Top Moments from the 2014 College Gymnastics Season

Oklahoma. Period. 
There's nothing like making history for your school. After a phenominal performance in only their fourth Super Six appearance in program history, the Oklahoma Sooners were victorious- tying with Florida for the national title. After falling short to Florida last year with a second place finish, this victory couldn't be any sweeter! It's been amazing to watch this team grow throughout the years and finally secure their spot as one of the top schools in the nation. Boomer Sooner!

Central Michigan On The Rise
Let's be honest, Central Michigan is not one of the teams that is typically in the conversation when it comes to NCAA gymnastics. However their performance this season is definitely noteworthy and I think they deserve some recognition from the gymnastics world. I love when underdog teams step it up and prove themselves among the best. Thanks to scoring in the mid 196's several times this season, CMU was able to jump to an 18th overall ranking in the nation- their highest ranking as a team since 2003. Their RQS of 196.300 was also the best in program history! This season the Chippewas won their fifth consecutive conference title (MAC) and qualified a full team to Regionals as the number three seed, which has only happened one other time in their program history. At Regionals they finished third behind Michigan and Georgia, (who beat them by not even a full point.) and also qualified three individuals to the NCAA Championships! Emily Heinz, Halle Moraw, and Taylor Noonan all competed on beam with the highest score coming from Moraw who scored a 9.850! What a great season the Chippewas had! They should be proud of what they accomplished!




Good Sportsmanship

The one thing I love more than gymnastics itself.... good sportsmanship in gymnastics! We tend to see it more on the men's side, but there were a few moments this season on the women's side that really made me smile! (Who doesn't love that warm and fuzzy feeling?) At the Big 10 Quad meet, Michigan was having a rough meet after having two gymnasts fall off the beam twice. In the final rotation, the Minnesota gymnasts stood by the floor to cheer on the final Michigan gymnasts who were still competing...just like they would their own teammates. Michigan returned the favor at the National Championships by doing the "M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A" cheer for Lindsay Mable who was last to perform after they failed to qualify to the Super Six. Even through their sadness they went out of their way to cheer for Lindsay and make her feel not so alone. (She was competing as an individual without her team to cheer her on.)

Nebraska makes Super Six
Against all odds, Nebraska posted a 197.100 in prelims to fend off UCLA and Utah for a spot in the Super Six. This was their first trip to the Super Six since 2011 and it was well earned. The Huskers have always been sort of the dark horses and can be just as good as the top teams when they hit. So I was not surprised to see them in this spot. Nebraska and Oklahoma were the only teams not from the SEC conference to qualify to the Super Six.

Overwhelming amount of media attention for Lloimincia Hall, LSU, and college gymnastics!
A fan favorite in the gymnastics world for quite some time...Lloimincia Hall, the junior from LSU finally caught the attention of the mainstream media when one of her perfect 10 floor routines went viral. Good Morning America, People Magazine, Total Sorority Move, Buzzfeed, you name it! Lloimincia also got a tweet from one of her favorite music groups "Earth, Wind & Fire" (Fun fact: She uses one of their songs in her floor routine) and got all-access passes to meet the Pittsburgh Steelers. What great publicity for college gymnastics!