Young Tide Puts Fear of Big Al into UGA VI

That old cliche "down to the wire" truly gained new meaning January 18th as the annual gymnastics love-fest between Georgia and Alabama once again took center stage. And what a great competition it was for the fans, teams and respective coaches in attendance.  The crowd was just short of a sellout but perhaps the frigid temperature outside kept the rest away.  Too bad, because they missed a meet for the ages.  Two juniors from each team posted perfect 10s on the balance beam (Cory Fritzinger of UGA and Jeana Rice of UA) but it was the steadfast performance of UGA junior Chelsa Byrd and the amazing composure of UA freshmen, Mari-Christine Bayer and Dana Pierce, that really told the tale on this night.  And to parallel the team scoring outcome, Byrd won the all-around by just .025 over UA junior Jeana Rice, who had defeated Byrd last week by .10 at the Super Six Challenge to take the top spot.  So much to highlight, so little type space. 

Uneven Bars

The Tide started out on the uneven parallel bars since this was UGA's home meet for the second week in a row.  Bama was looking a little sluggish in the long warm-ups and it was not surprising that they scored a little lower than expected.  But there were still many high points to mention, including much better routines from freshmen Dana Pierce (9.85) and Ashley Miles (9.80).  Pierce added her inverted giants this week and showed much tighter form during these moves and nailed her toe-on front tuck dismount.  Miles actually had a better routine overall than last week in terms of form and reaching her handstands but her double front dismount continues to receive deductions for severe cowboying and a step forward on the landing.  As Miles reaches peak condition, this routine should start to score higher. Sophomore Shannon Hrozek (9.85) had a magnificent routine, only failing to reach vertical on one of her handstands but nailing the double tuck dismount out of a full pirouette.  Sophomore Michelle Reeser (8.975) fell on her Tkatchev release and struggled on her landing of the reverse tuck somersault off the high bar.  Senior Kristin Sterner also struggled for the second week in a row by clipping her foot on the full twisting Tkatchev release and taking two steps backwards on her double front dismount for a 9.65.  Junior Jeana Rice finished with a solid 9.875 that was marred by a deep bend at the knees on her landing of the full-in dismount.  A very nice exhibition routine was performed by freshman Dana Filetti (9.825), who completed all major release moves (toe on straddle shoot to the high bar and a Geinger) and the 1½ pirouette to a double front dismount, which she nailed.  This was a confidence booster indeed for Filetti and we may see her in the line-up at Arkansas Friday night as a result of this performance.  The Tide scored a total of 49.025 on the uneven bars.

Vault

Alabama made huge advances on this event in just one week with the addition of Kristin Sterner's 10 vault (Yurchenko half off front layout) and Mari-Christine Bayer's Yurchenko 1/1.  These scored a 9.85 and a 9.80 respectively.  Ashley Miles (9.875) just slightly piked down her Yurchenko 1/1 and had to windmill her arms a bit to keep from moving from her landing spot.  Shannon Hrozek started off with a front pike, landing it with one step to check her forward progress (9.725) and junior Stephanie Kite threw her front pike with a ½ twist for a 9.775.  Jeana Rice threw a beautiful Yurchenko 1/1 (9.875) but hopped backwards on impact.  She was just off center slightly as well.  Dana Pierce exhibited a Yurchenko layout and received a 9.60.  The Tide had a total of 49.175 on the vault.

Floor Exercise

Georgia was leading Alabama by .275 at this juncture and the Tide had a golden opportunity to make up some ground via one of their signature events.  Despite excellent routines by Stephanie Kite (9.775), Mari-Christine Bayer (9.800) and Jeana Rice (9.875), the judges' scores remained tight.  Kristin Sterner had a great routine going until her final double pike pass was landed a little low with chest forward (9.85).  And to cap it off, THE floor routine of the night was next performed by Ashley Miles (9.95), who landed every pass perfectly (double layout, front to front full to front layout, double pike) and danced throughout with a huge smile on her face.  Michelle Reeser (9.825) had to check her landing of the double pike on her opening pass and was slightly off her final dance move punch out (timing with the music).  She seemed to lose a little of her sparkle after the first pass but made up for it in a big way on the Tide's final event, balance beam.  Junior Lauren Holdefer exhibited her new floor routine and started out with a very difficult double front, which was landed low.  We were not able to catch the score for this routine but expect to see her in the line-up against Arkansas.  Alabama's total on the floor exercise was a 49.300.

Balance Beam

After seeing UGA's Cory still Fritzinger score a 10 on the beam, there was a feeling that, if the Tide hit their routines, similar good tidings would occur.  Starting off again this week was Shannon Hrozek, who threw a solid routine for a 9.75 (she may have missed a connection bonus and she is only dismounting with a gainer layout off the side of the beam).  Michelle Reeser was in a zone of her own, never stopping throughout her fantastic routine, which was highlighted by a flight series of back handspring, layout, Korbut (back dive down to the beam) and a punch front (9.875).  Dana Pierce showed no signs this week that she was a freshman, looking super-confident with a back handspring - layout flight series and the best amplitude of the night on her switch leap - straddle - straddle combination, as well as the side switch leap (9.925).  The judges were equally impressed with Kristin Sterner (9.875) and Mari-Christine Bayer (9.875), who threw a front aerial to immediate back handspring flight series and later added a front walkover to a leg scale.  The UGA crowd applauded when she completed her first one like a veteran, a standing split scale that she held in place for several seconds.  Jeana Rice impressed them even more with a flawless routine of her own (highlighted by a flight series of back handspring to two layouts and a wolf full) for a 10.00.  The Alabama gymnasts were holding hands throughout this routine and erupted with joy when Rice landed her double twist perfectly (perfect toe point as well).  Rice was engulfed by her teammates and the tears started after both "10"s were displayed by the judges.  Stephanie Kite exhibited her own solid beam routine and scored a 9.80.  She was able to land the punch front mount with no trouble and the flight series (back handspring to two-footed layout) as well. Alabama finished with a 49.550 on this event and a total of 197.050.

The Crimson Tide is back on the road for the weekend of January 24 - 26, 2003.  First up is the newest addition to NCAA gymnastics, the Arkansas Razorbacks, in Fayetteville.  On Sunday, the Tide will go head-to-head against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln.  We will have all the highlights for you during the meet, so be sure to "log in" at www.gymtide.com at 7 pm Friday night.  Roll Tide Roll!