It is billed as the Super Six, that final night of competition when the NCAA crowns a new gymnastics champion. Friday night, it should have been called the Super One and the Little Five the way UCLA tore through all four events on a path of least resistance to the sixth NCAA gymnastics championship in school history.
The Bruins were an almost mistake-free machine Friday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center as they cruised to a championship in blowout fashion. UCLA came in at 197.725 while second place Oklahoma was a distant 197.250. Alabama finished third (197.225), Stanford fourth (197.100), Florida fifth and Utah sixth (196.225).
It wasn’t as if UCLA was spectacular although the Bruins picked up a 9.95 on the vault from Brittani McCullough and a 9.95 on floor from Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, but they were consistent. Only one throwaway score (six gymnasts for each event but lowest score is thrown out) was below 9.80 as UCLA turned in a 49.475 on vault, 49.325 on the uneven bars, 49.375 on the balance beam and 49.550 on floor.
The other five teams all hit a wall somewhere along the way. For the Florida Gators it was the first event of the first rotation. As they did Thursday night in the semifinals, the Gators came out shaky. When Marissa King sat down on her landing for an 8.55, it sent shock waves through the entire team. The Gators recovered enough for an opening 49.100, but the damage was done.
Alabama’s Waterloo was the floor where the Crimson Tide had to eat a 9.725 by Ashley Preiss after Kayla Hoffman stepped out of bounds and came in at 9.65. Oklahoma, Stanford and Utah must have thought the balance beam was possessed. Oklahoma got off to a 9.750, 9.30 start en route to a 49.20. Stanford’s Alyssa Brown started off that rotation with a 9.125 as the Cardinal scored a 49.10. Utah had to eat a 9.275 by Daria Bijak when Jamie Deetscreek followed up with a 9.20. The Utes saw their championship hopes fade away with their 48.425.
The Gators followed a familiar path by getting off to a lousy start. In recent weeks at the SEC and North Central Regional championships, they were able to overcome bad starts with furious rallies in the second half of the competition that got a little bit of help when opponents wilted under the pressure. In Thursday night’s semifinal, the Gators turned up the heat in their final two events (floor and vault) and got some help when Alabama stumbled on the floor and came back to the field after a spectacular beginning. Although the Gators didn’t post the highest score in their six-team session of the semifinals, they closed a .600 Alabama gap to .075 and got to the Super Six.
Florida coach Rhonda Faehn hoped that Thursday night’s jitters were a thing of the past and that the Gators would perform at peak efficiency but they wilted under pressure and got no help because UCLA was having none of the mistakes that plagued everyone else.
“It’s a little bit frustrating and a little disappointing simply because we didn’t do our best,” Faehn said. “If we had gone out and everyone performed our absolute best and still came out with the same result, then that was the best it could be.”
But Friday’s performance was far from the Gators’ best.
It looked like the Gators were going to be jitter-free when Ashanee Dickerson, who ate the mat while leading off on bars Thursday night, stuck her landing for a 9.85 to open the Super Six. King wasn’t spectacular on her follow-up routine but she appeared to be in good shape for a solid score until she sat down on her dismount.
The Gators followed up with scores of 9.85 by Alicia Goodwin, 9.875 by Amanda Castillo and 9.85 by Elizabeth Mahlich but Maranda Smith, who hit a 9.9 Thursday night, came in at 9.70, leaving the Gators at 49.10 and needing something spectacular on the beam to bounce back.
“I just think genuinely the team still had nerves from what happened last night on bars and starting on that event again tonight when #2 Marissa made that mistake, everybody got tight again,” Faehn said. “It was surprising. That’s been one of our strong events.”
With Dickerson leading the way with a 9.875, the Gators had five solid beam routines but nothing spectacular. King had to catch herself twice to prevent falling off, settling for a 9.150 that was a throwaway score. Florida needed something in the 49.350 range after the slow start on bars, but had to settle for a 49.20.
The beam scores reflected a problem for the Gators all night. They got a lot of good scores, but they needed something spectacular to come back from their early deficit.
“When we were really looking for our key performers to hit those routines that we’re always expecting to hit big scores from and having rough and off nights, I think it was just too much to battle from,” Faehn said. “It was a little mistake here and a little mistake there that really just added up.”
The Gators made up some ground with a 49.425 floor score but they needed at least three scores 9.9 or better and they only got two, a 9.9 from Smith and a spectacular 9.95 from Dickerson, who stuck her landing on her final tumbling run.
On Florida’s final rotation, the Gators again needed some a lot of 9.90 or better scores but they only got 9.9s from Smith and Dickerson as they wound up with a 49.250 that was the worst team vault score of the evening.
The vault score was extremely disappointing for Faehn, who said, “We didn’t do ourselves any favors on vault at the end. If we had even done even what we did last night (49.425) it would have put us in a higher place.”
Faehn thought Florida’s disappointing score had plenty to do with nerves finally getting the best of her young team. Of Florida’s 24 routines, 15 were performed by freshmen and sophomores. During the course of the regular season and even at the SEC and regional meets, the youngsters seemed oblivious to the pressure but when the lights were the brightest and the stakes were the highest, they blinked.
“All season long nothing seemed to bother them at all but just this entire weekend they had a completely different look on their faces,” Faehn said. “I just kept telling them to relax and enjoy it but I really genuinely think they got uptight and caught up in the atmosphere of us hosting [the national championships] and the pressure of just wanting to win instead of just letting their bodies do what they normally do. It got the best of them.”
Faehn will spend the offseason and next fall building from the experience. She loses five seniors — Smith, Castillo, Courtney Gladys, Rebekah Zaiser and Ashley Kerr — but they will be replaced by an incoming freshman class that will be ranked best in the country. Mackenzie Caquatto, Kytra Hunter and Alaina Johnson will join the Gators from the US National Team and Brittney Noble has won national championships at the Junior Olympic level.
Faehn described the incoming class as “incredibly strong, stronger than this freshman class that we had this year,” but they will face the same adversity this group faced when they get to the season-ending events that lead up to the national championship.
“The team we’re going to have next year is going to be absolutely phenomenal but it will be a very young team again,” Faehn said. “They have to be really strong and learn not to make the same mistakes.”
NCAA WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
TEAM FINALS
1. UCLA 197.725
Vault (49.475): Brittani McCullough 9.950, Vanessa Zamarripa 9.925, Anna Li 9.900, Tauny Frattone 9.850, Monique De La Torre 9.850, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs 9.825.
Bars (49.325): Anna Li 9.900, Vanessa Zamarripa 9.900, Brittani McCullough 9.850, Monique De La Torre 9.850, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs 9.825, Aisha Gerber 9.800.
Beam (49.375): Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs 9.900, Vanessa Zamarripa 9.900, Anna Li 9.875, Mizuki Sato 9.850, Aisha Gerber 9.850, Niki Tom 9.800.
Floor (49.550): Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs 9.950, Brittani McCullough 9.925, Vanessa Zamarripa 9.900, Anna Li 9.900, Tauny Frattone 9.875, Niki Tom 9.725.
All around
Zamarripa (39.625): 9.925 (vault), 9.900 (bars), 9.900 (beam), 9.900 (floor).
Li (39.575): 9.900 (vault), 9.900 (bars), 9.875 (beam), 9.900 (floor).
Hopfner-Hibbs (39.500): 9.825 (vault), 9.825 (bars), 9.900 (beam), 9.950 (floor).
2. OKLAHOMA 197.250
Vault (49.300): Sara Stone 9.900, Melanie Root 9.900, Jackie Flanery 9.875, Brie Olson 9.825, Natasha Kelley 9.800, Mary Mantle 9.800.
Bars (49.325): Hollie Vise 9.900, Brie Olson 9.900, Megan Ferguson 9.850, Natasha Kelley 9.850, Jackie Flanery 9.825, Kayla Nowak 9.800.
Beam (49.200): Hollie Vise 9.900, Megan Ferguson 9.900, Kristin Smith 9.850, Natasha Kelley 9.800, Kayla Nowak 9.750, Natalie Ratcliff 9.300.
Floor (49.425): Hollie Vise 9.925, Jackie Flanery 9.900, Megan Ferguson 9.900, Kayla Nowak 9.850, Kristin Smith 9.850, Brie Olson 9.750.
All around
None
3. ALABAMA 197.225
Vault (49.375): Morgan Dennis 9.925, Kayla Hoffman 9.900, Geralen Stack-Eaton 9.900, Marissa Gutierrez 9.850, Ricki Lebegern 9.800, Ashley Priess 9.775.
Bars (49.425): Kayla Hoffman 9.925, Kassi Price 9.900, Ashley Sledge 9.900, Ricki Lebegern 9.850, Geralen Stack-Eaton 9.850, Morgan Dennis 9.800.
Beam (49.325): Ashley Priess 9.950, Morgan Dennis 9.900, Kassi Price 9.850, Marissa Gutierrez 9.825, Ricki Lebegern 9.800, Geralen Stack-Eaton 9.275.
Floor (49.100): Morgan Dennis 9.925, Ricki Lebegern 9.850, Geralen Stack-Eaton 9.825, Marissa Gutierrez 9.775, Ashley Priess 9.725, Kayla Hoffman 9.650.
All around
Dennis (39.550): 9.925 (vault), 9.800 (bars), 9.900 (beam), 9.925 (vault).
Lebegern (39.300): 9.800 (vault), 9.850 (bars), 9.800 (beam), 9.850 (floor).
Stack-Eaton (38.850): 9.900 (vault), 9.850 (bars), 9.275 (beam), 9.825 (floor).
4. STANFORD 197.100
Vault (49.400): Carly Janiga 9.900, Allyse Ishino 9.900, Shelley Alexander 9.875, Alyssa Brown 9.875, Blair Ryland 9.850, Ashley Morgan 9.775.
Bars (49.275): Carly Janiga 9.950, Allyse Ishino 9.875, Alyssa Brown 9.850, Jenny Peter 9.825, Shelley Alexander 9.775, Nicole Pechanec 9.750.
Beam (49.100): Ashley Morgan 9.875, Shelley Alexander 9.875, Allyse Ishino 9.800, Danielle Ikoma 9.800, Carly Janiga 9.750, Alyssa Brown 9.125.
Floor (49.325): Carly Janiga 9.925, Allyse Ishino 9.850, Ashley Morgan 9.850, Nicole Pechanec 9.850, Tenaya West 9.850, Shelley Alexander 9.700.
All around
Janiga (39.525): 9.900 (vault), 9.950 (bars), 9.750 (beam), 9.925 (floor).
Ishino (39.425): 9.900 (vault), 9.875 (bars), 9.800 (beam), 9.850 (floor).
Alexander (39.225): 9.875 (vault), 9.775 (bars), 9.875 (beam), 9.700 (floor).
5. FLORIDA 197.000
Vault (49.250): Maranda Smith 9.900, Ashanee Dickerson 9.900, Dali Lemezan 9.825, Courtney Gladys 9.825, Marissa King 9.800, Nicole Ellis 9.750.
Bars (49.125): Amanda Castillo 9.875, Ashanee Dickerson 9.850, Alicia Goodwin 9.850, Elizabeth Mahlich 9.850, Maranda Smith 9.700, Marissa King 8.550.
Beam (49.200): Ashanee Dickerson 9.875, Elizabeth Mahlich 9.850, Rebekah Zaiser 9.850, Liz Green 9.825, Courtney Gladys 9.800, Marissa King 9.150.
Floor (49.425): Ashanee Dickerson 9.950, Maranda Smith 9.900, Amanda Castillo 9.875, Liz Green 9.850, Amy Ferguson 9.850, Marissa King 9.775.
All around
Dickerson (39.575): 9.900 (vault), 9.850 (bars), 9.875 (beam), 9.950 (floor)
King (37.275): 9.800 (vault), 8.550 (bars), 9.150 (beam), 9.775 (floor)
6. UTAH 196.225
Vault (49.275): Daria Bijak 9.925, Beth Rizzo 9.850, Kyndal Robarts 9.850, Stephanie McAllister 9.850, Jamie Deetscreek 9.800, Annie DiLuzio 9.800.
Bars (49.300): Daria Bijak 9.900, Stephanie McAllister 9.875, Gael Mackie 9.875, Jamie Deetscreek 9.850, Kyndal Robarts 9.800, Jacquelyn Johnson 9.800.
Beam (48.425): Kyndal Robarts 9.900, Stephanie McAllister 9.800, Annie DiLuzio 9.800, Cortni Beers 9.650, Daria Bijak 9.275, Jamie Deetscreek 9.200.
Floor (49.225): Annie DiLuzio 9.900, Kyndal Robarts 9.850, Stephanie McAllister 9.850, Daria Bijak 9.825, Jamie Deetscreek 9.800, Jacquelyn Johnson 9.775.
All around
Robarts (39.400): 9.850 (vault), 9.800 (bars), 9.900 (beam), 9.850 (floor).
McAllister (39.375): 9.850 (vault), 9.875 (bars), 9.800 (beam), 9.850 (floor).
Bijak (38.925): 9.925 (vault), 9.900 (bars), 9.275 (beam), 9.825 (floor).
Deetscreek (38.650): 9.800 (vault), 9.850 (bars), 9.200 (beam), 9.800 (floor).