Pak Salto

Gymnastics, gymnastics, gymnastics! I'm from New York so I LOVE Team USA, but I'm also a huge fan of many international teams and athletes so my posts won't be super biased. I'm also a huge NCAA fan with big Gator and Bruin love. I write lots of commentary and analysis for www.thecouchgymnast.com. I'm a history major at Columbia University and I'm obsessed with travel. Check out my personal tumblr, Inner Monoblog!

Georgia beats Arkansas 196.825 to 195.875

This was a pretty good meet for Georgia, who isn’t posting top scores at this point, but is making it through the season pretty steadily. Poor Arkansas, however, had kind of a disastrous meet. It’s only the first time they’ve really had problems this year, which is no surprise, as the Razorbacks rely primarily on Jaime Pisani and Katherine Grable for the top scores. These two athletes have competed the All Around seven meets in a row, including two last weekend, which is when their scores first started going a little sour.

Georgia started out nicely on vault, which was their best event of the evening with a total or 49.275. Kaylan Earls had a huge FTY, and then Kat Ding also hit, earning a 9.9 for a shared title with Grable. Shayla Worley fell on bars, which was unfortunate, but the rest of the team managed to keep it together; Ding once again was the high scorer, earning a 9.95 and the title after a near-perfect routine. Their total was a 49.175. They also took a 49.175 on beam, where Worley came back and had the routine of the night on this apparatus, earning a 9.9 for the title. Chelsea Davis fell twice, which was kind of shocking, though the rest of the team managed to stay in the 9.8 range. They were then able to earn a 49.2 on floor. There were a couple of mistakes early on, but for the most part they were pretty solid, especially Couch, who earned a 9.875 for second place. Should also mention that this was Ding’s first AA attempt of the season, and she nailed it, earning a 39.55! In addition to her first place spots on vault and bars, she also tied for second on beam and tied for third on floor.

Arkansas started on bars with a 48.9 where they didn’t have any falls, but scores were just lower in general. Shelby Salmon, Jaime Pisani and Mariah Howdeshell all tied for third with their 9.8s, much lower than their usual effort on this event. They seemed to recover slightly on vault, earning a 49.3 as Grable hit for a 9.9 and their lowest to count was a 9.825. But then on floor they suffered again, earning a 48.85 as Grable fell and they needed to count Jordan Salsberg’s routine, which had several mistakes. Pisani was incredible, however, earning a 9.925 for the title. Grable came back to hit beam for a 9.85, the team’s best for a second place finish, but Pisani actually fell here, so they team had to count several 9.7s in their 48.825 total. Just a weird night for them, but you can tell how tired their top athletes must be after nonstop competition. Here’s hoping they get a break soon!

Vault

1T. Kat Ding (Georgia) - 9.9
1T. Katherine Grable (Arkansas) - 9.9
3T. Kaylan Earls (Georgia) - 9.875
3T. Jaime Pisani (Arkansas) - 9.875

Bars

1. Kat Ding (Georgia) - 9.95
2. Gina Nuccio (Georgia) - 9.875
3T. Noel Couch (Georgia) - 9.8
3T. Chelsea Davis (Georgia) - 9.8
3T. Jaime Pisani (Arkansas) - 9.8
3T. Shelby Salmon (Arkansas) - 9.8
3T. Mariah Howdeshell (Arkansas) - 9.8

Beam

1. Shayla Worley (Georgia) - 9.9
2T. Kat Ding (Georgia) - 9.85
2T. Katherine Grable (Arkansas) - 9.85

Floor

1. Jaime Pisani (Arkansas) - 9.925
2. Noel Couch (Georgia) - 9.875
3T. Kaylan Earls (Georgia) - 9.85
3T. Kat Ding (Georgia) - 9.85
3T. Gina Nuccio (Georgia) - 9.85

All Around

1. Kat Ding (Georgia) - 39.55
2. Noel Couch (Georgia) - 39.3
3. Jordan Salsberg (Arkansas) - 39.05

  1. paksalto posted this