Fantasy Gymnastics Recap: Week 1

Photo by Erin Costa

What a rough start for my team! I ended this week having to count a zero on Vault, which left my score much lower than I wanted or expected. Hopefully, now that I am a little bit more familiar with my gymnasts, what events they might compete on, and what their routines look like, I can improve in the coming weeks. I'd love to be able to drop this 186.

Week 1 Superstars

I have a strange feeling that Georgia Dabritz is going to make this list every week. It's awesome to see her getting big numbers right out of the gate. Her 9.925 (Vault) and 9.9 (Bars) definitely boosted my score. However, I hope she starts competing Beam as well. Her routine looked much improved from last year in Utah's preseason videos.

Some 9.875's from Pauline Hanset (Stanford) on Floor, Chelsea Davis (Georgia) on Bars, and Serena Leong (Cal) on Vault. Those are excellent starts, and hopefully a sign of more good scores to come for those routines. A surprisingly good showing from Carley Sims with a 9.825 on Vault and 9.875 on Floor. Unfortunately, as I'm not too familiar with her gymnastics, I didn't put her in my line-up this week.

Georgia Dabritz on Vault - 9.925; gif made by me

My  Line-up Mistakes

For week one, I did my line-ups mostly based on the athletes' 2014 RQS. Having a Regional Qualifying Score meant the gymnast competed on an event regularly, whereas a season average doesn't take into account whether she was a regular in a line-up or just filled in for an injured teammate.

Where I went wrong wasn't in using this score, but it was in not doing enough research on my girls before week 1. I had four girls in my line-ups that didn't compete at all this week. It's my own fault for putting in Ciera Perkins when Boise State had a week 1 by. However, I'm still not sure why Kristin Klarenbach didn't compete for Arizona. I hope she's not injured badly because I love her floor routine. I know now that Austin Sheppard from Michigan is out for a couple weeks, which is a shame, as her bar score could help me a lot. Finally, I have no idea why Taylor Noonan didn't compete for CMU this week, as she performed okay last weekend.

Girls I Wish I Drafted

Oh boy, some of these girls really started off the season right, and it's an understatement to say that I'm jealous of anyone with these athletes on their fantasy teams right now:

• Someone from Oklahoma on Beam. Oh man, Chayse Capps topped it off with a 9.925, but I miss those days of having Erica Brewer and Madison Mooring to hold my beam line-up steady.
• Bridgette Caquatto. The Florida Bridget(te)'s are amazing, but Caquatto takes the cake this week with her 9.95 (Bars) and 9.925 (Floor). Sloan's 10 on Vault is incredible as well, but she had a rough time on floor. I hope her ankle is okay!
• Anyone from LSU: This is my first year that my team isn't anchored by Rheagan Courville, and I miss her! However, I'd love to have any Tigers on my fantasy team, since they are my favorite to root for outside of the game. Jessie Jordan's slew of 9.925's (Bars, Beam, Floor) certainly don't hurt either!