Alabama returned to the road for another smash mouth competition against their arch-rival, the Georgia Bulldogs, in Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia, Friday, February 15. The crowd was boisterous and there was tension between the coaching groups at times, and there was also some great gymnastics going on! After a 20 minute pause to introduce 30 UGA alumni between the first and second rotations (by the way, someone had to wake up Coach Raschilla, who was snoozing against the vault by this time) the Tide went on to garner an excellent team score of 196.950 to UGA's 197.200.

As the visiting team, Alabama started off on the uneven bars, where sophomore Tiffany Byrd showcased some excellent handstands and a sharp Tkatchev for a 9.75. Freshman Shannon Hrozek rotated confidently but missed a few handstands and took a small hop on her landing of a double tuck for a 9.75. Sophomore Jeana Rice picked up the pace with a very strong routine, that included two reverse giants, a Tkatchev and a stuck full in dismount for a 9.85. Senior Raegan Tomasek followed in kind with a super high Jaeger release and a stuck double front dismount for a 9.85. Senior Andree Pickens threw her four major release moves with élan but slightly missed two handstands and scooted a bit forward on her landing of the full in for a 9.85. Senior Natalie Barrington (9.900) had one of her best routines of the year and landed her double tuck dismount chest high, no steps (she was elated!). The Tide had a team score of 49.200 on the bars while UGA had a strong vault team total of 49.500. We saw a very nice Hristakieva from sophomore Cory Fritzinger (9.925) and a dynamic Yurchenko full from sophomore Marline Stephens (9.975).

The Tide appeared relaxed and confident as they moved next to the vault, where Shannon Hrozek notched a 9.75 for a strong front pike (one hop forward on the landing). Sophomore Lauren Holdefer bounded forward out of her front pike but had impressive height and distance, earning a 9.70. Freshman Alexis Brion threw a pike with a 1/2 twist, taking a large hop to her left as she landed it for a 9.75. Her coaches and teammates were thrilled that she stood this vault up and raced to congratulate her! Next, Jeana Rice (9.90) and sophomore Erin Holdefer (9.875) threw their best vaults of the season, a Yurchenko with a full twist and a pike front respectively. Andree Pickens was inspired to throw a great Yurchenko full twist of her own, earning her a 9.975. Team score on vault was a 49.250, running score at this juncture was a 98.450, which tied Alabama with Georgia. The Dawgs mustered only a 48.950 on the uneven bars, highlighted by scores of 9.825 by Cory Fritzinger and Chelsa Byrd.

Having excellent depth on floor exercise this year, Alabama was able to move ahead of the GymDawgs by .175. Jeana Rice was grinning at the UGA student section as they made catcalls to her right before the start of her routine. She appeared to be inspired by their attempts to spook her as she tumbled a double pike, whip to a 2½ twist and finished with a whip to a double twist, for a 9.85. She has changed some of her dance moves, and her deductions likely came for a large step back on her first pass and perhaps for being off her music a bit at times. Senior Alexa Martinez mastered her opening pass this week of a front through to a double twist, enroute to three more passes, for a 9.875. Sophomore Stephanie Kite was as solid as ever, throwing her front through to a double twist, a front handspring, front full to a front layout, ending with a front handspring, roundoff, back handspring, layout step-out for a 9.85. Her deductions may have come from not selling the routine a little more (smiles and eye contact with the crowd can go a long way). Next up, freshman Michelle Reeser actually received noticeable applause from the partisan crowd after successfully completing her routine to "Devil Went Down to Georgia" for a 9.85. Her tumbling passes were solid but deductions likely were incurred for being off her music a bit at two points and the execution of her last pass was a little over powered on the final salto. The "best nerves" award would have to go to Raegan Tomasek, who nailed her opening pass of a super difficult double front Arabian and impressed the judges with the rest of her routine as well for a 9.925. Alexis Brion was put in the anchor spot this week on floor since Kristin Sterner was side-lined with an ankle injury. Like Jeana, she was pumped up by the student section's caterwauling and responded by going into orbit for about 3 seconds with her super high double tuck before returning to earth to display some jazzy dance moves, enroute to a 9.95. The Bama Nation was happy to see Lauren Holdefer exhibit on floor with two opening passes of a double tuck that she landed strongly. Team score on floor exercise for Bama was a 49.450 and their running score was a 147.900. UGA had strong beam routines but fell behind by .175 (running score of 147.725). Junior Breanne Rutherford (9.85) showed much improvement on this event compared to past years.

On the final rotation, Bama was facing their old nemesis, the balance beam. Raegan Tomasek set the stage beautifully with a 9.85 (front punch mount, three element flight series, front walk-over, switch leap, straddle leap combo, quarter dive to handstand) but the pressure was a little too intense for Tiffany Byrd, as she fell on the third element of her flight series (layout) for a 9.175. Enter freshman Shannon Hrozek, who stumbled on her leap onto the beam (bend at the waist, deducted .2 - .3) and another bend on her gym-acro series, resulting in a final score of 9.575. However, the experience gained here will prepare her for championship season. Alexa Martinez (9.75) initially had a marvelous routine going (straddle jump combo, flight series, were beautifully executed) but bent at the waist on her straddle Popa and later had a small balance check on her wolf Popa. To the rescue this week: Jeana Rice (9.925) and Andree Pickens (9.950). Jeana's routine was fluid and confident and Andree was simply in a zone, she was on top of every move, from the flight series, to the punch front to her double tuck dismount. Bama's team score on beam was a 49.050 and they finished with a 196.950. UGA was on their strongest event to end the meet and scored a 49.475 with excellent tumbling by Michelle Emmons (9.90), nice dance by Loren Simpson (9.925) and the best combination of tumbling and funky dancing by Marline Stephens (9.975).