Katherine Grable went tumbling out of bounds on her opening double front Arabian pass, so the Razorbacks ended with a 49.350 on floor while Alabama had a 49.300 on beam.  Both teams finished with  a score of 197.100. 

Amy Borsellino of Arkansas won the all around – she had a dynamic vault, floor routine and was strong on bars and beam as well for the Lady Gymbacks.

Sarah and Rene are being interviewed by ESPN’s Kathy Johnson-Clarke and both are happy with the outcome.  Arkansas competed with fire and confidence tonight after what has been a tough first two months for them.  They have to feel positive going forward but still have an uphill climb with the RQS starting this week.

Coach Patterson is now reporting on WVUA with our team that Marissa appears to be okay – they do not believe it is an achilles but will make sure once she is back in Tuscaloosa by having her see the doctor.  Coach is proud of how well the team responded on the balance beam and tallied another 197 plus score, this time on the road. 

The Tide hosts the UCLA Bruins next week in Coleman Coliseum and it should be a doozy! The fans will love the great talent and presentation on floor from the Bruins, so everyone needs to come out and support the Tide against the 6 time NCAA champs, who are hosting this year’s national championship in Los Angeles in April.

Congratulations to both Alabama and Arkansas for a great competition! Roll Tide and we’ll see you next week here on gymtide.com.

Diandra Milliner – what a routine from the sophomore – the smoothest, most rhythmic routine ever – she also nailed the double twist dismount. 9.90 and well-deserved.

Kaitlyn Clark – hits most of her elements but has a shoulder balance check on the front kickover (no beat jump out of it either) and also takes a large step forward on her dismount of the 1.5 twist. 9.775

Kayla Williams – leap onto the beam to running switch split leap 1/4 turn – punch front (without beat jump out of it, so that will be deducted for no connection)  – bhs to loso – beat jump – stops then does a perfect Popa – straddle to wolf jump – dismounts with a 1.5 twist, step forward on the landing.  9.650 – they deducted her mainly for the missed connection.

Sarah DeMeo – great routine from start to finish - stands up the double pike dismount with a hop in place. 9.90

Kim Jacob – V straddle press – switch split 1/2 – bhs to lo – lo – solid! Straddle full – small arm balance check but keeps moving - full turn – barani – goes for the stick on the 1.5 twist dismount landing – checks it with a foot shift - solid effort for a 9.825 (grin).

Ashley Priess – no problems with this routine – 9.90

Ashley Priess – first two passes look solid – double jump turn in tuck position – closes with a double pike – nice finish. 9.800

Lora Frost – solid opening double layout and executes her final two passes without a problem for a 9.825.

Sarah DeMeo – beautiful dance, presentation and tumbling was solid as well. 9.875

Ashley Sledge – slides back on her opening double tuck but finishes strong with her final two passes (double pike to close) for a 9.800.

Kim Jacob – pike full in to open – closes fine with a double pike and a 1.5 to front layout for a 9.90

Marissa Gutierrez – jams the landing of her opening double layout and steps forward and then stops due to obvious pain – has to be carried off – she is icing it now with help from the trainers.

Exhibition: Lauren Beers – nice routine from the freshman but she steps just over the line on her final double pike pass.

Kaitlyn Clark – Y 1/1 – clean vault – tiny hop back – 9.875

Kayla Williams – Y 1.5 – step back on landing – 9.850

Lauren Beers – Y 1/1 – off centered a bit – step to the right on landing – good distance. 9.825

Ashley Sledge – Y 1/1 – huge hop back and to the left on landing.  Big amplitude and distance however for a 9.875. 

Marissa Gutierrez – Y 1/1 – super vault – stuck it cold! 9.950

Diandra Milliner – Y 1.5 – one step back on the landing. 9.875

Exhibition: Kim Jacob – Y 1.5 – 9.775 – legs split on entry but better landing than in warm-ups.

Ashley Sledge – 9.825 – hop back on the double layout dismount.

Becca Alexin – 9.825 – solid routine – tuck double flyaway dismount pulled in a little close to the bars.

Carley Sims – 9.775 – tuck full in dismount – head down and step on landing – rest of routine looked solid except for flexed feet on the Tkatchev release.

Kaitlyn Clark – 9.825 – stuck double layout dismount – not as crisp on the handstands.

Sarah DeMeo – 9.900 – nice routine in terms of her form, toe point but some handstands were not vertical - stuck double layout dismount.

Ashley Priess – 9.800 - checked the landing of the double layout dismount, feet separated, step back to control - not as crisp on her handstands except for the final one before her two giants to the dismount.

Exhibition: Kayla Williams – sticks the tuck full in dismount but slings it out, thus not gaining much amplitude.  Rest of routine was solid but a little labored in execution – included a straddle Jaeger and a pak salto.

Alabama is being introduced first to the home crowd here in Barnhill Arena.  They move over to the uneven bars to chalk up for their first event.  The Crimson Tide is wearing a ruby red leo with the huge script A covering the majority of their torso and wrapping back around their left hip.

Arkansas is introduced next.  Hogs are in the house! They love their Gymbacks here in Fayetteville.  The Razorbacks are wearing a metallic red leo with black contrast criss-cross straps on the upper back.

The Alabama Crimson Tide is coming off their best performance of the season against the Auburn Tigers, tallying an impressive 197.650 team score that saw them hit all four events for the first time this season.  Bama was aggressive and focused from start to finish in that meet and will need to follow the same formula this week on the road here in Barnhill Arena against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Alabama historically struggles on uneven bars in this arena because they usually compete against the Razorbacks earlier in the season.  However, this is their 8th competition of 2013 and the line-up, which will include freshman Carley Sims tonight, is close to being solidified, so if senior Ashley Sledge can hit a big score with her lead-off routine, this should pump up the rest of the team to execute with confidence.  Moving to the vault, their strongest event, we need to see excellent amplitude and stuck landings.  Look for Williams and Milliner to deliver the Y 1.5 vaults tonight.

In the third rotation, Alabama will mix-up the floor exercise line-up tonight by inserting Sarah DeMeo in the 3rd spot and we will possibly see Sledge throw her double layout.  Milliner will take a rest but anything can change during the 3 minute touch warm-up.  Bama needs to sell their routines like they did last week at home and stay up and in bounds!

Finishing on balance beam, Alabama looked pumped and aggressive during their extended warm-up and will need to keep this going in the competition proper.  The line-up is the same as last week but Priess will anchor tonight and may throw a new E element if the first five gymnasts up nail their routines. 

It’s the Hogs and the Crimson Tide! Roll Tide!

Alabama moves to the balance beam for their final extended warm-up before tonight’s competition begins at 7:00 pm.

Kathy Johnson Clarke and Bart Conner will be calling this meet for ESPN.

Diandra Milliner will lead off on beam again, followed by Kaitlyn Clark, Kayla Williams, Sarah DeMeo, Kim Jacob and senior Ashley Priess will anchor this week.

Working in the exhibition slot this week is Gutierrez.

Bama is attacking the beam quickly and aggressively with each rep.  Nice lo-lo series just then from Kim Jacob.  Kaitlyn Clark working on her flight series timing – also throws a front kickover. 

Gutierrez looking very sharp on the beam with her reps. Extra effort with her toe point and extension on the switch split leap to straddle side jmp combination. 

Nice double twist from Diandra Milliner (dismount). Super Popa from Kayla Williams – got an extra cheer from Sarah DeMeo.  DeMeo then throws her own double pike dismount with only a small step on landing.  Bama is pumped!

Warming up on floor for the Tide in tonight’s competition order: Priess, Sledge, Milliner, Jacob, Gutierrez and DeMeo.  Exhibition warm-ups: Lauren Beers, Lora Frost, Brooke Parker and Carley Sims.

Double layout: Sledge, Frost, Gutierrez

Double front Arabian: Milliner, Parker

Pike Full-In: Jacob

Alabama will keep the same competition line-up this week on vault – Clark, Beers, Sledge, Williams, Gutierrez and Milliner, with Ria Domier and Kim Jacob in the back-up/exhibition positions. 

Jacob has been working a Y 1.5 again in the practice gym.  She had a strong one back in her elite days at Superior Gymnastics in North Carolina.  The gals just cheered her on loudly as she made her first attempt – but we see major leg separation, however, from start to finish, so that will require a little more work before it’s ready for competition.

Beautifiul Y 1.5 rep just now from Kayla Williams – legs tightly together in the air and a stuck landing, to Coach Raschilla’s delight, who gives her a high five.

Nice Y 1/1 from Lauren Beers – historically, Bama gymnasts have really liked the Hog vault table and GSE scored a 10 here in 2011