2024 NCAA Round Up – Week 5

2024 NCAA Round Up – Week 5

By Megan Roth

Gymnast of the Week

Congratulations to Oklahoma Junior Jordan Bowers and Nebraska 5th year Sam Phillips, Inside Gymnastics Gymnast of the Week for week 5!

At the very anticipated meet between #1 Oklahoma and #2 Cal at Arizona State, Jordan Bowers helped the Sooners win with a huge score of 198.375. Jordan won the bars title with a perfect 10 along with the floor (9.975) and All-Around (39.675) titles. 

After missing last season due to injury, Sam Phillips improved on his comeback All-Around score from last week, scoring 80.500 this week! Sam’s scores helped Nebraska defeat Penn State 406.800 to 403.200.

Team Rankings

Women’s NCAA Event Leaders:

All-Around:  Haleigh Bryant (LSU) – 39.738

Vault: Sage Kellerman (Michigan State) – 9.955

Bars: Jordan Bowers (Oklahoma) & Raena Worley (Kentucky) – 9.935

Beam: Brooklyn Rowray (Minnesota) – 9.975

Floor: Raena Worley (Kentucky) – 9.955

Men’s NCAA Event Leaders: 

Note: Rankings are now averaging the 3 highest scores 

All-Around: Sam Kaplan (Springfield College) – 74.083

Floor: Emre Dodanli (Oklahoma) – 14.833

Pommel Horse: Ignacio Yockers (Oklahoma) – 14.633

Rings: Javier Alfonso (Michigan) – 14.767

Vault:Justin Ciccone (Ohio State) – 14.817

Parallel Bars:Logan McKeown (Michigan) – 14.117

High Bar: Emre Dodanli (Oklahoma) – 14.100

Meet of the Week!

LSU scored big against Arkansas, setting a new program record team score (198.475) and the highest score in the nation currently. Some highlights include Savannah Schoenherr’s bars routine (9.95), Konnor McClain’s beam routine (9.975), and Kiya Johnson’s floor routine (9.975). After counting a fall in the first rotation, Arkansas came back strong and scored a 196.200, especially impressive with how loud the crowd was in Baton Rouge!

198 Performances!

This week saw many amazing 198 performances!

Oklahoma

Against Cal and Arizona State, Oklahoma scored 198.375, the Sooner’s highest score of the season! On bars, all five counting scores were above 9.95, totaling to a massive 49.825. Even with these huge numbers, the Sooners still have room for improvement, especially on vault where they scored 49.250, a number Oklahoma knows they can improve. 

Michigan State

In a rivalry meet, Michigan State (198.050) pulled off the win against Michigan (197.625) in Ann Arbor for the first time in 34 years! Sage Kellerman scored her second 10.0 of the season, helping keep her in the #1 spot nationally. Skyla Schulte also performed key routines, scoring 9.95s on beam and floor.

Denver

Denver exactly hit the 198 mark in their home meet against Towson. Bars was the standout event for the Pioneers, where all five of their counting scores were above 9.9 including 9.975s from Mia Hebinck, Jessica Hutchinson, and Kiley Rorich. 

UCLA

Building off of last week’s season high score, the bruins set a new season high, breaking 198 at their meet against Arizona 198.075 to 196.525. On vault, Nya Reed found the landing on her Yurchenko 1.5, scoring 9.95. Once again, floor (49.750) was UCLA’s highest scoring event. Emma Andres competed her first competitive floor routine since 2021 and scored a career high 9.925. After struggling on her middle pass for a few meets, freshman star Katelyn Rosen nailed her floor routine, scoring a 9.95 and a 39.500 in the All-Around. Selena Harris had her best All-Around performance of the season, scoring 39.775, including 9.975s on beam and floor!

Must-Watch Moments!

After struggling with injuries for years, Olivia Greaves (Auburn) finally made her collegiate debut, scoring 9.875 with a super difficult bar routine!

Raena Worley (Kentucky) scored back to back 10.0s on floor the past two weeks of competition after performing practically perfect routines her entire career but never receiving a 10. Raena’s 10 helped Kentucky defeat Alabama at home 197.600 to 196.975 for the first time ever!

The Illinois Men Pulls More Upsets

After defeating Oklahoma last week, Illinois pulled another upset, defeating Michigan this week!

Some standout routines for the Illini include freshman Garrett Schooley’s Kaz double full vault (14.750), Ashton Anaya’s rings (14.400), and freshman Brandon Dang’s 15.200 on pommel horse, the highest score of the weekend on all events!

All photos by Lloyd Smith for Inside Gymnastics

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