Hrozek walking off arm in arm with big smiles on their faces, going to join their teammates. Yoculan is being filmed with ESPN's Kathy Johnson. To the victor belong the spoils, for now. Roll Tide Bama fans, we'll be back in UGA IV's dogpound next week and hopefully will see an even greater showing from our ladies at that time.

was Richelle Simpson of Nebraska with a 39.500, in second was Chelsa Byrd with a 39.600 and our own Jeana Rice with a 39.700, in first place.

which is a great score considering the tough go on the balance beam and the number of new gals on each event. They finish in fourth place behind UF, Nebraska and the first place winner, UGA. Jeana Rice won the all around with a 39.700 and she placed first on the bars and beam. Yowza!!! Ashley Miles tied for first on vault and floor! Double Yowza!

throws a pike front and takes a hop forward for a 9.75. Mari-Christine throws a Yurchenko layout, worth a 9.80 and takes a small hop back. She receives a 9.70. UGA has a 9.80 and a 9.825 on bars so far. Dooley of UF has a 9.80 on floor. Lauren Holdefer throws a front pike and checks her landing with a tiny step for a 9.825. Jamie Ackerman of UGA just did an extra swing and then fell on her release move. Hrozek just nailed her front pike, with great form for a 9.85. Maybe we can drop that 9.70. Jeana Rice is next with her perfect Yurchenko 1/1. Way to go junior! She gets a 9.925 and she may have won the all around with that final fantastic routine. Sarah Patterson is giving her a long, tight hug, no doubt praising her for not giving up and helping to lead this young team in her third year. Ashley Miles just finished with a 9.95, that was stupendous in approach, push off the vault table and landing. She got so high that she bounced from momentum of landing. Both judges gave her a 9.95. Bama finishes on vault with a 49.300.

at this point in the year and are not expected to score as high as they did on the floor event today because they do not have all of the gymnasts in the line-up that will be throwing the 10 vaults in the next several weeks and by post-season. However, this is the best event to end on if you do not get Olympic rotation because it is thrown one time and there are less chances to miss compared to the beam and bars especially.

for her floor routine. The score is a little lower than expected but perhaps due to the limited difficulty of her passes compared to some of the other routines the judges have seen. Mari-Christine throws two 1 1/2 twists in her first pass, a front handspring to punch front for her second and a double twist for her third pass. She will be upgrading over the next few weeks and has a full in and a triple twist in her arsenal. Jeana Rice is looking equally fabulous, nailing her double pike, her whip to a 2 1/2 twist and the double twist at the end. What will the judges think about the music (Motley Crue)? Well, apparently it's okay with them since they gave her a 9.90. Kristin Sterner is up with her new music but she steps out of bounds on her first pass of a double pike. What horrible luck! But she finishes in perfect fashion with another double pike. She receives a 9.90 and then a final score of 9.80 for taking that tiny step out. Ashley is up. Awe......right! Double layout nailed as well as the second and third passes (double pike to finish). She receives a 9.95 for a truly awesome routine by someone who is 5'8".

routine and next up is freshman Mari-Christine Bayer, who is so far perfectly timed on her passes and dance moves and smiling all the way!!! Great first routine from the San Jose native.

in terms of descriptions and scores for the next few minutes. Stephanie Kite starts us off on floor with her new routine and nails the front through to a double full (E element). She nails all of her passes and finishes with a bright smile for the judges. AJ Lamb of Nebraska gets a soaring 9.925 for her vault, which is first up for the Huskers. T-Byrd is next and lands her Yurchenko 1/1 low and to the left, limited distance from the vaulting table as well. Kite gets a 9.825 for UA to start us off well. Michelle Reeser is next. Perfect landing of her opening double pike pass. Nice second pass as well and she finishes the third and her final punch out jump to a perfect ending. Very good dance throughout and the timing of each move was great. Way to go sophomore!

is talking to Shannon Hrozek as the ladies prepare to do their 3 minute warm-up on floor, reassuring her about her beam routine and no doubt reminding her that she has been in this situation before and come through beautifully for the Tide when it really counts.

on floor and Rowland of PSU a 9.275 on the bars. McAvoy of PSU falls on her dismount as well and PSU will have to count two falls. She gets a 9.425. Dooley of UF gets a 9.875 and Waterhouse a 9.775 for their beam routines. Stuckey just threw a very nice Onodi on beam and is looking solid so far. She dismounts with a back pike off the end of the beam.

gets a 9.90 for her beam routine. Hey, we like the T-Byrd's floor music! She just completed her routine and it rocks!

on floor and Ackerman of UGA a 9.90 on vault. Bongiovanni of PSU gets a 9.775 for her bars but Rowland just fell off for the Nittany Lions while Chelsa Byrd gets a 9.95 for the Dawgs on vault. Unless UGA falls several times on the bars, they will win this meet going away, it looks like.

for their second bars worker and Gloudemans on floor gets a 9.825 for Nebraska. Emmons of UGA gets a 9.775 on vault. Carow of UF just fell off the beam but gets back on and then dismounts. Rowe gets a 9.875 for her vault for UGA.

in sixth place. This is what happened to UCLA a few years ago at the Super Six Challenge, with the Bruins also coming off a national championship title year and lots of new faces in the line-up. The Tide has time to think about their performance on the beam and prepare to relax for the floor exercise, which is where they can really shine. UF's Miner is on beam first and doing a good job so far. PSU's first gymnast up on bars got a 9.75 but their second gymnast fell on her dismount. Miner gets a 9.75 for her beam.

sacrificing the difficulty, Kristen Sterner just threw her entire mega difficult routine, including the punch front mount and the double pike dismount. She receives a 9.85 for stepping forward on her dismount. Bama finishes beam with a low 48.200 and will now go on a bye.

a stupendous routine and her teammates embrace her with joy. What a leader! She receives a 9.925. Freshman Dana Pierce is now debuting her routine. Maybe we could see three 9.90 or higher routines to finish? Nope, she fell on the E flight series of a two footed back handspring to two-footed layout. But Bama is throwing the difficulty tonight, not afraid to showcase it. Cory Fritzinger bounded out of bounds on her opening pass of a pike double on floor (we think it was a pike but had legs bent mid-air). UGA is getting the big scores on floor today from the other gymnasts. Pierce gets a 9.30 for her beam routine.

and Stephanie Kite almost fell off on her mount of a front punch but pulls it around and completes her two-footed layout. Bends at the waist however on her three leap series. Nice dismount of a rudi but she only receives a 9.40 for the routine. Patterson is grinning because she knows how invaluable this experience will be for the new members of the Tide beam set. Michelle Reeser is doing beautifully so far and nails all of her moves with confidence. She dismounts and earns a 9.725. The judges say this routine only started from a 9.90 but if so where did they take the other deductions? Beats us. Jeana Rice is next. This is starting to look alot like last year's Super Six Challenge beam set for the Tide, where we encountered lots of bobbles.

with her flight series as the Dawgs cheer loudly for Michelle Emmons' opening floor routine. Shannon possibly remembers the last time she was here (February 2002) and struggled with her routine but we know she will pull it together for future meets. It's where you finish, not where you start that counts.

on the beam and Bama is now warming up this event. Jeana Rice has that intense, focused look in her eye, nailing her double twist dismount in warmups just now. Punch front mounts by Sterner and Kite today and a double pike dismount by Sterner add to Bama's reputation as one of the best beam teams in the country. Scores adjustment: UA is at 49.10 and UGA at 49.075.

when the Tide was finishing the championship on beam while UGA was on floor. That's where we find ourselves again tonight except it's just the third rotation. How will we fare this time around? Well, with lots of new faces in the line-up (three) we again will have to be patient. Stephanie Kite, Dana Pierce, Michelle Reeser, and Mari-Christine Bayer are vying for three of the positions, while Hrozek, Rice and Sterner will anchor the beam, being first team All Americans.

from Jen French on beam and Richelle Simpson almost fell on her flight series but managed to recover and stay on. She dismounts with a single twist. The T-Bird is next for the Huskers as Siimpson scores a 9.825 on the beam. She completes her flight series but loses bonus connection on the switch leap to gainer back handspring. Two nice leaps and she dismounts with a single twist. Good job!

set, again some nerves were showing in the second and third routines; this is where Coach Patterson warned the fans to prepare for some lower scores due to this. Ashley Miles also looked quite nervous in her bar routine, going slower than usual to make sure she made every release and she landed the double front dismount with one step to the left for a 9.825. Sterner gets a 9.725 for just slightly clipping her right foot on both of her release moves and taking a step back on her double front dismount but junior Jeana Sterner just made up for that with a gorgeous set of her own, handstands reached on every transition move, two gorgeous inverted giants to a stuck full in dismount for a well-deserved 9.95! Total for the Tide on bars is a 49.125. We will take it!

with a nice set. Michelle Reeser is next and Shannon starts us off with a 9.875! Reeser has lots of form breaks but stays on and lands the tuck dismount back over the high bar with a large step backwards. This will not score high but it's her first time competing bars in over two years so it will serve as very useful experience. Nebraska has a gymnast off the beam on one of her moves (Julie Houk). Reeser gets a respectable 9.725 for her bars and Dana Pierce just threw her routine, again with some form breaks but a very nice toe on front tuck dismount for a solid landing with excellent distance from the bars! Way to go freshman!

and UGA a 49.025 on beam, one tenth behind the Huskers. Ashley Miles was struggling with her Shaposhnikova release from the low to high bar. Freshman nerves? Hrozek is starting us off in fantastic fashion, legs tightly together, beautiful toe point and extension, a great Geinger and a nailed landing of a high double tuck out of a full pirouette.

and Nebraska a 49.175 on bars. If the Tide can hit their routines on bars we have an excellent chance to score high because the routines are jam-packed with difficulty, including a full twisting Tkatchev by Sterner and a beautiful and high floating Geinger by Hrozek. Plus, our ladies are right smack in front of our Bama Nation crowd and they are urging them on through a great warm-up set.

on the vault and Waterhouse a 9.75 as well. Fritzinger gets a 9.125 on the beam and Cassie Bair is now up. Tiffany Byrd gets a 9.85 on the bars (double layout dismount, bent at waist and took a step but stood it up) while Harris gets a 9.90. Houk just finished her bars with no major mishap so the Huskers will not have to count the fall. She gets a 9.90. Cassie Bair gets a 9.80 for her beam and Kinsey Rowe is now finishing up for UGA. McAvoy of PSU gets a 9.775 on floor and Kinsey Rowe a 9.85 (she did a nice full twisting Korbut down onto the beam but took a fairly large step on her dismount of a double twist). Nebraska is in the lead with a strong bars set. Rowland of PSU gets a 9.875 on the floor.

on vault and Sapunar a 9.875 on the beam. Byrd of UGA almost missed her footing on the back handspring to layout but caught herself enough to stay on. Lamb of Nebraska gets a 9.175 on bars and Stroud gets a 9.65 on her vault. Byrd gets a 9.85 on the beam and Orley Szmuch gets a 9.75 for her vault and Simpson of Nebraska a 9.8 on the bars. Cory Fritzinger fell on her leap series and her routine will start from a 9.8 as a result.

for the Dawgs while AJ Lamb is up on bars for the Huskers. Schatz is now going on vault and does a front pike with a large step forward. Landgraf gets a 9.725 on the bars and Emmons gets a 9.700 on beam. Bongiovanni gets a 9.6 on the floor. A fall on bars for AJ Lamb and a 9.65 on vault for Schatz. Erinn Dooley just threw a great Hristakieva vault with a hop forward on landing, not much distance but otherwise looked solid. Sapunar finished a solid beam set.

for UGA and on bars for Nebraska is Libby Landgraf. UF will start with Kim Schatz on the vault and PSU has Nicki Bongiovanni on floor and she takes a huge step out of bounds on her opening pike pass. Emmons finishes her beam without any major glitches so UGA is off to a good start. UF is still doing their 3 minute touch on vault.

in colors of silver (the bodice) and a carnelian red on the sleeves. UF is in baby blue and black velvet while Penn State is sporting a marine blue velveteen with sparkling netting on the sleeves and upper shoulders, an outfit we saw at last year's Super Six. Nebraska is sporting a sparkling black outfit. Alabama is in deep cranberry velveteen with a sweetheart bodice, contrasted by a see-through netting on the sleeves and upper bodice which also sports a eye-catching silvery trim.

and hope that you are still with us. The judges are: Marian Dykes, Betty Sroufe, Yvonne Hodge, Cindy McLane, Brant Lutska, Mark Welch, Lois Colburn, and Mary Lou Dillard.

(after some fireworks and another five minutes of swirling lights). Is there is a fire marshall in the house? Watch out for UGA IV, he might take a chomp out of that ankle. UGA will start the meet on the balance beam.

Only Ashley Miles got the semblance of a cheer other than from the Bama faithful. The Tide moves to the bye section for rotation one. Florida is next and they get booed by some of the Georgia fans. Back UGA IV back! Florida will start on the vault since they got Olympic rotation. Darn those gators they always get lucky with the draw.

is up next and they have alot of seniors on the squad this year, including Katie Rowland. They were hit with a rash of injuries last year, which hindered their return to the NCAAs. Alabama is introduced next and gets a roar of approval from the Bama Nation present. The Georgia crowd gives no applause, as usual. We are fierce rivals after all.

for some reason and Tiffany Byrd gets a loud burst of applause from the Bama Nation. She looks great and will be going all around for the Huskers today. They move to the uneven bars to prepare for competition in rotation one. Oklahoma is introduced next along with their coach Steve Nunno. They will go on a bye for rotation one.

Suzanne hugs some of her gymnasts from the past and we get ready to start the meet. This should be a good one, with several teams that appeared in the NCAA last year, only Oklahoma and Penn State failing to qualify to the 2002 NCAA finals that were held at Alabama back in April.

students holding signs that reflect Suzanne Yoculan's last 20 years of coaching at UGA. Still waiting for the teams to enter the arena which should be a while because the announcer is going down every one of these boards, calling out accomplishments of the UGA teams over the years.

at Stegeman Coliseum and we are awaiting the ladies' walkout. It doesn't look like a sell out for today's competition but that may be due to the 4 pm start on a Saturday afternoon. Here we go!

Lauren Holdefer will be in the 7th position and would be inserted only if one of the first six already mentioned were not landing their passes, so it looks like we will have to wait awhile also to see her floor debut. The Bama fans are yelling at each other across the arena (Medalist Club Section 1 is in the upper tier straight in front of us and RaraRuss's section is to our right). They are trying to get this afternoon crowd going early.

and we see Stephanie warming up to her new music first, so that's a safe bet that she will start us off again for the third year, followed by Michelle Reeser. Dana Filetti is cheering her on with a big grin and does not appear too disappointed that her debut on floor will be delayed at least another week. Mari-Christine is now on the floor and dancing through her routine with a huge California smile! Jeana Rice is next to Motley Crue (oh you ba-a-d girl as Austin Powers would say). Kristin Sterner and then Ashley Miles will finish us up on the floor. Ashley is feeling the bounce on UGA's floor and is quickly trying to adjust to make sure she minimizes steps on the landings. Jeana will throw a double pike tonight instead of the full in.

grandmother are here for her first collegiate meet, along with the Sterners and Holdefers.

as she watches her ladies warm up on the vault. Freshman Breasha Pruitt just walked by along with Ashley Miller. It looks like freshman Marie Fjordholm is not going to vault or do beam today.

Hello Coach Mal Moore, Coach Mike Price and the guys, Jack and Susan, Donna and Sam, Rebecca and Jeremy, Miss Nellie Sanders and Lynne and Jodey Swann, to name a few. Bama brought a whole bunch of fans, including parents and grandparents of our gymnasts and they are being coordinated by RaraRuss in the stands to our immediate right. Bama fans are known for yelling the loudest and longest in Stegeman Coliseum until we set off a bunch of yappy dawgs howling in response. More of that to come later.

as soon as we find out what everyone will be wearing because you can never tell from the warm-ups. One thing's for sure, our ladies will be tres elegant. For a moment we thought the UCLA Bruins were going to be here afterall because the Florida Gator team is dressed in baby blue and black. Hmmm....their new coach is a former Bruin...do you think she is trying to convert them? There's not any orange to be found on them today and perhaps they've also disposed of the gator chop.

Nebraska's Tami Harris could almost be twins, they look so similar. But there's only one of them who is a reigning first team All American on the balance beam, and that's our sophomore Shannon. Michelle Reeser is looking solid on beam warmups as well as on the bars so we expect to see her at least a few times tonight.

What a superb punch front by Stephanie Kite on the beam to mount but she was then off on the spectacular back handspring to two-footed layout. The coaches are trying to decide who will go on beam and it's a cat-fight. What a great problem to have. Mari-Christine is looking very elegant in her leaps and Kristin Sterner is once again the leader on beam (along with Jeana Rice) that we've come to depend upon.

We have just watched the Tide go through a magnificent bars warm-up and are right in front of them as they do a 15 minute warm-up on the balance beam. Despite sporting several freshmen in the line-up they are looking remarkably confident and are warming up with excellent focus. Alabama will start on a bye and then begin on uneven bars and finish on the vault in rotation six. They were hoping to finish on beam of course since this has become their signature event but you can't have it all.