Region 5 Gymnastics Insider Podcast

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. 

Lots of sticks, Huge Smiles, Salutes and we even had a Balance Bar???? It was week 4 of NCAA action with a rather full list of NINE NINE's from our Alums. We were hoping to see more gymnastics from the BTN+ but grips, salutes and knee back handsprings stole the show. There was some competitive action in the MAC with two duos for you this week. It's for the BIG Salute for Week 4! 

In this week's episode we welcome back the MAC conference to gymnastics action in the NCAA. As the commentator said at Ball State we were waiting for the starter pistol to go off in the MAC! We had the first viral floor routine of the year… Region 5 Alum! The Mac Conference has more Region 5 Alums than any other conference in the country. Check out all the MACation from week 3.

The Big Ten kicked off the 2021 NCAA season with some crazy shin vaults, bars redos and 10's or was it? We got to see successful debuts from many of our freshman alums not to mention awesome performances from the vets. Though the  gymnastics was fun exciting and fun to watch as usual it  may have been overshadowed by the post routine where's my mask!!!!! Listen in for our recap of all from our Region 5 Alums in Week 2.

 NCAA season that wasn't then is! On this episode we recap opening weekend in the SEC with new faces making an impact, Waligora returns to competition, and the great Anastasia Webb. We discuss the new score changes and some of the differences we are going to see this season. Some new combinations (at least in college) were performed this week and of course we talk about them. The face mask bling, the air fives and tunnels, cardboard people, Hailey Bryant.... we have it all this week!

We sat down with Alabama Senior Shea Mahoney for our Alumni Conversation. Shea talks about what it's like competing in the SEC and the SEC Championships, her style change on floor, where does her energy come from, story about balance beam, her achilles injury and how that affected her at the start of her Bama career, senior night, favorites and more! 

In this podcast we introduce you to our first ever Region 5 All Decade Team. Region 5 is a very talented region with lots of accomplished gymnasts. The list of accomplishments includes many regional, national and even Nastia Cup titles. These athletes on our All Decade Team list are the best of the best over the last 10 years. Find out who made this list! 

R5 Alumni Conversation with Florida Senior Amelia Hundley. We talk floor routines, smiling full turns, the HUNDLEY SHUFFLE, her Gator Chomps, memorable and embarrassing moments, favorite skills and more from this future college coach.  Check out her College Salute 5 Most Important Questions on our Youtube Channel. 

This Senior Alumni Conversation episode is with Georgia senior Rachel Dickson. Rachel talks about her achilles injury suffered 2 days before the season began, how college has impacted her in and out of the gym, her plans for 2021, favorite moments, embarrassing moments and she joins us in our virtual NCAA Championships Final 8 picks. Check out her College Salute Most Important 5 questions on our Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClR_iVdDL4Qk4t_0M23vJWg

The 2020 season was cut short with seniors career coming to end with the the closure they may have wanted. We at the Region 5 Insider are hoping to provide some closure with our Alumni Conversation. Our first senior conversation is with Michigan Senior Lexi Funk. We look back on her JO and College career and she talks about her thoughts on the end of her career at Michigan. There are a lot of great stories mixed in so enjoy!       

On this episode we mix it up with our normal alum college salute but also recap how our JO/Elite athletes did at Nastia Cup and Gymnix. Some great senior meets in week 10 not knowing that it would be the last meets of the 2020 season. Shea Mahoney simply shined in her final performance while Bre Showers got a surprise she will never forget. That and we break down Kent State vs Western Michigan and Michigan vs OU. We are not done with the college salute for this season just yet, more on that in the podcast.