It's said that gator meat tastes like chicken but Big Al was only tasting victory Friday Night in front of 11,380 fans at Coleman Coliseum.  A terrific night of gymnastics was displayed by Alabama and Florida but it was the Tide's high performance on all four events that literally blew the Gators away.  Bama finished with a season high team score of 197.925 while the Gators had to settle for a 196.175.  The highlights were many so let's get to them...

Vault

Bama set the stage early with their highest vault total of the new season, a 49.575.  Senior Jeana Rice's Yurchenko 1/1 was beautiful in the air and landed with a small scoot back for a 9.90.  Sophomore Dana Pierce followed up with her highest and most distant Yurchenko 1/1 for a 9.825 (one step back) and sophomore Dana Filetti wowed the crowd with the Yurchenko full twist on, back pike off, one step in place on the landing (9.850).  Junior Shannon Hrozek proved the coaches were right about her huge Yurchenko 1/1 (9.875), executing it with confidence and incredible form in the air.  Junior Alexis Brion's front pike ½ twist was truly perfection (9.950) but it was sophomore Ashley Miles' Yurchenko 1/1 that garnered the 10 from the judges. Freshman Brittany Comeaux debuted her Yurchenko half on-front tuck-half tuck off for a 9.75 (form problems, a little flat in the air but she stuck the landing).  Bama was able to drop Pierce's score.

On the uneven bars, Florida had strong routines by senior Erin Pendleton (9.900), junior Kristen Stucky (9.875) and junior Erinn Dooley (9.875) and finished with a team total of 49.350.  Release moves included a Gienger and Pak Salto (Szmuch), a Deltchev (Stucky) and a 1½ pirouette to straddle Jaeger (King). Dismounts included a full in by freshman Breanne King (9.850) and double layouts by four of the remaining gymnasts, including freshman Samantha Lutz (9.825).  Florida was able to drop Lutz' score.

Uneven Bars

The Tide kicked it up a notch on the bars, coming away with their best performance of the season on this event as well (49.500).  This year, Ashley Miles and Jeana Rice reverse their bookend roles when they move from the vault to the bars, with Miles going up first to set the highest score possible and Rice anchoring this event.  Ashley completed her bars routine with superb concentration (toe on-toe off to full turn to Tkatchev, straddle back to handstand on the low bar, double layout dismount, stuck cold) for a 9.925.  Dana Pierce had one of her best routines, showing tight form on her inverted giants, reaching all but one of her handstands and completing the Tkatchev release for a 9.825. Shannon Hrozek was even better this week with her huge Gienger release and the pirouetting on top of the bar, nailing the double tuck dismount again for a 9.90.  Brittany Comeaux wowed the home fans with her awesome Tkatchev and a stuck double front dismount for a 9.875 while Dana Filetti had just a little leg separation on the Gienger release and a missed handstand enroute to a 9.850.  Jeana Rice also just missed vertical on the transition to the low bar but everything else looked very good for a 9.950 (awesome landing of the full in dismount).  Sophomore Larissa Stewart exhibited her routine for a 9.750 and just needs more reps to get back to her All SEC performance level on this event.  The Tide dropped Pierce's score.

Florida struggled a bit on the vault but all six gymnasts threw 10.00 valued vaults.  Freshman Katie Rue (9.875) and junior Orley Szmuch (9.875 for a Hristakieva, one hop forward) scored big for the Gators enroute to a team total of 49.150.  Florida dropped freshman Chantelle Tousek's score of 9.675 (Hristakieva, bounded forward several steps on the landing).

Balance Beam

Junior Michelle Reeser executed a very clean routine for a 9.850 and sophomore Rachael Delahoussaye was on the way to a similar score but uncharacteristically bent at the waist after landing her bhs-layout (9.675).  Dana Pierce picked up the pace for a 9.800 (bent at the waist after landing the layout but nailed everything else, including the dismount of a cartwheel to gainer full twist).  Shannon Hrozek matched her score after suffering a few slight balance checks on the gymacro and leap series.  Mari Bayer's routine saw the return of her standing split scale (where she lifts her right leg straight up next to her head and holds it for approximately 2-3 seconds) and her flight series and gymacro series were rock solid for a 9.875. Jeana Rice closed out with a terrific set as well (9.925) and the Tide was able to drop Delahoussaye's score.  Freshman Erin Rightley exhibited a fantastic routine for a 9.750 (switch leap combination, bhs-layout, wolf to Korbut, straddle-straddle-wolf leap series, cartwheel to gainer full twist dismount). She was thrilled with this effort, as were her teammates.  Team total on beam: 49.250.

Florida scored a 49.175 on the floor exercise with Breanne King's routine taking top honors for a 2 ½ punch pike, a double twist and a front-front full-front layout (9.875).  Szmuch (9.825) and Rue (9.800) certainly had more difficulty with their opening double layouts but low landings on these passes and some other execution errors were deducted accordingly. 

Floor Exercise

Alabama knew they couldn't let up as the Gators were moving to their best event, balance beam.  So the Tide punched in another high score on the floor with big performances by senior Lauren Holdefer (9.850) and senior Stephanie Kite (9.875) that in turn were trumped by Mari Bayer (9.900), Jeana Rice (9.925) and Alexis Brion (9.925).  But it was Ashley Miles' new routine that the crowd was anticipating the most on this night.  And she delivered for a 9.975 that arguably should have been a 10 when considering the difficulty (opened with a stuck double layout and finished with a stuck double pike, incredible height on the latter) and the wonderful new choreography that brings out her personality perfectly.  The crowd did not hesitate as they rose to salute her with a standing ovation. What fun! Bama saw Michelle Reeser exhibit her floor routine for a 9.825 and finished up with a 49.60 total (dropped Holdefer's score).  Final team score: 197.925.

The beam was not, however, a fun place for the Gators, despite some wonderful difficulty of their own.  Orley Szmuch had a solid lead-off routine for a 9.850 (handstand to two back layouts, double tuck dismount) and Katie Rue was equally confident with two layouts of her own and a side Somi (9.900). But Breanne King  (9.700) encountered major balance problems during her flight series (very difficult front aerial to side Somi, had to bend at waist, wind-milled arms and feet to stay on) while Erin Pendleton (9.125) fell on her flight series.  Erinn Dooley responded with a very smooth and confident routine (punch front to wolf jump combination as her mount) for a 9.925 but Kristen Stucky fell twice to finish up with an 8.350 (during her execution of the Onodi and a later switch leap to wolf full combination).  The Gators finished with a 48.500 on the beam and a final talley of 196.175.