Feb. 16, 2007

Recap

ATEHNS, Ga. -
Scores will be posted throughout tonight's meet. You will need to hit your reload/refresh key for updates. Meet introductions will start at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time (5:30 p.m. MT) and the first scores should start to appear at around 7:45 p.m.

GEORGIA                            UTAH

VAULT                              VAULT
Megan Dowlen         9.825         Sarah Shire         9.775
Marcia Newby         9.825         Nina Kim            9.850
Ashley Kupets        9.875         Nicolle Ford        9.875
Katie Heenan         9.925         Kristina Baskett    9.900
Courtney Kupets      9.925         Ashley Postell      9.850
Tiffany Tolnay       9.900         Annie DiLuzio       9.700
VT: 49.450; Running: 49.450       VT: 49.250; Running: 98.275
Utah vault notes:
Greg decided to have everyone do their most difficult
vaults and everyone hit them for the most part. Annie
DiLuzio, who was moved to the end of the lineup to do
her double, hit the vault but had a short flight.
To start the lineup, Sarah Shire had a really nice
vault and stick.
Nina Kim had one of her better vaults I've seen. It
looked effortless and she really emphasized her stick.
Nicolle Ford's vault was right on. It was big, clean
and she stuck the landing.
Kristina Baskett, ditto on Queenie, but even more
amplitude.
Ashley Postell dusted off the vault she used to start
the season, which is a tough vault and one she often
doesn't get credit for her amplitude because she doesn't
stick it. She had a step again tonight, like a lot of the
Georgia vaulters, but it scored higher than it has in Utah.
I already talked about Annie's vault earlier. Sorry I
don't know what it's called, but I know everyone has
been really excited for her to throw it in competition.
BARS                               BARS
Nikki Childs         9.800         Daria Bijak         9.775
Grace Taylor         9.775         Nina Kim            9.725
Tiffany Tolnay       9.825         Jessica Duke        9.750
Katie Heenan         9.875         Ashley Postell      9.900
Kelsey Ericksen      9.850         Kristina Baskett    9.225
Courtney Kupets      9.950         Nicolle Ford        9.875
UB: 49.300; Running: 98.750        UB: 49.025; Running: 49.025
Utah bar notes:
We have a very strange view here because we are
facing the bars dead on, so I can't really gauge the handstands
very well.
Daria Bijak looked very smooth and clean throughout and
stuck her dismount. Good routine.
Nina Kim had a clean, solid routine. She had a hop on her
landing.
Jessica Duke powered through this one, looking
good and aggressive. Hopped on her dismount.
Ashley Postell's routine was a flat-out beauty.
Kristina Baskett fell hard on her back. It was
a pretty scary fall, but she got up and finished.
Nicolle Ford just nailed her routine. Since I
can't see the handstands from the side, I guess
I can't comment on why she didn't score higher, but
it was a beautiful routine. 
BEAM                               BEAM
Grace Taylor         9.800         Jessica Duke        9.100
Megan Dowlen         9.850         Sarah Shire         9.750
Tiffany Tolnay       9.850         Kristina Baskett    9.825
Courtney McCool      9.775         Nina Kim            9.650
Courtney Kupets      9.900         Nicolle Ford        9.850
Katie Heenan         9.900         Ashley Postell      9.825
BB: 49.300; Running: 148.050       BB: 48.900; Running: 195.475
Utah beam notes:
Jessica Duke was wobbly from the start and fell
in the middle.
Just a couple of little balance checks for Sarah
Shire in an otherwise nice routine.
Kristina Baskett had a mostly clean routine. She
had just a couple of small things. I think the
biggest thing I noticed was she wasn't as
aggressive as usual.
Nina Kim had a big balance check and stayed on,
but she lost some zip after it. The judges conferenced
for a long time on their score. At one point, according
to Deseret News reporter Linda Hamilton, they were
three-tenths of a point apart.
Nicolle Ford really showed some guts on her routine.
She went after it with attitude and aggressiveness.
She did not pull the second layout in her flick-lay-
lay and was mostly clean throughout.
I thought Ashley Postell would receive a higher score.
She had a small step at the end and didn't do her normal
two-foot stick on the tucked front - kind of stepping
out of it - but she was totally in control. Anyway,
it was a pretty good routine.
FLOOR                              FLOOR
Ashley Kupets        9.775         Beth Rizzo          9.775
Grace Taylor         9.350         Daria Bijak         9.625
Courtney McCool      9.900         Annie DiLuzio       9.550
Katie Heenan         9.875         Nicolle Ford        9.300
Courtney Kupets      9.900         Kristina Baskett    9.900
Tiffany Tolnay       9.325         Ashley Postell      9.450
FX: 48.800; Running: 196.850       FX: 48.300; Running: 146.575
Utah floor notes:
Beth Rizzo had a really nice routine. Good tumbling,
hit all of it. I didn't see much to deduct, so
it must have been little things adding up.
Daria Bijak had a beautiful first pass that I think
was a tuck double front-tuck front. She had a really
low second tumbling pass, and that's what cost her. She
saved sitting it down, but not by much.
Annie DiLuzio threw her Arabian double front to start
her routine and it looked great. She went out of bounds
at some point near the end, but Suzanne Yoculan was
gabbing to Tribune reporter Lya Wodraska, who of course
is unfortunately a Georgia alum, and blocked my
view.
Queenie fell on her double layout to start the routine.
My view of Kristina Baskett's first pass was blocked, but
the rest of the routine looked great and I assume the
first pass did too since she got a 9.90.
What a lousy night on the floor. Ashley Postell did a nice
triple twist to start her routine, but had planned to
throw her double Arabian. Then it went downhill. She almost
sat down twice on her second tumbling pass and she finished
low. She also pulled something out of her third pass
and had a 9.45 start value.