March 15, 2013

COMPLETE NOTES

What's Up:
The No. 18 Arizona women's gymnastics team returns to McKale for the last time of the 2013 season. The team will be taking on the University of Missouri Saturday, March 16 at 4:00 p.m. MST. As this is the last home meet this year, the meet will also feature a special presentation honoring the careers of seniors Aubree Cristello and Molly Quirk upon the conclusion of the competition.

Live stats and a live online video feed will be available the day of the meet.

Scouting the Opposition:
Missouri: The Tigers posted a new season high 194.125 in their final home meet of the season. Senior Tori Howard finished her home career with a bang, earning her best score of 9.900 for second place. Junior Taylor Medrea had a career night as well, earning a high 9.775 on beam and tying her high 9.800 on floor. 

Full Recap

Last Week:
Arizona gymnastics tied its second highest score of the season, earning a 196.125 to take second to the then No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners (197.875).

The team started strong on bars, totaling a 49.200. Cristello tied her career high bar performance with a 9.875 to lead the Cats.

Career highs were also posted in event number two, as sophomore Danielle Buchanan posted a 9.825 and Shelby Edwards earned a 9.875. Buchanan's score marked her fourth total appearance on the event and her fourth score of 9.800 or better. Edwards' mark was her third consecutive new career high on the event. In total, the vault team earned a 49.125.

On floor sophomore Kristin Klarenbach came back with a vengeance, earning a 9.900 to tie for third in the meet. Her routine contributed to a total 49.075 for event number three.

Unfortunately the Cats had some difficulties in the last event, wrapping up beam with a 48.725. Highlights of the event came from sophomore Amber Wobma who posted a 9.800 and Edwards, who led the team with a 9.825.

For a full breakdown of the meet, please see the full recap.      

Senior Highlight:

Aubree Cristello

Awards/Honors:
2012 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week
2012 first-team All-Pac-12 All-Around
2011 Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week
2011 first-team All-Pac-10 All-Around
2010 first-team All-Pac-10 All-Around

Collegiate Bests:
Vault: 9.950 Bars: 9.875 Beam: 9.900 Floor: 9.950 All-Around: 39.475

Stats:

• Has earned 44 event or all-around titles thus far
• 11 vault titles
• 5 bar titles
• 4 beam titles
• 9 floor titles
• 14 all-around titles
• Has posted 99 scores of 9.800 or better
• Has earned 15 scores of 9.900 or better
• Has earned 30 all-around scores of 39.00 or better
• Bolsters three all-around scores of 39.475 marking the tenth best all-time all-around performances for Arizona gymnastics
• Holds the sixth spot for best all-time vault performances for Arizona gymnastics with a score of 9.950
• Holds the fifth spot for best all-time floor performances for Arizona gymnastics with a score of 9.950
• Has competed 189 routines for 46 all-around scores
• 47 vault
• 47 bars
• 47 beam
• 49 floor

Molly Quirk

Awards/Honors:
2012 second-team All-Pac-12 All-Around
2010 first-team All-Pac-10 All-Around

Collegiate Bests:
Vault: 9.850 Bars: 9.875 Beam: 9.900 Floor: 9.900 All-Around: 39.100

Stats:

• Has earned 11 event or all-around titles thus far
• 1 bar title
• 7 beam titles
• 1 floor title
• 2 all-around titles
• Has posted 47 scores of 9.800 or better
• Has earned 3 scores of 9.900 or better
• Has earned 11 all-around scores of 39.00 or better
• Has competed 187 routines for 32 all-around scores
• 36 vault
• 45 bars
• 44 beam
• 40 floor

In the Rankings:
Nearing the conclusion of the regular season, Arizona dropped two places from last week with an RQS of 195.960. Consistent with last week, the Wildcats hold the No. 5 spot in the Pac-12 conference behind No. 7 Utah, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Oregon State, and No. 10 Stanford.

Holding top twenty spots on every event, the team is currently No. 17 on vault, No. 17 on bars (up one spot from last week), No. 21 on beam, and No. 11 on floor.

Individually Cristello and Klarenbach are making their marks in the rankings: Cristello is currently No. 14 in the all-around, and Klaranbach is holding the No. 25 spot on floor.

Full Rankings

RQ What?
With the gymnastics competition season past the half-way point, the team and individual rankings have switched from being based on overall score average to a team's total RQS. But what exactly is an RQS score, and how does it work?

Given that gymnastics is a sport based on judgment, it needs to have a ranking system that can mostly eliminate scoring and performance inconsistencies. Obviously, in a perfect world, all judges would take the same deductions for the same degree of mistakes, etc. - but every judge can't be at every competition, so deductions aren't necessarily 100% foolproof. With that same token, in a perfect world a team would never have a bad meet - though everyone has an off day.

Because of this, RQS was born. An RQS score is made up of a team's top three away scores plus the team's top three other scores minus the overall top score, and average of the remaining five. This average is supposed to be an overall better indicator of a team's performance, taking out overly bad performances (in addition to overly good performances) as well as potential judging differentials.

So what is the reason the rankings start out as an average? In the beginning of the season there are not enough scores to factor into the RQS formula. Each team needs to have at least three away meets and a total of six meets under their belt before this type of score can be calculated.

Look Out for New GymCats:
Arizona added a number of new faces this season, including Shelby Edwards out of San Tan Valley, Ariz., Lexi Mills hailing from Frisco, Texas, Sloughouse California native Jessie Sisler, and Krishna Yemany from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All of these gymnasts were top J.O. or Canadian Elite competitors and should make a dent in the lineups this season.

Pre-season Rankings:
The Arizona gymnastics team heads into the season ranked No. 19 in the 2013 Women's Pre-Season Coaches poll. The Wildcats are one of six Pac-12 schools to place within the top 25, including No. 2 UCLA, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 Stanford, No. 9 Oregon State and No. 17 Washington.

Stacked to the Max:
The Arizona gymnastics team is going to complete an extremely difficult season in 2013. Of the 12 regular season meets and 20 regular season opponents, the Cats will face 11 ranked teams during eight meets (six of which within the top 10). Those opponents include No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 9 Oregon State, No. 13 Auburn, No. 17 Washington, No. 18 Illinois, No. 21 Missouri, and No. 25 Kentucky.

Ryden's Record:
Head Coach Bill Ryden bolsters an overall record of 205-194-3 after the second place finish in Oklahoma.

What's Coming Up:
The Cats head to conference competition for the annual Pac-12 Championships. The meet is scheduled for March 23 in Corvallis, Ore. The time of the meet will depend on the Wildcats' seed, as the competition is to be broken up into two different sessions. Action will be broadcasted on television via the Pac-12 Network.