Tuesday, 14 March 2017 20:40

Championship Week: Race to Regionals

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Stanford and Elizabeth Price have Secured a Spot At Regionals Stanford and Elizabeth Price have Secured a Spot At Regionals (c) 2016 Lloyd Smith

It's the final week of the season, with just the Conference Championships remaining.  Just 38 teams remain in the running for one of 36 seeds at the Regional Meets.  An intense race is also under way for one of the Top 18 seeds, which will determine the composition of the Regional fields.

Each of the squads has a Regional Qualifying Score (or RQS), which is calculated by taking the team's top three AWAY meet scores and their next three highest scores.  The high score is tossed and the remaining five are averages.  Thus, at this point in the season, the team's maximum score is determined by the top five scores they've received to date. 

Here's how the teams stack up.  Each team's RQS is listed and then their lowest rank and highest rank possible after this weekend.  Regional hosts have a * next to their name.  Teams in BOLD have secured their spot in Regionals.  Teams in italics have secured a Top 18 seed.  20 teams are still in play for a Top 18 Seed, and that 38 teams are in play for the Top 36 qualification spot.    

Note:  The following chart assumes Conference meets are treated as Home meets for Florida, Stanford and Utah State

 TeamCurrent RQSLowest FinishHighest Finish
1 Oklahoma 198.000 1 1
2 LSU 197.785 2 2
3 UCLA 197.500 5 3
4 Florida* 197.495 5 3t
5 Utah 197.355 6 3t
6 Alabama 197.285 6 5
7 Denver 197.040 10 7
8 Georgia 197.005 12 7
9 Michigan 196.880 12 7
10 Oregon State 196.875 12 7
11 Boise State 196.835 13 8
12 Kentucky 196.750 13 8
13 Nebraska* 196.640 16 11
14 Missouri 196.540 17 13
15 Washington* 196.480 18 12t
16(t) Iowa 196.400 19 15
16(t) California 196.400 19 13
18 George Washington 196.305 20 16
19 Southern Utah 196.300 21 14
20 Illinois* 196.245 21 18
21 Auburn 196.135 21 21
22 West Virginia* 195.920 28 22
23 Utah State 195.830 31 22
24 Ohio State 195.815 31 22
25 Eastern Michigan 195.805 31 22
26 Arkansas* 195.775 31 22
27 New Hampshire 195.745 34 22
28(t) Kent State 195.720 34 23
28(t) Iowa State 195.720 34 22
30 Arizona 195.710 34 23
31 Stanford 195.610 36 31
32(t) Penn State 195.460 37 26
32(t) BYU 195.460 37 26t
34 North Carolina 195.430 37 31
35 Maryland 195.410 37 32
36 Central Michigan 195.370 38 23
         
37 Minnesota 195.350 38 27t
38 Western Michigan 195.270 38 36

Follow the Hosts

Keep an eye for the final position of hosts Florida, Nebraska, and Washington.   Each are Regional Hosts and each is locked into the Top 18.  The Top 18 will be seeded in the Regional into "trios" of 1-12-13, 2-11-14, 3-10-15, 4-9-16, 5-8-17, and 6-7-18.  A host in those "trios" will anchor those teams to that Regional site.  If two hosts are in the same "trio", then the committee will break them up, with the preference granted to the higher ranked team.  Florida/Nebraska and Florida/Washington could easily land in the same "trio" and could produce some unpredictable Regional assignments.  Also, if the Committee finds that too many teams from the same Conference and Region are in the same Regional, can they choose to move non-seeded teams to reduce this concentration.  Such a situation could occur if UCLA, Oregon State and Washington end up in the same Regional.  Normally, Regional are completed by teams from the same Region or in close geographical proximity.  If by chance Cal and Stanford were be non-seeded teams, the Committee would likely send some of the teams to another Regional site.  This has happened in prior seasons.

Third Regional seeds that are hosts, especially in positions 13, 14 and 15, are considered to be "tough" regions.  This is the case with Nebraska and Washington.  Host teams tend to perform better in their home gyms, due to the familiar building, familiar equipment, the home crowd and the lack of travel.  The extra confidence boost of competing in a home gym also sometimes impacts the team's performance.  However, this year, the #3 seeds will need to end on balance beam, while the #2 seeds will get to follow the Olympic order.  This random draw generally helps the #2 seeds in each Region.        

Illinois also has a shot at a Regional hosting spot, with #18 within reach.  This often is an undesirable host seed, as you get paired with the #6 and #7 teams and must defeat one of them to advance.  Teams are sometimes better off when they stay at #19 or #20. 

Spots 32 to 38 Up for Grabs

The Conference meets will be key to the final placement of 7 teams.  Teams that are carrying a low score in their average (and a high max score), like CMU, Minnesota, PSU and BYU, are at an advantage.  Conversely, teams with a low max (high) score are also at a disadvantage.  WMU can only move up to 36 and their fate is largely out of their hands.    

 

 

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