Bulldogs Nip Crimson Tide, Claim SEC Regular Season Title

Alabama and Georgia met for the second time this season in Coleman Coliseum on Friday, February 20, 2004, but the Gymdawgs came away with the victory this time after posting very solid team scores on the floor exercise (49.500) and balance beam (49.400).  Alabama started the meet off in similar impressive fashion on the vault (49.675) and uneven bars (49.425) but proved to be a bit too cautious on the balance beam (49.150), where they yielded vital tenths that helped the Dawgs chip away at Bama's slim lead.  Alabama was unable to make up significant ground with their signature event, the floor exercise (49.300) and now will have to wait until the SEC Championships on March 20 to have another shot at their #1 rival.  The good news from Friday night is that the crowd turnout (12, 297) was the largest in several years for a dual meet in Coleman and Alabama is currently leading the NCAA in average attendance as a result.  The third-ranked Crimson Tide will have one more home meet on February 27, 2004 against the #17 Arkansas Ladybacks before a two week competition break ensues.  Bama will finish the regular season against Michigan in Ann Arbor on March 12.  Let's review some of the highlights from the UA-UGA competition at this time.

Vault

Junior Shannon Hrozek stuck her Yurchenko 1/1 vault three weeks in a row and earned her highest score to date against the Dawgs (9.925).  Shannon's newfound confidence on this event has allowed the coaches to move Jeana Rice further back in the line-up to maximize her scoring potential as well.  Senior Lauren Holdefer looked more confident this week with her front pike ½ twist vault, landing it with one step, shoulder bent slightly to the side for a 9.825.  This gives the Tide extra depth on this event for post-season competition. You could tell by Jeana Rice's reaction when she landed the Yurchenko 1/1 like a dart that the Longwood, Florida senior was looking for that 10 from the judges.  A 9.95 final score was reluctantly accepted by the partisan crowd.  Despite taking a hop back on her Yurchenko full twist on back pike off vault, it was the best of the season for sophomore Dana Filetti (9.875), who showed excellent repulsion off the table and form in air.  And junior Alexis Brion is still seeking that elusive 10, despite having nailed the front pike ½ twist vault week in and week out.  She had to settle for a 9.975 this past Friday night and once again set up sophomore Ashley Miles perfectly to conduct her own brand of vaulting magic.  Miles nailed her Yurchenko 1/1 but turned quickly to salute the head judge, posing a tad of doubt in their minds perhaps that she had truly stuck the landing, therefore a 9.95 was awarded.  Alabama threw out Holdefer's 9.825 and the final team score on this first event was a 49.675.

Meanwhile, over on the uneven bars, Georgia was anxious to throw out senior Kinsey Rowe's score (9.250) after she suffered a fall on her Tkatchev release.  They were able to do this with strong routines from freshman Kelsey Ericksen (9.925 highlighted by two major release moves) and senior Cory Fritzinger (9.950 for an Endo and a double front ½ twist dismount).  The Dawgs finished with a 49.400 on this event.

Uneven Bars

Shannon Hrozek got the Tide started on this event as well, scoring a 9.875 for an almost flawless routine.  Minor deductions for just missing perfection on her handstands and she nailed the double tuck dismount chest high.  Dana Filetti followed suit with a 9.825 and was deducted mainly for just missing vertical on a few handstands and taking a step on her double front dismount (a little cowboy form as well).  Ashley Miles (9.850) was looking great on her toe-on toe-off to giant full turn to Tkatchev release combination and made her transition to the low bar in excellent vertical position.  The deduction likely came for her step forward on the landing of the double layout dismount.  Freshman Brittany Comeaux (9.875) was back in top form with her huge Tkatchev release out of a giant full and she had one step as well on the landing of her double front.  Brittany's handstands were much better this week, hence the higher score.  Mari Bayer (9.925) was sensational with perfect handstands, toe point and beautiful extension throughout this routine, which consisted of a giant half turn to piked Jaeger release and a giant full turn to double tuck dismount combination, stuck landing.  She too set Jeana Rice (9.900) up perfectly for a strong closing routine that saw minor deductions for a small step in place of the full in dismount and just missing vertical on one of her handstands.  Bama finished uneven bars with a team total of 49.425 after throwing out Filetti's score.  The Tide had a running total of 99.100 at this juncture.

On the vault, Georgia was hitting as well, highlighted by senior Marline Stephens' huge Hristakieva (9.950) that was marred only by a split-legged landing.  Freshman Ashley Kupets has the Omelianchik down now (9.900 with a hop forward on the landing) and Chelsa Byrd struggled just a tad on the landing of her Yurchenko 1/1 (9.925).  Team total for the Dawgs on vault was a 49.525 after throwing out Brittany Smith's 9.800 (Hristakieva had form errors, a few steps forward on landing).   Georgia had a running total of 98.925 at the halfway point.

Balance Beam

Junior Michelle Reeser is the front anchor on the beam for Bama and once again came through for the Tide with a 9.825 performance.  Her routine was unblemished until the dismount, where she fought for the stuck landing and ended up bending forward again at the waist and taking a step forward to compensate for being a bit off balance on the landing of the round off gainer full twist dismount.  Sophomore Rachael Delahoussaye (9.825) matched her score and was a little tentative on a switch leap to wolf combination series but looked solid with the rest of her routine (wolf full; bhs-layout flight series; wolf to Korbut; gainer back pike dismount, stuck). Sophomore Dana Pierce (9.825) had a similar glitch on her flight element (bhs-two footed layout), bending at the shoulder to check her balance.  But she threw a beautiful side switch leap and had great distance on the round off gainer full twist dismount.  Shannon Hrozek (9.825) looked terrific with her flight series (bhs-layout-bhs) but once again encountered trouble on the switch leap wolf combination, hesitating before executing the second element.  She attacked the rest of the routine and stuck the double twist dismount.  Mari Bayer (9.850) was more confident in her routine but left out the Korbut element in her flight series (front aerial to bhs) and threw a three leap combination of switch leap-straddle-wolf that was a little limited in terms of amplitude.  Jeana Rice (9.375) fell on the third element of her flight series (bhs-layout-layout) but stuck the double twist dismount as well. So the Tide finished on balance beam with a 49.150 and a running total of 148.250.

The Gymdawgs were tearing up the floor in an effort to put more pressure on the Tide, and the strategy worked.  Double layouts were thrown by junior Michelle Emmons (9.875) and Chelsa Byrd (9.900) while Marline Stephens threw a full out (?), a 2 ½ twist (stuck cold) and a double pike for a 9.950.  Kelsey Ericksen had expressive dance and overall presentation for a 9.90 (double pike was buckled a bit on the landing; smooth front tumbling passes for second and third series however).  Georgia came away with a 49.500 on the floor and a 148.425 running total.

FloorExercise

The Tide charged to the floor with the YMCA dads' singing support, hoping to make up the ground lost on the previous event.  Lauren Holdefer was ready to deliver that opening score until she took a large scoot backwards on the landing of her double tuck (third pass), settling for a 9.800.  Senior Stephanie Kite was ready to kick the score up but struggled a bit on her second and third passes with almost invisible but costly execution errors that led to a 9.800 of her own.  The opening pass (front through to a front double full punch front) looked fantastic.  Shannon Hrozek presented her new routine for the first time this year to the home crowd, scoring a 9.875.  She launched a huge opening double pike, a front through to two front layouts and a final tumbling pass of a double tuck.  Jeana Rice stepped up the pace with a piked full in, a front-front full-front pike and a whip through to double full for a 9.925.  Alexis Brion encountered problems on her second pass (front tumbling) that led to a deduction in start value by about two tenths, hence a final score of 9.775 from the judges after they conferred.  Dana Pierce was inserted for the final routine to allow Ashley Miles to rest in the wake of her slight ankle tweak suffered during the beam exhibition earlier.  Dana was very impressive in her tumbling and dance under stressful circumstances (following the crowd's booing of Brion's score).  She threw a perfect double pike as her opening pass, a front through to two front layouts, and finished with a double twist to Shushonova combination, for a 9.900.  The crowd seemed to really enjoy the energy and choreography of this routine.  Alabama finished with a 49.300 on the floor and a final tally of 197.550.

The Bulldogs finished strong on balance beam, where Brittany Smith (9.925) and Kinsey Rowe (9.925) competed confident routines when they counted most.  Chelsa Byrd had a unique gym-acro series of her own: front aerial-wolf jump-Korbut and dismounted with two back handsprings to a double tuck (9.875).  Georgia finished with a 49.400 on the beam and a final tally of 197.825.

An exhibition routine was thrown on vault by freshman Johnna Gay (9.750) of a Yurchenko 1/1.  She was showing really terrific form on this vault during warm-ups and was deducted mainly for the rather large one step back to check her landing when she exhibited it for the judges.  This again adds another 10 vault to the Tide's arsenal for post-season insurance.  On balance beam, Ashley Miles had several balance checks this week during her exhibition routine that resulted in a 9.675 score from the judges.  She threw some difficult skills, including: a round off layout onto the beam (small check at the waist); a wolf ¾ (instead of full) that was bent at the waist on the landing; a switch leap to split jump half turn combination (very nice); a gainer bhs to two-footed layout (slight check again at the waist but no foot shifting); a switch leap to Korbut (very nice height and flare on the back layout) and a gainer full twist off the side of the beam.  Great effort from both these gals.