A Non-Certified Judge Judges the Florida-Oklahoma Meet



With all of the Twitter outrage about NCAA scoring and how it's destroying the sport or whatever, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the meet that caused a lot of complaints.

Disclaimer: I am not a certified judge (as the title says). My only qualification is being a fan for 5 years (and that isn't even really a qualification). Over time, I've come to learn what NCAA judges do and don't deduct for.

Also, I have not had the opportunity to watch this meet, so I will be viewing these routines for the first time, and I am not going to look at the replays.

You can watch the meet here.

Oklahoma Vault:



  • Nicole Lehrmann: 0.05: hop, 0.05: looked slightly underrotated
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05 hop, some judges would take off for form while others wouldn't so I'm going to invent a 0.025 deduction in situations like this because there's only one of me.
My Score: 9.925 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Jade Degouveia: 0.05: hop, 0.05: didn't get the height the prior two vaulter got
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Allie Stern: 0.05: knees, 0.1 step
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Olivia Trautman: 0.05: knees, legs were apart on landing but judges don't deduct for that
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.950
  • Brenna Dowell: 0.1 hop
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
My Event Total: 49.575 Actual Event Total: 49.575
Nice vault rotation. There should be more form deductions and such taken, but their form is good enough to be ignored.

Florida Bars:



  • Alicia Boren: 0.05: we didn't totally get to see the very beginning but from what we got it looks like her back wasn't flat on her opening handstand, 0.05: hop on dismount
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Rachel Gowey: 0.1: didn't stay in handstand on half turn on low bar, 0.05: hop on dismount, 0.05: chest down on dismount. 
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Amelia Hundley: 0.05: short handstand after pak, 0.05: short on final cast to handstand, 0.05: didn't get height on the dismount; looked like she just flung it out.
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Trinity Thomas: 0.05: college stick. I can see why one judge went 10.
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.975
  • Savannah Schoenherr: 0.05: short first handstand, a little short on full turn and close catch of jaeger which I'll combine both of those for another 0.05 off. (NCAA judges tend to do things like that)
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Megan Skaggs: 0.05: short handstand on half turn on low bar
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.950
My Event Total: 49.550 Actual Event Total: 49.675
I think the main difference between the judges and I are the deductions I took on Gowey and Hundley's dismounts. 

Oklahoma Bars:



  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05: over on first handstand but it's a bit hard to tell from this angle, 0.05: short on final cast to handstand, 0.05: step on dismount
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Olivia Trautman: 0.1: short handstand after tkactchev, 0.1: elbows bent on overshoot, 0.1: handstand after overshoot, 0.05: short final cast handstand, 0.05: hop on dismount
My Score: 9.600 Actual Score: 9.875
This is the first egregious score. I don't understand how a judge could go 9.9 for a routine with a fairly large mistake.
  • Karrie Thomas: 0.05: bent elbows/hesitation on giant half, 0.05: hop on dismount
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Brenna Dowell: 0.05: over on handstand after Ray, 0.05: hop on dismount, 0.05: there were two other handstands that looked off but I can't be sure with this angle.
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Nicole Lehrmann: 0.05: short handstand after jaeger, 0.05: shaky handstand on overshoot
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 10.000
  • Maggie Nichols: nice handstands, 0.05: staggered legs on landing. They'll take off for staggered but not for being apart...
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.975
My Event Total: 49.450 Actual Event Total: 49.725
My Team Total: 99.025 Actual Team Total: 99.300
The only thing that was absolutely ridiculous was Trautman's score, and although it didn't count towards the total, it helped with score building. I also thought Lehrmann's 10 was odd because she's done better than that.

Florida Vault:



  • Amanda Cheney: nice to see her in a lineup, 0.1: hop, 0.05: pike down, 0.05: leg separations
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.775
  • Maegan Chant: 0.05: leg separation on entry, 0.1: hop, 0.05: pike down
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Nya Reed: 0.1: front foot step, 0.05: back foot moving forward
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Savannah Schoenherr: 0.05: knees, 0.05: height. best vault landing of the meet though
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Alicia Boren: 0.05: bent knees, 0.1: hop, it looked like three 0.05 steps and another 0.1 step but it's hard to count lol
My Score: 9.600 Actual Score: 9.650
  • Trinity Thomas: 0.1: hop, 0.05: not center, 0.05: short on rotation
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.775
My Event Total: 49.150 Actual Event Total: 49.150
My Team Total: 98.700 Actual Team Total: 98.825
Landings, landings, landings....

Oklahoma Beam:



  • Olivia Trautman: 0.05: knees on series, 0.05: bit of a wobble on front toss, there were heads blocking the view of her dismount but I think it was stuck.
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Nicole Lehrmann: 0.5: fall, 0.1: wobble on front aerial, 0.1: hips on front aerial, 0.05: hop on dismount
My Score: 9.250 Actual Score: 9.225
  • Carly Woodard: 0.05: knees on series, 0.05: slight wobble on series, 0.1: wobble on front toss, 0.05: hesitation after switch leap
My Score: 9.750 Actual Score: 9.850
  • Brehanna Showers: so this is where things get spicy. 0.1: wobble on series. The judges seemed to take 0.3 off of the split leap slip as a "grasp of beam to avoid a fall", but she did not go hands first. She avoided falling off because she split the beam, not because she grabbed it. In my mind, this is a 0.5 fall. 0.05: college stick
My Score: 9.350 Actual Score: 9.575
This was a very obvious attempt to try and save the team score since they already had a fall in the lineup.
  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05: slight wobble on turn, 0.05: not fully secure landing on series, 0.1: hip bend on front aerial, 0.05: leaps looked short
My Score: 9.750 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Maggie Nichols: there was a slight slight wobble on the full turn, so I would take 0.05 off, but I can see why judges might give it a 10, so I'm gonna use the imaginary 0.025 deduction.
My Score: 9.975 Actual Score: 9.975
My Event Total: 48.725 Actual Event Total: 49.200
My Team Total: 147.750 Actual Team Total: 148.500
That was not a beam rotation worthy of 49+. I've been mostly okay with the judging until this rotation.

Florida Floor:



  • Sydney Johnson-Scharpf: looked like one large 0.1 step and then three 0.05 steps and then 0.1 for OOB, 0.05: lack of control on 2nd pass landing, wins all of the artistry awards, 0.05 control on last pass
My Score: 9.550 Actual Score: 9.550
  • Amelia Hundley: The choreo during The Greatest Showman part is awkward, 0.05: slide back on whip+double tuck, 0.1: double pike lack of control, 0.05: last pass was a controlled step and went into dance, but it was a big step
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Nya Reed: 0.05: chest on double layout, 0.05: lack of control on leap series landing, 0.05: stepped forward on double pike instead of back (indicating she was short on rotation)
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Alicia Boren: 0.05: lack of control on double layout, I'm gonna deduct 0.05 combined for lack of control on 2nd pass and lack of control on leaps because neither were bad enough on their own but together it's enough to deduct.
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Trinity Thomas: 0.05: hop on leap series, 0.05: lack of control on double pike
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.950
  • Alyssa Baumann: 0.05: lack of control on second pass, 0.05: lack of control on leap series; it's disguised by the choreography but still should be deducted
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.950
My Event Total: 49.350 Actual Event Total: 49.600
My Team Total: 148.050 Actual Team Total: 148.425
My team totals have Florida ahead at this point while the real totals had them behind. Landings, landings, landings part 2, but I like their choreography better than last year

Oklahoma Floor:



  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05: lack of control on double front twist, 0.05: second leap in leap series was short. I'm a huge fan of her style.
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.950
  • Brehanna Showers: I like this routine too, overall, Oklahoma's choreo is my kind of style. 0.05: lack of control on rudi. 0.5: fall, 0.1: step back before the fall
My Score: 9.350 Actual Score: 9.325
  • Jordan Draper: 0.05: knees on the first pass, 0.05: knees on second pass, 0.05: knees weren't fully straight on second leap. Am I going crazy or did she only do two tumbling passes?
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.950
  • Jade Degouveia: 0.05: lack of control on front double twist, I'll combine the 2nd pass landing and the leap series landing for a 0.05 deduction.
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.975
  • Brenna Dowell: 0.1: slide/lack of control on first pass
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.975
  • Olivia Trautman: Combining last pass landing and leap series landing for 0.05 off.
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.975
My Event Total: 49.500 Actual Event Total: 49.825
My Team Total: 197.250 Actual Team Total: 198.325
This was a good floor rotation for Oklahoma, but not program best floor rotation. Overall, their performance was good but not spectacular, but the 198 does not reflect that at all. This was not their best meet of the season, yet they got their season-best score.

Florida Beam:



  • Megan Skaggs: 0.05: hip bend on series, 0.05: hop on dismount, 0.05: chest on dismount
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Amelia Hundley: 0.05: sissone looked short, 0.05: bit of a wobble in her choreo
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Alicia Boren: 0.05: wobble on front toss, 0.5: fall, 0.3: massive hip bend before the fall
My Score: 9.150 Actual Score: 9.250
  • Rachel Gowey: 0.05: not secure in series, 0.05: college stick
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Trinity Thomas: 0.1 hop on dismount. Trinity, please start sticking these dismounts so you can start getting 10s
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Alyssa Baumann: I'm giving her a 10.
My Score: 10.000 Actual Score: 9.950
My Event Total: 49.550 Actual Event Total: 49.600
My Team Total: 197.600 Actual Team Total: 198.025
So based on my judging, Florida should've won this meet. Their vault rotation was not as bad as Oklahoma's beam rotation.

So, what did we learn? NCAA Gymnastics is a scam and we need to have an open-ending scoring system and fire all of the current judges. I'm kidding, a little bit. For me, NCAA gym hasn't really ever been about the scores, but more about watching gymnasts have fun and watching clean gymnastics rather than "let's chuck a produnova and hope I don't die", but if we want to be treated as a more serious sport, we need to act more like a serious sport.



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