WEEK 8 RANKINGS 1. Oklahoma 197.990 Road Score 1 198.350 Road Score 2 198.175 Road Score 3 198.075 Home/Road Score 1 198.025 Home/Road Score 2 197.925 Home/Road Score 3 197.750 OU’s 4th 198 of the season on Sunday (198.175), following a Friday 197.675, cinches a program-best RQS. A 198.100 this coming weekend in Michigan would give the Sooners the all-time RQS record.

Nichols missed her shot at a 40 by sitting for meet 2 of the weekend, Senior Day Pt 2: Texas Edition, as Lehrmann and Wofford both received first-career 10s on UB.

Jackson and Capps both scored career-high-tying 9.975s on FX at the same meet. 2. LSU 197.695 Road Score 1 197.700 Road Score 2 197.700 Road Score 3 197.675 Home/Road Score 1 197.975 Home/Road Score 2 197.825 Home/Road Score 3 197.575 LSU remains comfortably in 2nd with an away 197.675 at Auburn. With all the scores fairly tightly bunched in the high 197s, LSU’s RQS is unlikely to change all that much in the coming weeks.

9.950s from Finnegan (BB) and Gnat (VT, FX) led the team. Hambrick returned to hitting ways to lead the AA. Edney did not compete. 3. Florida 197.495 Road Score 1 197.425 Road Score 2 197.325 Road Score 3 197.125 Home/Road Score 1 197.975 Home/Road Score 2 197.900 Home/Road Score 3 197.700 The Gators recorded a second-consecutive home 197.9, featuring Alex McMurtry’s first FX 10 and fifth 10 of her career.

Hundley went 9.975 on UB and 39.675 in the AA, while Baker remains limited to only UB.

In RQS, while the home scores are stronger than LSU’s, the road scores lag behind, which takes some of the friction out of this weekend’s visit to LSU as Florida cannot pass LSU in the rankings even with a season-high. A strong road score will still be necessary, however, to ensure fending off UCLA and company. 4. UCLA 197.305 Road Score 1 197.500 Road Score 2 197.325 Road Score 3 197.150 Home/Road Score 1 198.125 Home/Road Score 2 197.725 Home/Road Score 3 196.825 The Bruins were able to erase that 195 from Monday with a 197.725 against Arizona over the weekend, accounting for the two-spot jump in the rankings.

Hallie Mossett’s career-high 9.975 on FX led the team, along with Kocian’s 9.950 on FX and season-high-tying 39.625 AA and Ross’s 9.950s on UB and BB.

It is possible for UCLA to pass Florida this coming week, but it would take at least a 197.800 along with a weak showing from Florida, so it’s not the most likely outcome. The focus will be on staying ahead of Utah and Alabama. A 197.450 guarantees UCLA remains 4th. 5. Utah 197.180 Road Score 1 197.600 Road Score 2 197.150 Road Score 3 196.900 Home/Road Score 1 197.875 Home/Road Score 2 197.625 Home/Road Score 3 196.625 Utah recorded its own 197.600 at Arizona State, featuring Tom Farden’s literal dreamscape of how UB scoring might go that culminated in a 9.975 for Lee and 9.950s for Lewis and Skinner.

Skinner scored three 9.950s for a 39.750 AA total.

Utah can’t catch Florida this weekend, and with UCLA having a higher max RQS, the #4 ranking is in the Bruins’ hands. Utah is looking at needing to outscore UCLA by a little under a half point to move ahead. 6. Alabama 197.085 Road Score 1 197.225 Road Score 2 197.050 Road Score 3 196.700 Home/Road Score 1 197.825 Home/Road Score 2 197.350 Home/Road Score 3 197.100 Alabama’s home 196.925 over the weekend was not high enough to break into the RQS picture, allowing for both UCLA and Utah to pass.

Limited without Winston, it was all a little too 9.850, though Sims, Desch, and Bailey did provide 9.925s (FX, FX, VT).

Alabama heads to Georgia this week, needing at least a 197.200 to have a chance at passing Utah, but probably needing more than that to do it in reality. 7. Denver 196.875 Road Score 1 196.900 Road Score 2 196.875 Road Score 3 196.500 Home/Road Score 1 197.150 Home/Road Score 2 197.125 Home/Road Score 3 196.975 Denver continued its assault on the name-teams with a 196.975 home score, following a 196.900 away total in a two-meet weekend.

Meet 2 was led by 9.950s from Karr on VT and Ross on BB and 9.925 from Chesnok on UB.

The lack of any of those big-team scores in the higher 197s inhibits Denver’s chances to move any higher for the moment, but also SEVENTH IN THE RANKINGS. 8. Georgia 196.820 Road Score 1 196.975 Road Score 2 196.925 Road Score 3 196.800 Home/Road Score 1 197.075 Home/Road Score 2 196.875 Home/Road Score 3 196.525 Georgia scored another 196.9 on the road at Oklahoma but fell behind Denver by a hair, almost entirely on account of not having a 197 that counts. With Denver at home this coming weekend and unable to drop its lowest score, however, Georgia has the inside track to regain #7.

Snead’s 9.950 on VT and Marino’s equivalent score on FX led the team, as they so often do, in a meet where BB was the highest rotation score. Almost like Georgia is good on beam. Brand new world. It’s really vault and bars that we have to worry about. 9. Oregon State

196.635 Road Score 1 197.125 Road Score 2 196.825 Road Score 3 196.200 Home/Road Score 1 196.900 Home/Road Score 2 196.700 Home/Road Score 3 196.550 A season-high 197 away at Stanford sees Oregon State gain another spot in the rankings. Unable to drop that away 196.2 until Pac-12s (only remaining road meet), however, it may be difficult for OSU to keep up this spot and fend off the challenging teams with similar bold scores.

It was Gardiner taking the AA over McMillan in the great OSU AA battle this weekend, with 9.925 on BB and 9.900 on FX. Colussi-Pelaez also performed career-best routines on BB and FX, both for 9.900. 10. Boise State 196.605 Road Score 1 197.075 Road Score 2 196.700 Road Score 3 196.675 Home/Road Score 1 197.025 Home/Road Score 2 196.400 Home/Road Score 3 196.225 A 196.675 away at Alabama allows Boise State to drop a 195.300 from the first meet and move up two spots in the rankings. Unlike Oregon State, Boise State will have a chance to drop its 196.2 this weekend.

Means limited to one event and McGregor to two inhibited BSU’s scoring potential, though both did still manage team-high-tying 9.875s (BB, VT respectively) 11. Kentucky 196.535 Road Score 1 196.950 Road Score 2 196.150 Road Score 3 195.850 Home/Road Score 1 197.475 Home/Road Score 2 197.100 Home/Road Score 3 196.625 A bit of a missed opportunity for Kentucky after a 9.7-heavy floor rotation over the weekend still resulted in a usable 196.625 to keep the #11 spot.

The winner of the weekly four-woman AA battle was Hyland, using 9.900 on BB and 9.875 on FX to sneak ahead with 39.375.

Korth’s 9.925 on VT still led the team across all events.

With that 195.850 available to be dropped this weekend, Kentucky does have the most likely path among the 9-12 teams to get back to #9. 11. Michigan 196.535 Road Score 1 196.475 Road Score 2 196.025 Road Score 3 195.725 Home/Road Score 1 197.825 Home/Road Score 2 197.225 Home/Road Score 3 197.225 Michigan exploded for a 197.825 over the weekend, and everyone was like, “Whaaa?” and they were like, “Yeah.” That’s exactly what happened.

Everyone ever got a 9.9, including the whole floor rotation, and Karas took the AA with 39.600.

Michigan falls in the rankings because that 197.825 can’t be counted, but it does open up a little more room for the Wolverines to move up even with a home meet this weekend, though the real work will be done the following two weeks in getting rid of those low road scores. Though Michigan has fallen to a tie for 11th for now, a late surge toward #7 is still quite realistic. 13. Nebraska 196.450 Road Score 1 197.125 Road Score 2 196.550 Road Score 3 196.050 Home/Road Score 1 197.125 Home/Road Score 2 196.825 Home/Road Score 3 195.700 Nebraska continues providing a good example of how a small and fairly injured roster can peak at the right time, erasing that tragic start with yet another 197.

Taylor Houchin is the real deal, scoring 39.650 in the AA, the #3 total of the week, even while leading off two events.

Nebraska is off this coming weekend but has opened up enough of a gap over the trailing teams to stay ranking safe. 14. Iowa 196.150 Road Score 1 196.550 Road Score 2 196.400 Road Score 3 196.175 Home/Road Score 1 196.475 Home/Road Score 2 195.975 Home/Road Score 3 195.725 Iowa traveled to the land of season-highs over the weekend to get 196.550 at BYU, featuring 9.925s for Snyder and Youd on FX and BB.

The Hawkeyes cannot move up even with a season high in the next meet, but you know, 14th. The real trick will be remaining ahead of the rest because teams 14-21 could basically end up in any order next Monday. 15. Missouri 196.145 Road Score 1 196.750 Road Score 2 196.350 Road Score 3 196.225 Home/Road Score 1 196.225 Home/Road Score 2 196.075 Home/Road Score 3 195.825 Missouri went to the true and eternal Land of Season-High Road Scores, Florida, for a 196.750, a score that can’t yet be counted and therefore didn’t prevent a drop in the rankings. Missouri has scored consistently this year, but RQS doesn’t so much care about that. RQS cares about big scores.

Surprise, surprise, Britney Ward was the team’s leading scorer, but this time it came from a 9.950 on BB, not on VT, a score achieved mid-McMurtry-hoopla. 16. George Washington 196.140 Road Score 1 196.725 Road Score 2 196.150 Road Score 3 196.000 Home/Road Score 1 196.400 Home/Road Score 2 196.050 Home/Road Score 3 196.000 Similarly, George Washington snatched a massive 196.7 on the road over the weekend but can’t count it and therefore stays relatively steady in the rankings. In gymnastics, it isn’t real unless you do it twice.

Winstanley was the big winner of this meet, going 9.925 on UB and 9.900 on BB for a 39.550 AA total. 17. Washington 196.130 Road Score 1 196.450 Road Score 2 195.825 Road Score 3 195.325 Home/Road Score 1 197.175 Home/Road Score 2 196.750 Home/Road Score 3 196.300 A fine-but-frustrating 196.450 for Washington does the job in erasing a low road score but could have been higher if not for vault errors.

A 195.325 still to drop this weekend, however, gives Washington another shot at it and the best opportunity among this bunch of teams to move up the rankings with a solid result. Theoretically, Washington could even go ahead of Nebraska with a season-high.

Burleson records another nationally competitive AA score of 39.475, achieving 9.900 on FX and another couple scores among the bushel of 9.875s that Washington received. 18. Auburn 196.090 Road Score 1 196.450 Road Score 2 196.400 Road Score 3 195.800 Home/Road Score 1 196.100 Home/Road Score 2 196.075 Home/Road Score 3 196.075 A fine-not-great 196.100 at home against LSU keeps Auburn stuck in low-196 land and opens up what is becoming a very real possibility that this depleted team may end up unseeded unless the scores start heading into the higher 196s.

This weekend’s highlight was an exceptionally well-executed BB routine from Krippner that reached 9.925. 19. Cal 196.000 Road Score 1 196.400 Road Score 2 195.725 Road Score 3 195.550 Home/Road Score 1 197.075 Home/Road Score 2 196.300 Home/Road Score 3 196.025 Keeping up with the Washingtons in their duel to see which team makes the evening at Pac-12s, Cal also recorded a fine-not-great 196.4 on the road to drop a low road total and will be looking to drop another one this weekend. TWINSIES.

Lead-off BB routines scoring 9.925 was kind of a thing suddenly, and Sofie Seilnacht joined Houchin and Howard (AZ) on that parade with a team-leading score that took Cal to its best event total. 20. Illinois 195.995 Road Score 1 196.625 Road Score 2 196.050 Road Score 3 195.450 Home/Road Score 1 196.550 Home/Road Score 2 196.025 Home/Road Score 3 195.900 A mixed-bag of meets for Illinois this weekend, beginning with a season-high road 196.625 and ending with a bars fall of a 195.450 that still has to be counted, keeping Illinois down in the rankings for the time being.

The first meet, the good one, featured Leduc going 9.925 on BB and FX, while the second meet…had a lot of 9.7s. 21. Southern Utah

195.915 Road Score 1 196.600 Road Score 2 195.800 Road Score 3 194.325 Home/Road Score 1 196.725 Home/Road Score 2 196.700 Home/Road Score 3 196.150 Well, look who decided to show up. Southern Utah finally has an RQS after deigning to compete a third time on the road for 196.600. Because of that 194.325, this ranking is misleadingly low and will remain so until SUU’s two-meet road weekend beginning March 10th. Watch out for a late surge from this one.

It was a 9.875-parade that took SUU to the 196.600 total, though I was most impressed by Becky Rozsa’s 9.850 on UB. 22. Utah State

195.775 Road Score 1 196.200 Road Score 2 195.725 Road Score 3 195.700 Home/Road Score 1 196.300 Home/Road Score 2 195.850 Home/Road Score 3 195.400 Apparently, everything is coming up Utah as Utah State continued challenging the big girls with a 196.200 road score in a third-place finish in Nebraska.

Madison Ward’s 9.900 led the team, aided by Peel’s 9.875 on BB. 23. Arizona 195.680 Road Score 1 196.275 Road Score 2 195.650 Road Score 3 195.425 Home/Road Score 1 196.100 Home/Road Score 2 195.850 Home/Road Score 3 195.375 Finally able to get rid of a hideous early-season 193, Arizona moves up closer to a rank the quality of the team merits after a season-high visit to UCLA.

Like Seilnacht for Cal, it was Krysten Howard’s lead-off BB score of 9.925 that caught the eye for Arizona, especially because it originally received 9.725, like the judges finally decided to be super critical, but just for her and never again. Schenider also landed her FX passes as well as she ever has for 9.900. 24. Eastern Michigan

195.670 Road Score 1 195.925 Road Score 2 195.400 Road Score 3 195.325 Home/Road Score 1 196.000 Home/Road Score 2 195.950 Home/Road Score 3 195.750 After a couple rough early-season meets, EMU is starting to peck around that 196 mark and has been rewarded by reentering the top 25.

Kendall Valentin’s UB routine has been a staple of the unheralded routines section below, but no more now that EMU is into the 25. She did lead the team once again with a 9.925 this weekend, obviously. 25. Ohio State 195.595 Road Score 1 196.450 Road Score 2 195.950 Road Score 3 194.375 Home/Road Score 1 196.075 Home/Road Score 2 195.800 Home/Road Score 3 195.775 Ohio State drops a number of places after a home 195.225, featuring a three-fall beam catastrophe for 47.850, that couldn’t be counted. This does seem to be a temporary state because of the very low road score that can still be dropped, so expect Ohio State to move back up as early as this weekend’s visit to Denver.

I’m ready for the postseason. That was the overwhelming feeling coming from this most recent batch of meets. We’ve got it. We’re good. We’ve seen your routine like 8 times now, and we’ve got the gist. Let’s get to mattering. We still have two weekends of regular-season action remaining before the conference championships, but those need to be now instead.

A pretty clear top six has established itself. We may still see some repositioning among that group, especially in the 4-6 zone, but I would be quite surprised if the current top-6 doesn’t end up being our set of #1 regional seeds (something UCLA actually hasn’t done since 2013).

Within those teams, I’d say Alabama’s ultimate level is still the most uncertain. The recent performances haven’t been all that competitive but also haven’t been all that representative of the team’s ability. Whether Alabama is able to get on track with the 197.7s the other presumed Super Six teams are currently receiving is a question I’m still interested in for the remainder of the regular season. It makes the Tide’s upcoming visit to Georgia the most revealing meet of an exciting weekend slate.

The UCLA vault rotation is another top-team conundrum that will give us some answers in the next couple weeks. At this point, the most likely scenario is that we’ll end up seeing exactly the vaults we’re seeing right now, but a lineup of fulls is not going to win a championship. I say go MORE OMELIANCHIKS, MORE OMELIANCHIKS.

The race for seeded spots, however, is the story that’s really grabbing my attention right now. The Washington/Cal clash is fascinating to me because they’re fighting each other for the last evening spot at Pac-12s (which is mostly just a pride thing, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter), but at the same time, it’s definitely in Washington’s best interest for Cal to perform well and get back up into the top 18. Though greatly depleted, Cal is still a dangerous team that has a 197 this year, and given geographical regional placement of unseeded teams, an unseeded Cal would likely go into the Washington-hosted regional, along with unseeded Stanford.

As the rankings stand right now, Washington’s regional would contain Utah, Georgia, and Washington as seeded teams, and then likely Cal, Stanford, and one of the Utah teams as unseeded competitors which is a HELLISH group-of-death regional. No one wants that, except for us, the impartial viewers who are already salivating at the prospect because PLEASE. Washington would prefer Cal stay behind them in the rankings but also move into the top 18. That way, Cal could get sent to some other region and be replaced in Washington’s own regional by a team like Utah State or BYU to lessen the severity slightly. Obviously, Cal would prefer to get into the top 18 and avoid this pileup entirely.

In the weekend’s action, Oklahoma made a statement with a 198 sans-Nichols, but there’s also so much ridiculous scoring among all the top teams, and many of the non-top teams, that these totals become like noise at this point and are significant only as much as they influence the regionals placements. (Oklahoma, for instance, needs to root for some movement from Michigan and Nebraska to avoid getting placed with both of those two.)

Still, on the topic of scores, the McKenzie Wofford 10—one that was inevitable but had also been inevitable for four years now—did finally happen and was hilariously missed by an Aunt Flo feed that cut out right then. Of course. For those behind the paywall, you can see it here. For those who aren’t, just imagine every other 9.950 bars routine you’ve seen Wofford do, and it’s exactly that, just a 10 this time. Actually, it’s maybe a little weaker in some of those cast handstands, which is typical of Career 10s. They’re never for the best set.

Taylor Houchin of Nebraska was a star in JO so it’s not entirely surprising how well she’s doing in NCAA, but it is still worth noting. Houchin went 39.650 in the AA, and the only event on which she didn’t hit 9.9 this week was on bars, with a 9.875 in the leadoff position on what was probably her cleanest routine of the four. It is the year of the freshman in NCAA, with most of the weekly leaderboards—especially in the AA—dominated by freshmen, but it hasn’t been entirely your Nichols, your Kocian, your Skinner, your Hundley. Edney, Dickson, and Houchin are right there with the rest of the group.

There was also that time Arkansas only had four floor workers and scored 185. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Arkansas also dropped out of the top 25 this week.

Unheralded stars of the week

Gymnasts from schools outside the top 25 who scored over 9.900

Majesta Valentine, West Chester – Floor, 9.925

Second 9.925 of the season, currently ranks 28th on floor and would be a challenger to make nationals as an event specialist if that didn’t require a ridiculous amount of luck.

Alecia Farina, Maryland – Floor, 9.925

Remember that time I had her on my fantasy team and then traded her? AH HA HA HA me too. (Although I traded her for Joslyn Goings, so that has worked out.)

Tyra McKellar, Towson – Floor, 9.925

A career 9.875er on bars and floor, it’s her first 9.925 ever on any event here in her junior season.

Kristi Hayashida, Seattle Pacific – Beam, 9.925

Seattle Pacific! It’s the team’s highest beam score in 16 years.

Kira Frederick, Michigan State – Floor, 9.925

This is her second career 9.925 on floor, from a meet that got Michigan State up to 39th and within striking distance of regionals.

Sabrina Garcia, Penn State – Bars, 9.925

Celebrates the dawn of a new era with her fourth 9.9+ of the year.

Brittni Hawes, BYU – Bars, 9.925

Her second time on the list this season, following a 9.950 two weeks ago. Currently ranks 33rd on bars, tied with the likes of Dowell, Baker, Snead, Finnegan, and McMillan.

Rachel Stypinski, Kent State – Floor, 9.975 & Beam, 9.925

Every week. This time, gets a career-high 9.975 and does it at an away meet. Stypinski has hit 9.9+ on nine different routines this year.

Macey Hilliker, Central Michigan – Floor, 9.925

The obligatory 9.925 on floor for Central Michigan. It’s her third 9.925 of the season. Clements has two, and Pedrick one. No one has a 9.950 yet.

Meaghan Sievers, Iowa State – Vault, 9.925

So many! I’m going to have to start imposing a harsher standard for this list, although this is a rare entry for vault. It’s usually floor.