex Stanford, 8th
Women's FX: Vaculik, Stanford, 4th; Jessie DeZiel, NU, 6th
HB: CJ Maestas, Illinois, 7th
Link: Live Results
The Pan Am Games Event Finals, Day 1, brought a series of medals for NCAA related athletes. UGA commit Brandie Jay won the VT gold, while UF commit Bridgette Caquatto won the UB title. UCLA signee Christine "Peng Peng" Lee was fifth on UB.
On the men's side, former Ohio State star Brandon Wynn won the Ring title, defeating the newly crowned World Silver Medalist. Illinois' CJ Maestas was third. Illini teammates Tyler Mizoguchi and Paul Ruggeri placed 7th and 8th, respectively, on FX. PSU alum Tommy Ramos was fourth on Rings.
Link: Women's Results and Men's Results
Illini CJ Maestas placed fourth AA in the Men's AA Final at the Pan Am Games. Former Ohio State star Brandon Wynn was 8th. Columbia's Josimar Orlando Calvo won the gold.
Link: Results
Florida commit Bridgette Caquatto won the gold medal at the Pan Am Games on Wednesday. Stanford's Kristina Vaculik, representing Canada, won the Bronze. UCLA signee Christine "Peng Peng" Lee of Canada was fourth while UGA commit Brandie Jay was sixth.
Link: Results
The US Men's squad won the Bronze medal at the Pan Am Games. Brazil took first and Puerto Rico 2nd. The squad featured a number of current and former NCAAers, including captain Brandon Wynn (formerly of Ohio State). The others include Cal's Donathan Bailey, Illinois' CJ Maestas, Stanford grad Sho Nakamori, Illinois' Tyler Mizoguchi, and former Illini Paul Ruggeri. Maestas qualified to the AA final with a 9th place finish, while Wynn qualified in 20th. For the individual event finals, Bailey qualified on FX while Maestas and Wynn qualified on Rings. Maestas will also compete on HB while Nakamori made the PB final. Ruggeri qualified in the top spot on HB, and made the final in PB and VT as well.
Former PSU star and NCAA champ Luis Vargas qualified in third to the AA final, and made finals on the PH. Another former PSU gymnast, Tommy Ramos, qualified to the Ring final.
Link: Results
The US team, led NU frosh Jessie DeZiel, won the gold medal at the Pan Am Games. DeZiel led the US squad on all three events she competed. Florida commit Bridgette Caquatto led the squad on UB and was the top AAer in fourth. UGA commit Brandie Jay was 5th AA, while UF commit Bridget Sloan competed on UB and FX only. Canada, using much of the World Championship squad, came in second, paced by UCLA signee Christine "Peng Peng" Lee. The lead AA qualifier was Guatemala's new young standout Ana Sofia Gomez Porras, followed by Lee and then Stanford's Kristina Vaculik (of Canada).
Jay also qualified to the VT finals, and Caquatto to the UB finals, while DeZiel qualified on FX (no 2nd vault).
Link: Results
Yale has hire Jason Vonk as an assistant, according to a school release. He's spent the last six years as program director and owner of Stars National Gymnastics Village in Colorado.
Link: Yale Release
Florida commit Aly Raisman won the bronze on the FX as the world championships concluded. She also placed 4th on the BB, while teammate Jordyn Wieber won the bronze on BB. For the US men, Danell Leyva won the gold medal on the PB.
The other men's event champions included Yang Hak Seon of Korea on the Men's vault and China's Zou Kai on the HB. For the women, China's Sui Lu won the BB and Russia's Ksenia Afanaseva won the FX.
McKayla Maroney of the US won the world title on the vault as the first day of event finals. Former OU Sooner Steven Legendre finished 5th on FX while current Sooner Jake Dalton was 8th. On Rings, former OU star Jonathan Horton was 7th.
The other event champions included Russia's Viktoria Komova on UB, Japan's Kohei Uchimura on FX, Hungary's Krisztian Berki on PH, and China's Chen Yibing on Rings. The finals conclude tomorrow.
Link: Men's Results and Women's Results and Universal TV Coverage
Kohei Uchimura of Japan won his third world title in a row, an unprecedented feat. His margin of victory was over three points.
Link: Results