The Men's Junior Olympic Nationals are underway with the first day of competition completed for the L10s and Junior Elites.
In the JE division (combined 17 and 18), Michigan signee Marvin Kimball posted the day's top score with a 91.9. Future teammate Dmitri Belanovski was 3rd (and first among 18 year olds), just ahead of Illinois signee Bobby Baker. Yul Moldauer was fourth and Stanford signee Robert Neff was fifith.
Link: USA Gymnastics
Link: Results
Rene Lyst has accepted the Head Coach position at ASU. Official Announcement
UNC has promoted assistant Amy Smith to Associate Head Coach.
Link: UNC Release
The Level 9 Nationals is split into two meets, with a Level 9 Eastern Meet (Region 5 to 8) and a Level 9 Western Meet (Regions 1 to 4). Pay attention to the top scorers in the junior ranks, and the NCAA and elite stars of the future may be lurking among the standout finishers. Excellent basics and strong technique yield the highest scores at Level 9, where the difficulty requirements are far less. But, the cream of the crop begins to rise early on.
Level 9 Westerns: Results
Level 9 Easterns: Results
Victoria-Kayen Woo, a senior high performance (elite) from Canada, has committed to Ohio State for 2016-2017. She trains at Gym-Richelieu and has represented Canada internationally at several events, including the Pac Rims and on the World Cup circuit. She placed 4th AA in the finals of the 2014 Canadian Championships, and was 5th AA at the 2014 Elite Canada meet.
Link: Video
UC Davis has signed Phoebe Pummarachai to a letter of intent. She'll compete for the Aggies during the 2014-2015 season. Competing for Winner's Gymnastics, she recently qualified for the JO Nationals with a 3rd place AA finish. Having qualified to junior international elite in 2010, she quit the sport in 2012, only to return in 2013, in time for a 25th place (t) AA finish at the 2013 JO Nationals.
Link: UC Davis Release
Link: Video
Kennady Schneider, a L10 from GymCats, will graduate early from high school and sign with Arizona for 2014-2015. At the recent Region I L10 Regionals, she placed 5th AA and qualified to Nationals. In 2013, she tied for 8th AA at the Region I Regionals and qualified to the NIT meet.
Link: Videos
Eri Tamada has committed to compete for San Jose State in 2014-2015, according to a site submission. She's a L10 from Flight School Gymnastics who qualified for Regionals last season.
Link: YouTube.com Channel
Kaitlin Won will sign with San Jose State this spring, according to a school release. The L10 from Arizona Dynamics originally committed to ASU. She recently competed at the Region I L10 Regionals on two events, as she is still coming back from shoulder surgery last September. At the 2013 L10 Nationals, she placed 21st AA and 4th on UB.
Link: Release
LSU Head Coach DD Breaux was named Head Coach of the Yeanr and Jay Clarke and Bob Moore shared National Assistant Coach of the Year honors, according to an LSU release.
Link: LSU Release
Arkansas' Katherine Grable won the FX (9.9625) and tied for the vault title with LSU's Rheagan Courville to lead all competitors in Sunday's Event Finals at the 2014 NCAAas. Florida's Bridget Sloan won bars while OU's Taylor Spears won the beam.
In a thrilling finale, UF and OU tied for the 2014 NCAA Team Title.
Heading into the final rotation, UF trailed both OU and leader Bama, with 0.15 points separating the squads. But in the final rotation, Bama led off with a fall and ended up counting one. Meanwhile, on vault, OU drilled a series of big Yurchenko Layout fulls to set up a meet high 49.55. Over on the floor, Florida opened up strongly and Bridgette Caquatto's 9.95 sealed the tie with a 49.625 team total.
Link: Results
On Saturday night at 6 pm Central in Birmingham, six squads will fight for a chance at the title, Just 0.55 points separate the qualifiers, making it anyone's meet. Host Bama will have the support of the home crowd, while defending champ Florida will look to take them down to the wire. First session winner OU is nearly dead even with the pair, and will provide a strong challenge. UGA is peaking at the right time, while LSU will look for redemption after a third place finish in the morning session. NU will also look to surprise them all, and win their first title.
Here's the qualfiers to the Event Finals, based on the top four finishers from each session:
Vault
Brandie Jay, UGA
Lindsay Mable, Minn
Lindsey Cheek, UGA
Ashleigh Gnat, LSU
Rheagan Courville, LSU
Sachi Sugiyama, Michigan
Maile'ana Kanewa, OU
Haley Scaman, OU
Katherine Grable, Arkansas
Olivia Courtney, UCLA
Bridget Sloan, UF
Georgia Dabritz, Utah
Uneven Bars
Lindsey Cheek, UGA
Kristina Vaculik, Stanford
Rheagan Courville, LSU
Joanna Sampson, Michigan
Taylor Spears, OU
Shona Morgan, Stanford
Samantha Shapiro, Stanford
Bridget Sloan, Florida
Kim Jacob, Bama
Mackenzie Caquatto, UF
Alaina Johnson, UF
Samantha Peszek, UCLA
Beam
Taylor Spears, OU
Hanna Nordquist, Minnesota
Madeline Gardiner, Oregon State
Mary Beth Box, UGA
Lindsey Cheek, UGA
Sydney Ewing, LSU
Chayse Capps, OU
Kristina Vaculik, Stanford
Kim Jacob, Bama
Sarah DeMeo, Bama
Alaina Johnson, UF
Mackenzie Caquatto, UF
Hollie Blanske, NU
Jamie Schleppenbach, NU
Jessie DeZiel, NU
Emily Wong, NU
Floor
Joanna Sampson, Michigan
Maile'ana Kanewa, OU
Haley Scaman, OU
Brandie Jay, UGA
Jessica Savona, LSU
Lara Albright, OU
Katherine Grable, Arkansas
Kim Jacob, Bama
Emily Wong, NU
Lauren Beers, Bama
Diandra Milliner, Bama
Becky Tutka, Utah
Nansy Damianova, Utah
Link: Recap Video
Bama's Kim Jacob rode the home crowd momentum to become Bama's sixth NCAA AA Champion in history. UF's Alaina Johnson and Arkansas' Katherine Grable were second at 39.6, just 0.025 behind Jacob's 39.625.
Defending champ Bridget Sloan had a fall and numerous balance issues on BB.
Final results are still pending.