1st Florida 197.775
2nd Alabama 197.350
3rd LSU 197.325
4th UCLA 197.200
4th Oklahoma 197.200
6th Georgia 197.175
This promises to be an exciting final – see you here Tide fans! Bama goes for #7 and a 3-Peat! Roll Tide and goodnight from Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. We’ll see you here tomorrow afternoon for the Super Six!
Alabama – 1st 197.350
Oklahoma and UCLA tied for 2nd – 197.200
Michigan was 4th at 196.850, Utah in 5th with a 196.200 (had to count a fall and a low score on beam, had two total falls). Arkansas finished 6th with a 196.150.
Kim Jacob finished tied for 12th in the All Around with a 39.425 and Ashley Priess finished 17th with a 39.325 (warrior!)
Florida’s Bridget Sloan wins the All Around with a 39.600, followed in 2nd by LSU’s Rheagan Courville with a 39.575. Emily Wong of Nebraska finished 3rd with a 39.525, along with Florida’s Marissa King and Michigan’s Katie Zurales.
The Crimson Tide is vaulting right in front of their crowd here at Pauley Pavilion. Bama needs to stick six vaults to secure their trip to the Super Six for 2013. Come on Bama!
Kayla Williams – left foot check back on landing – super amplitude – 9.850.
Kim Jacob – Y 1/1 – leg separation – left foot step back. 9.800
Ashley Priess – Y 1/1 – not a good block off the horse – off center to the right of the vault table with a hop. 9.800
Kaitlyn Clark – Y 1/1 – sticks that one for the Tide fans – 9.900
Lauren Beers – Y 1/1 – right foot check – small but needed that one to be stuck – huge in the air! 9.900
Diandra Milliner – Y 1.5 – one small step forward on the landing – 9.900
Oklahoma is through – 197.200. Michigan is through – 196.850. They will wait to see how this final rotation goes.
UCLA is at 148.025, Alabama is at 148.000 and Utah is at 147.975. Arkansas is at 146.875. The Crimson Tide finishes on vault, the Bruins finish on bars, the Utes on beam, and the Razorbacks on floor.
Ashley Priess – great opening pass of the double tuck – solid second pass – knee bend on double pike to close but she stands it up - takes a step back on the landing. 9.800
Lora Leigh Frost – opens with the double layout – solid – problem on the second pass – feet not straight under her, so she has to step back on the landing – closes with a double tuck – solid landing. 9.850
Lauren Beers – solid double layout to open – slides forward on landing her second pass but stays in bounds – double tuck to close – good job from the freshman. 9.875.
Sarah DeMeo – double front Arabian to open – lunging step forward but stays in bounds – 1.5 to front layout and closes with a super tight 2.5 twist for a 9.850.
Kim Jacob – super routine – pike full in to open, double pike for her second pass – closes with a super landing of the 1.5 to front 1/1. 9.925!
Diandra Milliner – nails the double front Arabian – no movement! Front through to a front to a 1/1 twist – controlled step forward on the landing – closes with a double pike – great ending! 9.950!
Oklahoma is in first with a 49.500 on bars and a team total of 148.050.
UCLA is on Vault after hitting a sizzling floor score of 49.450. They nail another sizzling effort with a 49.500! 148.025 after 3 rotations.
Arkansas on balance beam – 49.00 – 146.875 after 3 rotations.
Michigan is on floor – nice scores overall – dynamic music and tumbling – 49.400 – 147.575 after 3 rotations.
Diandra Milliner – hits all of her elements – no major balance checks – sticks the double twist dismount cold. 9.850
Kaitlyn Clark – solid routine from the sophomore – small check on her loso – also one small check of the foot back on landing the 1.5 twist dismount. Looked really confident up there! 9.800
Kayla Williams – great routine – hits all of her elements and sticks the 1.5 twist dismount cold. 9.90!
Sarah DeMeo – solid routine for the junior – executes all of her elements with confidence, head held high throughout – landed the double pike chest high – quick hop back. 9.850
Kim Jacob – awesome routine – tiny hop forward on the 1.5 twist dismount. Big smile throughout as she hit each element. 9.850
Ashley Priess – 9.825 – small check on the leap series – she threw a switch split leap to straddle to split jump combination to counter for possible disconnect error on the first two. All other elements were fine – stuck dismount of the switch split leap to gainer full twist.
Alabama is wearing a new leo – a sparkling, deep Crimson with the huge sequined A logo on the front.
Ashley Sledge – a little tight with this routine – nice handstands – solid Gienger – but a hop forward on the double layout dismount cost her. Bama needed this first one to be stuck solid. 9.800
Becca Alexin – solid routine from the senior – nice pirouetting on top of the bar – shaposh to pak salto combination – tiny step on the double tuck flyaway out of a giant 1/1. 9.800
Kim Jacob – missed two handstands – stuck the dismount of the double layout – Ray release looked solid – 9.850
Kaitlyn Clark – solid routine – shaposh – double layout dismount – scoot back on landing. 9.850
Sarah DeMeo – great routine from the junior – nice handstands, pike Jaeger release and a stuck double layout dismount. 9.875
Ashley Priess – 9.90 – solid routine – executes both releases – the Tkatchev to pak salto combination and the Khorkina – and small scoot back on the double layout.
After two rotations, Oklahoma leads with a 98.550 over Michigan, at 98.175. The rest of the teams only have one rotation in the books – Alabama scored a 49.275 on bars, Utah scored a 49.300 on floor. UCLA earlier scored a 49.075 on beam and Arkansas a 48.975 on vault in Rotation 1.
Arkansas on Vault – 48.975
Michigan on Bars – 49.400
UCLA on Balance Beam – 49.075
Oklahoma on Floor Exercise – 49.275
Alabama will compete tonight in Session II of the NCAA Championships for one of three spots to advance to the Super Six against today’s earlier top three scorers – Florida, LSU and Georgia. But this session tonight is going to be more of a challenge for the Tide because the teams include the host team, UCLA, the #2 seeded team, Oklahoma, the Utes of Utah, and the Michigan Wolverines, as well as the always scrappy Arkansas Razorbacks, who upset the Oregon State Beavers on their home turf two weeks ago at the Corvallis Regional.
To advance to the Super Six, Alabama does not need to be perfect but they must be consistently solid and confident like they were at SECs, beginning with their opening routine on the Uneven Bars, which senior Ashley Sledge will lead off. The handstands, big release moves and dismount landings will be critical elements that Alabama must hit in order to garner the highest score possible on this opening event. Senior Ashley Priess will anchor this event for the Tide and is one of the few gymnasts in the competition that will throw two major release moves, so we will need a big routine from her to close out.
Alabama will move next to the balance beam and we need to see them execute aggressively to impress these judges here tonight. Balance Beam and Floor Exercise earlier today were the tightest scoring events, so Alabama must be fluid in their moves and connect all the required series elements, or they will be hit hard by the judges.
Alabama will be on a bye in Rotation 4 but return in Rotation 5 on the Floor Exercise, where the Tide will be without senior Marissa Gutierrez and possibly senior Ashley Sledge. But Alabama will have five routines with E opening passes and if they land these chest high and in bounds, we should see a solid team score result.
Alabama will finish tonight’s competition on one of their strongest events, the vault. But again they will be without Marissa Gutierrez. Ashley Sledge is expected back on this event and senior Ashley Priess earned a super 9.90 at Regionals, so the Tide has decent depth to replace Gutierrez. But the Tide must stick their landings – they have arguably the best amplitude and distance with their vaults, but the judges also want to see controlled, stuck landings.
It promises to be another fantastic NCAA Championships – here’s hoping the Tide competes with fire, passion and aggression – leave nothing to chance Bama! Roll Tide!
