Bitter Success, 8th place
Day 1
The team competed Thursday morning in the preliminary round of competition. The routine was performed with only one major stunting error and one major tumbling error. While the routine finished with only a .1pt in deductions and an 8.29, it wasn't enough to advance to finals. The 6 teams moving on to finals bottomed at an 8.70. The team was excited about the limited mistakes in the routine, but there was definately room for improvement in the over exectution, timing, sharpness and presentation of the routine.
6 teams advanced to finals: Louisvill, Maryland, NC State, South Carolina, Georgia and Oregon. The remaining teams compete on day 2 in the Challenge Cup. The challenge cup winner earns a bid back into finals later that day. The 8.29 was good enough to be ranked 1st going into the challenge cup competition. But only a skinny .1pt separated OSU and 2nd place Michigan State.
After prelims, the team worked on the areas for improvement in the afternoon practice. Cleaning up the sharpness and presentation of the skills and also making some positive adjustments to the stunts to create a stronger effect. There was a distinctive feeling of opportunity to get back on the floor day 2 and earn a bid into finals by winning challenge cup.
Day 2
After a great warm up, the team was ready to take the mat. Being the #1 ranked team in challenge cup put the team as the last performer in the division. After watching the next two closest competitors make major mistakes to a watered down routine, the door was wide open. The coaching staff made the decision to also water down one of our most troublesome spots of the routine in order to garauntee success. With the overall routine being more difficult than the other teams, the skill change could only lead to a more solid execution and ultimately a score improvement.
When the team took the floor there was incredible excitement. You could see the intensity in their faces. The routine opened with it's usual clean solid tumbling and basket tosses. There was one error in the jump tucks, but the next stunt section was awesome. The changes were perfect! The running tumbling section went well and the pyramid was very solid except for a slight issue on one side. The second stunt hit, but just like the first stunt sequence, had just a couple very small details that were a little off. Overall, it was the teams best performance of the season. As the team celebrated the performance backstage, other teams began congratulating us for a great job and conceeding the probable victory in challenge cup and the trip back to finals.
Unfortunately, in spite of the solid performance, the 8.414 left the team .04pts behind Michigan State who won challenge cup and advanced to finals.
"Today's was the best performance by far and we were sure it was the best in our division. Unfortunately, the judges didn't think so and so it's also the toughest disappointment our kids and myself have had. We are so proud of our kids for having two of their better performances all season on back to back days at the National Championship. That's all you can ask of them," said coach Delaney.