College Gymnastics Season Roars In

It's the most wonderous time of the year again as college teams from all over the country start up their seasons. For some of the national powers it is the pursuit of the rankings and seedings they will need to get to nationals. For others it is an ongoing quest to make the top 36 and head to regionals. For schools in division 2 and division 3, they have their own championships to pursue. Of course beyond even that is the fundamental goal of gymnastics, to hit the routine.

Even thought it is scoring and not wins and losses that determine the rankings there's still a great deal of pride that goes into many of the matchups. Alabama has beaten Auburn an insane number of times straight much to the enjoyment of the tide faithful. UCLA and Utah met up and the Bruins took this win this time. Meanwhile Oklahoma in what is being described as an upset defeated Florida. There's already been plenty for fans to talk about among the top ranked teams.

Though the season is far more complex then who wins the national title. At so many levels across the country there is plenty of other storylines playing out whether it is the renewal of traditional school rivalries, or just the pursuit of the highest scores possible.

Last season at the University of Bridgeport, a school that is not often mentioned in sports circles, the team had been on a rebuilding process. As a Connecticut Post article reported, the program had had some issues prior to the arrival of current Coach Byron Knox, and since they has risen in the USAG Collegiate rankings (which involves a variety of schools with limited scholarships) Last season the team set schools records multiple times and reached scoring levels I had yet to see from them in my years following the teams up here. It was culminated in their sharing the USAG Collegiate National Title with Cornell.

And that's just one example of the various gymnastics related events going on outside of the top 10 teams and there are plenty more. In a time of budgetary issues and an overall belief (rightly or wrongly) that the popularity of gymnastics is fading, despite the ongoing adoration of our olympic gymnasts, some programs have been eliminated and more are feared. This is also a storyline, how teams that may not be national powers keep their support among fans and other involved parties. The more that it is realized that there is a lot going on at these meets, and the more people can be drawn to them the better off the whole sport may be.