Of the three ASU gymnasts heading to regionals, junior Taylor Allex has the best shot at advancing into the NCAA individual championship meet.
Allex qualified in all-around, with fellow junior Allie Salas also making it in all-around, but only as an alternate. Senior Natasha Sundby is the region's floor specialist and and an alternate on vault.
The six seeded teams are No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 12 Oregon State and No. 13 Penn State, with No. 22 Southern Utah, No. 27 Missouri and No. 34 NC State rounding out the region. Of those six schools, two move on to the NCAA championship. The two best all-around performances from the meet that aren't from an advancing team make it to the individual championship.
When looking at the all-around scores, it seems like Allex has a decent shot at advancing.
| Name | Team | RQS | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Briannah Tsang | Penn State | 39.39 | 39.241 |
| Sidney Sanabria-Robles | Penn State | 39.38 | 39.157 |
| Madeline Gardiner | Oregon State | 39.315 | 39.181 |
| Krystal Welsh | Penn State | 39.3 | 39.22 |
| Michaela Woodford | North Carolina State | 39.125 | 38.83 |
| Brittni Watkins | North Carolina State | 39.105 | 38.947 |
| Gabrielle May | UIC | 39.075 | 38.623 |
| Taylor Allex | Arizona State | 39.02 | 39.079 |
| Laura Kappler | Missouri | 38.985 | 39.021 |
| Valeri Ingui | Lindenwood University | 38.98 | 38.636 |
| Kierstin Sokolowski | Lindenwood University | 38.96 | 38.558 |
| Becca Schugel | Missouri | 38.96 | 38.832 |
| Ashley Thomas | S.E. Missouri | 38.96 | 38.733 |
There are two numbers here — the first is the regional qualification score, or RQS. It takes a gymnast's six best scores (three of which must be away), drops the best and averages the rest. The second is a simple season average.
Allex is eighth in the region in RQS, but she is fifth in season average.
But what hurt Allex in the regional qualification score is that she only competed all-around six times — the minimum to qualify, while some others in the field did it all season (roughly 10 times). She didn't start on uneven bars until the fifth meet and also sat out in another meet.
Looking at the scores, Allex's case would be helped more if Penn State advances to the region instead of the slight favorite Oregon State. Penn State has three all-around gymnasts ahead of Allex while Oregon State has just one. So if Penn State advances, those three scores that would potentially be higher than Allex's would not count toward the two who advance from all-around.
But it'll still be tough for Allex. Her lead isn't big on other competitors and the Beavers also had Kaytianna McMillan compete all-around the past two meets for an average of 39.39.
Reach the sports editor at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow @jjanssen11 on Twitter.
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