Region 5 Gymnastics Insider Podcast

The college debut the Gymternet has been waiting a long time for, Gabby Perea in the competitive line-up. A new gymnastics program to make its first college salutes in 2023, the beauty and toe point of Illinois, stars in the making, triple full, double layouts , program highs and the GREEN and WHITE.... IT's a Chiefs Kiss!

Week 5 was filled with first career10's, 4 in one meet, Region 5 Alum with one of those and some instances where it's a mystery why it wasn't 10. Is their more subjectivity in college judging then we want to admit. The Alabama Tri meet became a salute to a MAC conference standout, how do Region 5 Alums rank in the national standings at the half way point, and we spotlight 3 Alums performances from D3 WhiteWater. That and who is Makarri  Doggette's biggest fans? No subjectivity there! 

The Insider gains ESPN status... At least one of us did! The floor performances from our alums in week 4 were through the roof even the Michigan Storm Trooper was impressed. The Auburn Gymnasties had their own take on floor routine choreography. Front handspring board entries on vault are making a comeback, lots of 9.9s and R5 Alum Olivia Karas drops by to give Kim her feedback.

There was an all Around record set by an alum while we learned another's key to success on bars is  wake boarding  We had a perfect 9.95, and a lawn dart 10 on vault in week 3. The 9.9 notebook was filled, some cool team routine interactions , Region 5 Media proves to be useful and Skyla Schulte is the QUEEN! That and more as we recap week 3 of NCAA action. 

The NCAA National Championship Banner was raised in Chrysler Center, Jade Carey made her debut in fine fashion. There needs to be consistency in scoring amongst divisions in the NCAA and we discuss it. Are you a fan of the two pass routine? Olivia Karas gives her opinion, lots of 9.9's, a huge vault, sharp movements could stab you or melt you depends on the gymnast. That and more for NCAA Week 2 of the College Salute.

The new Anastasia and the first college salute from Zivat, it's an A thru Z start to the 2022 NCAA season. We have new mounts, a collection of side somi's, the new EMU, Waligora, Podges, Hu, Rivers new faces and of course Claire Gagliardi looking for an Oscar. We discuss live stream commentary and R5 Alum Olivia Karas her first take on the new season in her Karas Kickover. All that and more in our NCAA Week One recap.

College Gymnastics is back and we are excited to bring you another season of the spine breaking coverage of our awesome Region 5 Alums. We highlight some of the new faces we are looking forward to seeing as well as some athletes we have yet to see compete in college. The Region 5 conference looks stronger then ever for this 2022 season and Region 5 Alum Olivia Karas is back with Karas Kickover take 2. 

We had the pleasure of sitting down with the 2022 NCAA All Around Champion and soul piercing performer Oklahoma Senior, now grad student Anastasia Webb. We have a great conversation about her memories in Region 5, her experiences at Oklahoma, the origin of her gymnastics style that is not short of adjectives, the NCAA Championships and more. Anastasia was one of the most underrated gymnasts during her career even though she was one of the best in the NCAA. This athlete was a champion in club, champion in college and on the road to be a champion in life. Listen in and find out more about Anastasia. 

University Florida senior Leah Clapper joined us for this episode of Alumni Conversation. Leah who is alway smiling which she shows from start to finish during her beam routine gives us the history behind her continuous smile. As we do with all our alums, we take her back to her Region 5 days and discuss how Region 5 has impacted her gymnastics in college. Leah has several good stories about her recruiting journey, how she started Zest and Finnesse and the lead up to her first perfect 10. This season was her first opportunity to compete in the post season and we discuss that experience and what take aways she had that will help her during her senior year.  

After a wild and crazy season which ended with a new member of the NCAA National Championship team club, we get a chance to look back on all the ups, downs and toe arounds that went on this season from the perspective of our Region 5 Alums. Our first Alumni Conversation is with a member of that National Championship team, Michigan Sophomore Gabby Wilson. We look back on Region 5 memories, crazy moments from this past NCAA season and of course all about Michigan's first national team championship (for the women). We also through in some of the wall non gymnastics questions to give you a better understanding of who Gabby is beyond the gymnast. 

The 2021 NCAA Championships will always be remembered as the team champions club gained its newest member. The University of Michigan became only the 7th program to win the Women's NCAA Championships while posting a program high score. Oklahoma Senior and Region 5 Alum Anastasia Webb won the all around and two event titles putting on stamp on her career. Region 5 Alum Olivia Karas was front in center for all the action at NCAA's in Texas and she is back to break it down with us. Lots of behind the scenes discussion from this historical championships. 

The NCAA Regional weekend was exciting from start to finish with nail bitter victories, upsets, outstanding celebrations and of course perfect 10's. We have lots to say about all the great post routine celebrations that occured over the whole weekend. We had two perfect 10's in the regional semi's in Tuscaloosa. SWEET 16 for our OSU Alums while two individuals continue to dance onto the NCAA Champs. We breakdown all four regionals from start to finish. 

In part 2 of our Conference Championships we break down the other conferences and highlight the Alums that won conference titles along with some performances in each conference that stood out including EMU all arounder Haydn Crossen who is making a huge impact for the Eagles this season. The SEC is always the best dressed like Sunday Church in the South and Nia may have used a trampoline on vault. Lots of 9.9's and we hand out our Best 5 for the Conference Championship weekend. 

TOO much went on during conference championship weekend that we had to split it in two! On this show we discuss our Fabulous 5 as well as a couple not so fabulous around the country. We talk BIG TEN Champs and are joined by Region 5 Alum, Michigan Wolverine Standout and the commentator of the meet Olivia Karas for an awesome discussion on the behind the scenes at Big Tens to the awesome underappreciated gymnastics some of our alums did during the champions. Oh Ya! Not to mention the excitement of the final results. 

The regular season has come to an end with a crazy CMU quad stream that felt like we were playing the game Frogger. We had some new Alums break into the line-up in the final week of the regular season along with some lights out performances for line-up veterans. We definitely had some big jumps, powerful swings, big time stuck landings in Week 10. 

We Step Hop and Salute the action of Week 9 with the appointment of the Toe Point President. There was a Front Pike half vault that brought us back to 1996. A 198+ score from a team we barely saw... Thanks BTN Minus. There were Front Double fulls galore even one into a front layout.  A couple 10's for the Webb and apparently close shots of feet  on the beam are important. 

This episode is certainly a "mixed bag" of gymnastics with college, elite and level 10 all in one. We had the pink and black of the Nastia Cup on display in the shadow box of Winter Cup. The Mania of Meet Themes including a Drag Queen, 2nd go around of the R5 Insider Classic, oh yeah we also had some fantastic college routines this week. The cup was full on this podcast for sure!

We salute week 7 of the NCAA with another Region 5 Alum perfect 10 and the perfect smile to go with it. Some awesome performances and close action in the MAC conference this week, BIG TEN Minus was unfortunately back this week. We need a new notebook after this weeks long list of 9.9's. It's getting exciting as the season draws close to the end. 

Region 5 Alums were rocking in week 6 of NCAA action. Some seemed to be giving us the speech of over hear look at me, oh you need a 9.9 hold my mask please! There was a 10 on vault and it was from a Region 5 Alum. We filled the notebook with 9.9's this week and had a few new routines performed for first time this season. We also learned that there was a Piked Yurchenko on bars!!! 

Not Much in the Heights of the SEC! We have a gym bag full of 9.9's this week. Mounts, Mounts, Mounts some old; some new; one classic! Tri-meet in the Big Ten, Sticky feet, no hand beam routine, Q Factor, and gymnastics lost a true pioneer in the sport.