A Non-Certified Judge Judges the UCLA-Oklahoma Meet



Welcome back to the series where my untrained eyes question the authority of NCAA judges.

The catch this time is that I actually don't know whether the judging was crazy at this meet or not. I avoided social media during and after the meet (which wasn't that hard since I was at Les Mis) in an attempt to make this as unbiased as possible. I glanced at the total team scores before because I had to for this week's imperialism map, and then when I went to YouTube to find this meet, the first recommended video was UCLA's video with a title something along the lines of "Kyla Ross and Katelyn Ohashi score a 10 blah blah blah." So whoops I'm not completely spoiler free, but I know much less going into this than I did last time.

I just want to quickly mention that I am not trying to pick on Oklahoma. It's just that this and the Florida meet are the biggest meets of the regular season, so it's important that they have fair scoring. If there are any other meets you want me to judge, leave them in the comments below!

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 (sort of) come to learn what NCAA judges do and don't deduct for.

You can watch the meet here.

Oklahoma Vault:
  • Nicole Lehrmann: 0.05 knees, 0.05 hop, imaginary 0.025 deduction because I couldn't tell if she fully rotated the 1.5 (the sideways ish hop indicates that she didn't)
My Score: 9.875 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05 hop, 0.05 knees in air, 0.05 kind of locked knees on landing yikes
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.850
  • Jade Degouveia: 0.05 amplitude, 0.05 legs apart in air. Awesome distance and landing
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.950
  • Allie Stern: 0.05 hop, 0.05 distance, 0.05 knees, 0.05 she kind of hops back into the salute
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.800
  • Olivia Trautman: 0.05 knees, 0.1 hop
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.850
  • Brenna Dowell: 0.05 hop, 0.025 the form was better than we've seen so far but not perfect
My Score: 9.925 Actual Score: 9.900
My Event Total: 49.400 Actual Event Total: 49.425
Very little difference between the real judges and I. Nice rotation for Oklahoma, and they'll score even higher once Nichols goes instead of Stern.

UCLA Bars:
  • Margzetta Frazier: 0.05 short on first hs, we can see the feet separations from this angle, but probably not from the judge's angle. 0.05 short on final cast to hs, 0.05 step on landing
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.800
  • Felicia Hano: 0.05 loose back on first hs, 0.05 kind of crazy catch on the overshoot, 0.05 late on full pirouette, that was a kind of stick so I'm taking 0.025 off because some would say it's a stick some wouldn't
My Score: 9.825 Actual Score: 9.800
  • Macy Toronjo: Glad to see her! 0.05 amplitude on Ray, 0.05 bit over on hs after Ray, 0.05 hop on dismount, 0.05 low chest on landing
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.800
  • Norah Flatley: 0.05 short on first hs, 0.05 late on half pirouette, 0.05 loose back on toe-on hs, 0.05 final cast hs
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.875
The first kind of significant difference, but it wasn't anything crazy
  • Madison Kocian: 0.1 way over on kip half, 0.05 hop back, 0.05 for form on dismount and she was close to the bar
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Kyla Ross: you know, the usual, nbd
My Score: 10.000 Actual Score: 10.000
My Event Total: 49.275 Actual Event Total: 49.300
Overall there was little difference, on some scores I was higher and some I was lower. Kyla is magical enough to overcome score building and get a 10 after a bunch of 9.8s. UCLA needs to work on their handstands to reach the scores they're capable of because when it gets crunch time they can't just pray for Kyla to save the day because it won't be enough.

Oklahoma Bars:
  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05 bit over on half pirouette, 0.05 step on landing, 0.05 bit of legs throughout
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Alex Marks: 0.05 short hs on overshoot, 0.05 short final cast hs, 0.05 staggered feet on landing
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Karrie Thomas: 0.05 short first hs, 0.05 short (? can't tell from this angle) on overshoot hs
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Brenna Dowell: 0.05 short on overshoot hs (again the camera angle ugh)
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Nicole Lehrmann: ok cool we didn't really see the beginning of her routine, 0.05 short first hs, 0.05 shaky catch on overshoot, 
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Maggie Nichols: 0.025 shortish hs on low bar but I can't quite tell, 0.05 short final cast hs, 0.05 feet way apart on landing
My Score: 9.875 Actual Score: 9.925
My Event Total: 49.475 Actual Event Total: 49.575
My Team Total: 98.875 Actual Team Total: 99.000
Oklahoma much cleaner here than UCLA

UCLA Vault:
  • Gracie Kramer: I was starting to wonder if she'd ever be back in this lineup, 0.05 leg separation, 0.05 pike down, 0.05 distance, 0.05 hop, 0.05 low chest
My Score: 9.700 Actual Score: 9.750
  • Felicia Hano: 0.1 big hop, 0.05 knees
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Sekai Wright: 0.1 big step, 0.05 distance, 0.1 really bent knees
My Score: 9.750 Actual Score: 9.725
  • Nia Dennis: 0.1 big hop
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.875
  • Kyla Ross: 0.05 deep landing
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 10.000
I'm not outraged about this 10, but that landing was quite deep
  • Pauline Tratz: 0.05 pike down, 0.05 hop, 0.05 leg separation
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.775
My Event Total: 49.200 Actual Event Total: 49.225
My Team Total: 98.475 Actual Team Total: 98.525
UCLA needs to figure out the landings and whether some of their 1.5s are worth it or not.

Oklahoma Beam:
  • Brenna Dowell: 0.05 arm swing on front aerial, 0.05 might have been short on the leaps but camera angle, didn't know that Bre Showers tore her ACL and now I'm sad, 0.05 wobble on full twisting back handspring, 0.05 hop on dismount
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.750
  • Nicole Lehrmann: mount to die for, 0.05 crooked on front aerial but did a good job of keeping it going, 0.05 step on landing
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Evy Schoepfer: 0.05 knees on acro series, 0.05 short on switch leap, 0.1 wobble on leap series, 0.05 form on 1.5 dismount, 0.05 step on landing
My Score: 9.700 Actual Score: 9.750
  • Carly Woodard: 0.05 knees on acro series, 0.1 wobble, 0.5 fall on acro series, 0.05 adjustment of hips on landing
My Score: 9.300 Actual Score: 9.275
  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05 wobble on full turn, 0.05 lean back on acro series, 0.05 short on split leap
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.850
  • Maggie Nichols: 0.05 lean on split jump, 0.05 bit low on acro series landing
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.975
k cool
My Event Total: 49.150 Actual Event Total: 49.200
My Team Total: 148.025 Actual Team Total: 148.200
Not their best day, and I'm interested to see their postseason lineup (Brenna Dowell for AA champ 2019 you heard it here first). I love Oklahoma beam and I'm not ashamed.

UCLA Floor:
  • Margzetta Frazier: 0.05 looked a bit under rotated on the full-in but impressive stick, 0.05 lack of control on double back, 0.05 hop on double pike, 0.025 chest a bit low on double pike
My Score: 9.825 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Gracie Kramer: 0.05 didn't control leap landing- it's disguised by the choreo but still. Awesome routine.
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Pauline Tratz: 0.05 low chest on full-in, 0.05 step forward on full-in, 0.05 bit of an awkward landing on second pass, 0.05 low chest on double tuck, 0.05 out of control step on double tuck
My Score: 9.750 Actual Score: 9.850
Don't know how she got a 9.850 with  errors on every pass. It will be really interesting to see who gets this lineup spot between Nia and Pauline because both are inconsistent, but I think Nia has higher scoring potential because her form is better.
  • Kyla Ross: the quest for the 40 :p (I'm pretty sure she didn't score 40 because I'm sure I would've heard about that) 0.05 lack of control on whip double back, 0.05 low chest on double pike. Would've been wild if Kyla got a 40 at an away meet.
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.975
so.. um ok
  • Felicia Hano: 0.05 lack of control on double lay, 0.05 flew sideways on the leap series, 0.05 lack of control on double pike
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Katelyn Ohashi: 0.05 lack on control on split double lay
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 10.000
My Event Total: 49.475 Actual Event Total: 49.675
My Team Total: 147.950 Actual Team Total: 148.200
These floor scores were a bit interesting so let's see what they do for the home team...

The judges had Oklahoma and UCLA tied heading into the final rotation while I have Oklahoma ahead by 0.075.

Oklahoma Floor:
  • Anastasia Webb: 0.05 lack of control on front double twist, 0.05 lack of control on combo pass. I'd watch a whole lineup of Anastasia Webbs
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Jordan Draper: 0.1 form in both elements of first pass, following the Kentucky two pass strategy, 0.05 lack of control on second pass but much better form
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Emma LaPinta: I'm enjoying the Demi Lovato tribute (that's what this is and you're not convincing me otherwise), 0.05 lack of control on triple, judges won;t take off for form because it's a triple so..., 0.05 lack of control on combo pass, 0.05 hop on landing of leap series, 0.05 lack of control on double back
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.875
Lots of potential, I would just like to see more control on the landings
  • Jade Degouveia: 0.05 lack of control on double front twist, 0.05 lack of control on last pass.
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.900
  • Brenna Dowell: 0.1 lack of control on Dowell but legend for doing her own move, 0.05 feet apart on leap series landing
My Score: 9.850 Actual Score: 9.925
  • Olivia Trautman: 0.05 big step on double lay, 0.05 slide back on double tuck
My Score: 9.900 Actual Score: 9.950
My Event Total: 49.400 Actual Event Total: 49.575
My Team Total: 197.425 Actual Team Total: 197.775
So the floor judges were definitely the most lenient, but it wasn't absolutely insanely bad.

UCLA Beam:
  • Grace Glenn: love the Valdez, 0.05 bit off on full turn. 
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.900
No I'm not afraid to go 9.950 in the lead off.
  • Brielle Nguyen: 0.05 hesitation on leap series, 0.05 wobble on front aerial, 0.1 wobble on back aerial
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.775
  • Madison Kocian: 0.1 wobble on acro series, 0.05 wobble on front aerial, 0.05 wobble on split jump, 0.05 hop on dismount
My Score: 9.750 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Norah Flatley: 0.05 knees on acro series, 0.05 wobble on side aerial, 0.05 hop back on dismount, 0.05 for form and chest on dismount
My Score: 9.800 Actual Score: 9.825
  • Kyla Ross: 0.05 step on dismount
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.875
huh? someone tell me where the other deductions are
  • Katelyn Ohashi: 0.05 for the chest on the dismount. I was so close to giving both her a Ross 10s.
My Score: 9.950 Actual Score: 9.950
My Event Total: 49.450 Actual Event Total: 49.375
My Team Total: 197.400 Actual Team Total: 197.575

So this meet definitely had more accurate judging than the Florida meet I scored. When we're talking about just a few tenths difference from the real score, it's more of a matter of opinion and how each person sees it rather than blatant over scoring. Awesome job to both teams!

Comments

  1. this seems a lot more fair but i think you messed up your math on ucla vault (gracie, nia, pauline) which affects the final score!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment