Weekly Newsletter from Coach Day
1/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
We had a pretty successful meet down in Denton Texas last Saturday. We improved once again by another 2 points! Now we just have to continue the process of getting better at each meet throughout the season! (1st meet/ 186.9, 2nd meet/ 188.85, 3rd meet 190.50.) It's kind of interesting that we had a different high scoring event total at each of the 3 meets. Against Ill. St our highest event total was on Vault / 47.70, Ozone Invite it was Floor 47.925 / and at TWU it was Bars with a 48.225. Now all we need to do is basically score a 48+ on every event which equates to a 192+ overall team total. 192 is our immediate goal and in order to score higher this year we need to upgrade our difficulty on most of our events. Our weakest event at the moment from a start value perspective is Vault. Hopefully within the next 2-3 weeks we'll be able to have 3 of our current vaulters add a full twist to their Yurchenko's.
In reference to Saturday's competition we started on Beam once again and overall we did a pretty nice job. Soph. Julia Sebben started us off and had a career high routine with a 9.6. It always great to have a solid first performer which Julia has been in the last 2 meets. 2nd up was Soph. Chelsea Grimison who did a decent set with just a few small wobbles for a 9.425. Jamie Lewis was up next who got through her set but the Judges were way out of range (9.6 – 9.1). After a conference Jamie ended up with a 9.175 average. (What a rip off in my opinion). Next up was Jr. Kara which unfortunately had a melt down with 2 falls and scored an 8.375. Bummer. Sr. Sarah Neumann competed next and absolutely Rocked a set! The Judges missed something on her routine because both of them had Start Values of 9.9 and a score of 9.7. I submitted an inquiry and got the extra tenth back which brought Sarah's score up to a 9.8. (Sarah has .6 tenths in bonus and you only need .5 tenths for a 10.0 Start Value. Last up was Sr. Shannen Kelly who did a really good Job with loads of difficulty for a 9.65. Shannen had a slight wobble on her last jump series – but I know she's capable of a 9.8 + in the future.
Our 2nd event was Floor where we had a few issues unfortunately. First up was Fr. Brittney Reed who did a nice set and stayed in bounds finally for a 9.5. She was followed by Chelsea who stuck her double back beautifully and did a nice job throughout her set for a 9.525. Our 3rd competitor was Jr. Darby Germain who got through her set but had to fight hard (thank goodness) on her last tumbling pass and took 3 extra steps backward for a 9.35. Soph. Casey Bell was up next and did a nice clean set for a 9.525 (Casey was ranked #2 on floor last year due to her consistency). 5th up was Jamie who did a decent job but also struggled on her last past (landed short w/ 2 steps) for a 9.35. (Very unusual). Last up was Kara who has been our top Floor worker for 2 years running but she also missed (hands down) her last pass (double Pike) and ended up with a 9.2. That's the first time in 3 years that Kara has missed a floor set????? Go figure… The floor Gods I guess weren't with us
3rd event was Vault. Overall we got through without anything being ultra exciting except for Chelsea's stuck Yurchenko 1/2. Our scores were Shannen 9.475, Julia 9.425, Kara 9.55, Chelsea 9.55, Sr. Joey Ching 9.4, and Jamie 9.075 with a fall.
Our last event was Bars where we've been having trouble the past couple of meets in reference to consistency. But this night was way better. In fact it was an awesome night for the Bar team! First up was Julia who her brushed her feet slightly on the glide after her Pak Salto but finished strong with a small step on her double layout dismount for a 9.45. 2nd up was Brittney who failed to catch her Yaeger but finished her set with basically no deductions for an 8.925 (missing her Yaeger cost her 6 tenths). 3rd up was Jamie who did her best set of the year and ended up with a 9.525 on a 9.9 start value routine. (Nice job!) In the 4th spot was Darby who performed a career best routine for a 9.7! (Awesome Job). Our 5th performer on Bars was freshman Mariana Murphy who also had a career best routine with a score of 9.725 with a 9.9 start value. (Very clean set) Great Job. Last up was Kara who also had a career high score with a 9.825 and ended up 2nd in the meet overall on bars. Our team Bar total was a 48.225 which equaled a 9.645 average. Over all a great performance!
As I mentioned earlier we still have a lot of room for improvement overall. Especially in the area of start values on Vault, Floor, and Bars. This past summer the event requirements on every event were changed slightly at our annual coaches convention and we still need a little more time to perfect the individual skills necessary to have all of our routines to start at a 10.0. Slowly but surely we're going to get there!
Overall I was pleased with our final score as a team (190.5) at this point in the season. Basically if everyone can improve by a tenth on every routine we will be able to break a 192+ in the near future. We have the University of Wisconsin/Oshkosh this weekend (Saturday, Jan 30th @ 6:00 PM) and the following weekend (6th Feb @ 2:00PM) is our 60 year Alumni Re-Union weekend meet where we will be competing against Centenary and our Men's team will go against the University of Minnesota. I hope to see many of you there!
I wanted to give a "Big" shout out and thank you to all members of the Gymnastics Foundation for the incredible work they have done up to this point. The Alumni weekend is going to be awesome event with loads of fun for family and friends. Can't wait to meet and see everyone when you're in town. Again we appreciate everyone's support to our men's and women's program's here at the Academy. Your kind support is over whelming!
"Integrity, Service, and Excellence"
GO FALCONS!!!!
Doug
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