2004 Super Six Challenge: Post Meet Commentary

A super meet to start off the 2004 season in style took place on Friday, January 9th in Coleman Coliseum.  The Crimson Tide hosted Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Denver and Oregon State before 9,817 fans and came away with the golden ring. This is the third time Bama has won this meet, which had its inaugural run in 2000. The ladies overall looked very impressive and still left a few areas to work on back in the gym as they prepare for a dual home meet this next week against Penn State. Some of the highlights for the Tide on each event were as follows:

Uneven Bars

Ashley Miles: (9.30) Combination of toe-on to handstand to giant full turn to immediate Tkatchev, double layout landed just low (brushed knees down on mat briefly before re-standing). She will be a mainstay on this event for the Tide in 2004. Scoring potential without that missed landing was easily 9.90 or higher.

Brittany Comeaux (9.875) The freshman from Louisiana threw a giant full turn to a huge Tkatchev. Reached all handstand positions and dismounted solidly with a double front, feet a little split on the landing. She was amazingly calm despite the obvious pressure situation presented with following a missed routine.

Shannon Hrozek (9.825) Great extension and toe-point on the giant uprises. A beautiful full turn completely on top of the high bar. A little separation of her legs on the Gienger release as she was coming down and shooting over to the low bar. Stuck landing of the double tuck out of a giant half turn (both revolutions above the high bar). To increase the score she will add the Shaposhnikova release and try to ace the transition from high to low bar in a perfect handstand position.

Dana Filetti: (9.825) Excellent form on her Shaposhnikova and Gienger release moves but she missed a handstand during the transition to the low bar that she usually hits and had just a slight, in place check on her landing of the double front dismount.

Mari Bayer: (9.225) Wow, she was heading towards a 9.90 with her perfect handstands and the huge Jaeger release (toes pointed) but just got a bit tangled in her arm changes while doing a final giant full to prepare for her dismount, leading to a drop from the bars because of form breaking in the process.

Jeana Rice: (9.90) Once again to the rescue, our savvy senior performed like clockwork, throwing two inverted giants to a giant with a half turn to Tkatchev and a dismount of a full in (stuck). This would have been higher if she had just hit one of her last handstands a little cleaner.  We're glad she's on our team.

Balance Beam

Michelle Reeser: (9.825) A very solid routine, highlighted by a bhs-layout-back dive onto the beam (Korbut). Switch leap to wolf jump; switch leap to straddle; bhs to full twist dismount.  Michelle will add more difficulty over the next few weeks most likely in her leap series and possibly with a punch front.

Rachael Delahoussaye: (9.825) A great routine, no bobbles or missed connections. She threw a wolf full with perfect form and amplitude, landing without a check. Also, a bhs to layout flight series; a switch leap to wolf jump combination and a switch leap to back dive (very nice extension and toe point, kicking out as she dove backwards).  Dismounted with a gainer back pike, sticking the landing. She hopes to add a third element to her flight series to increase her scoring potential.

Dana Pierce: (9.725) Although she owned up to feeling a little nervous at the Super Six right before her performance, it has been clear from her pre-season workouts that Dana is determined to secure her position in the line-up on this event for 2004.  She was a little shaky on the two-footed back handspring to layout (leg lifted to check her landing) but the rest of the routine was solid and showed off her power and great condition.  Her switch side leap is unbeatable in terms of amplitude and the way she attacks this move is amazing. Once she consistently lands that flight series week in and week out, look for her scoring to match or better her high of 9.925 a year ago at Georgia.

Shannon Hrozek (9.775) This was a pretty good routine but she did have one obvious bobble on her required full turn.  Her flight series was really nice (bhs-layout-bhs), as was her switch leap to bhs (gymacro) series.  Nice hitch kick to immediate sheep jump (one small check back of her foot, but not a major interruption in the flow of the routine) and a double twist dismount, one foot checked on the landing. Good concentration.

Mari Bayer: (9.875) This was a great routine with no obvious deductions. She increased the difficulty of her dismount by throwing a combination switch leap to immediate gainer back pike, nailing the landing. She will add a switch leap to side split jump combination for bonus in the near future.

Jeana Rice: (9.150) Wow, the last time she fell on the balance beam was back somewhere in 2001 we think. That's why we call her the machine. Perhaps she was pumped up with adrenaline from the crowd and could not contain it during her flight series, as she dropped off after her first layout when unable to keep her balance. The rest of the routine was fine except for a small step on the dismount of a double twist and a ¾ wolf jump instead of her usual wolf full.

Floor Exercise

Lauren Holdefer: (9.875) She's in great shape for her senior season, as demonstrated through two very high and tight double backs (first and third passes).  Some new dance moves added a little flair to a familiar routine. She was a little off the music at the end, likely causing a small deduction by the judges. Great start for the Northport native.

Dana Filetti: (9.325) We were so looking forward to this routine being showcased in front of the home crowd.  Just looking at this score, one would assume that Dana fell at some point in her routine but after landing her opening pass of a 2 ½ twist, she seemed to jolt to an abrupt stop briefly at the end of her second pass before moving into her final dance moves and the third pass which she bailed on (it was supposed to be a double twist but she ended up throwing a single twist with an obvious form break/split legs mid-air). Now, the judges both had her start value at a 9.80 so they came up with an additional .475 in deductions, no doubt based on the second and third passes primarily.  We'll check with the coaches for more details in the coming week.  We still have high hopes for this routine being a regular in the line-up.

Jeana Rice: (9.950) She kicked it in big time with a new second pass (front handspring-front full-front pike) that followed the super opening pass of a full in pike.  Her final pass, a whip to double full was landed beautifully.  Nice dance, overall presentation. The new music fits well with Jeana's personality.

Stephanie Kite: (9.900) A perfect opening pass (front handspring to double full to punch front) and a round off to whip ½ to front (second pass) was well-received by the crowd and judges. Stephanie knew this was one of her best routines ever.

Alexis Brion: (9.925) A new routine that she sold beautifully.  A whip through to a bhs to a sky-high double tuck was her opening pass and she ended with another double tuck, just as high, landed just as well. This is a fun routine that Alexis seems to really enjoy performing. Stay healthy, score big.

Ashley Miles: (9.950) Double layout to open, a front handspring to front full to front layout (landed on a dime) for her second pass, a double pike to close. She has mastered this routine and needs the challenge of new music, dance and perhaps a fourth tumbling pass. It really seems like a walk in the park for Ashley, she is so athletic and almost effortless in her tumbling.

Vault

Jeana Rice: (9.925) Yurchenko 1/1, stuck cold. This should have been the winning vault in the meet with no less than a 9.950.  Both Byrd (UGA) and Miles (UA) had clear checks on their landings and yet scored the same. Rice also appeared to gain more than acceptable distance on her vault. Kathy Johnson of ESPN2 commented that Miles gained enormous height above the vault table with her Yurchenko 1/1, which may explain why she scored the same despite a small bunny hop back on the landing. We certainly won't argue the final outcome.

Dana Filetti: (9.800) Her vault debut for the Crimson Tide went very well. She threw a Yurchenko full twist on - pike off, sticking the landing. There may have been a deduction in the timing and position of her twist in relation to the vault table and the fact that she bent forward at the waist during her landing.

Lauren Holdefer: (9.625) She threw a front pike (9.90 start value).  She had so much power from her vault run and from her push off the vault table that, when she opened up too late on the pike, it caused her to bound forward even more so on the landing.  By twisting this vault, much of this energy can be channeled, hopefully resulting in a smoother landing and a higher score.

Dana Pierce: (9.875) She was put into the line-up at the last minute when Shannon Hrozek was not having a good warm-up.  Dana responded by throwing a Yurchenko 1/1, sticking the landing along the way. Great height and form until she started to pike down a bit as she anticipated the landing. The Tide needs her throughout the season on this event to strengthen their depth and it looks like she's ready to meet the challenge.

Alexis Brion: (9.850) Front pike with a ½ twist had great height, form, but also a bunny hop back on the landing due to her enormous power that cost her .15. It looked terrific otherwise.

Ashley Miles: (9.925) Great height, extension, toe point, rotation and landing until the small bunny hop.

 Next meet: Penn State at Coleman Coliseum: January 16, 2004 at 7:30 pm.