Vault

 After being held out of vault practice until Thursday prior to the Kentucky meet, it was not unexpected that Shannon Hrozek might look a bit rusty in her execution of the Yurchenko 1/1.  She appeared to not get as strong a push off the vault table as usual and twisted a little late as a result, slightly piking the vault down and taking one step forward on the landing (9.75).  Dana Filetti provided immediate back up with one of her best Yurchenko full twist on - back pike off vaults (9.80), marred only by a small hop on the landing.  Brittany Comeaux also had her best Yurchenko ½ on - front tuck - ½ tuck off vault of the season and executed it with better amplitude and landing this week (9.775).  Dana Pierce (9.725) solidly stood up the Yurchenko 1/1 after several weeks of wrestling with various aspects of her technique.  She still piked it down a bit and took a step to the left on the landing but her push off the vault table and overall control of the vault this week was much improved. Alexis Brion had been limited a bit in her practice as well due to bronchitis-like symptoms and it showed with an uncharacteristic slip of one hand on the vault table, resulting in a lower chest landing of the front pike ½ twist vault and a rather large step forward (9.550).  Ashley Miles picked up the pace with a huge Yurchenko 1/1 (9.975) that brought the crowd to their feet and provided momentum for the team as they moved to the uneven bars.  Team total: 49.025

 On the uneven bars, Kentucky had solid routines by Lucy Burgin (9.775), Michelle Gales (9.775) and Krystle Cook (9.75) and finished with a team total of 48.675.  Burgin dismounted with a toe-on front pike while Gales nailed a high and tight double tuck dismount, followed by a very solid double layout from Cook.

  Uneven Bars

 Alabama's coaches had some fun with the line-up again this week on the bars, choosing to rest Ashley Miles while inserting Brittany Comeaux and Dana Pierce .  Comeaux nailed her double front dismount enroute to a 9.80 and Pierce garnered a 9.70 that saw deductions for slightly over-extending on a giant uprise to handstand and a step on the dismount of the reverse tuck.  Shannon Hrozek had a rough go in practice the previous week with her new Arabian dismount, so the coaches decided to have her throw the double tuck in the meet, which she nailed after completing both saltos way above the high bar (9.80).   The rest of this routine was textbook and the deductions were clearly ones the judges only could see.  Mari Bayer struggled in two obvious areas during her routine, starting with her catching of the pike Jaeger release too close to the bar (slight form break in the legs as a result) and over-arching on one of her giant uprises to handstand position (9.725).  Dana Filetti (9.825) responded with a strong routine, highlighted by a terrific double front dismount, slight step on the landing and a very high Gienger release.  Terin Humphrey had to improvise a bit during her stalder half turn to toe-on to half turn to Markelov release series but never broke form or rhythm enroute to a solid double layout, deducted for a hop back (9.85).  Team total: 49.00

 Kentucky threw five 10.0 valued vaults that included a Yurchenko 1/1 ( O'Shields ) and several Hristakievas by Burgin (9.775), Lindsay Cameron (9.775) and S taci O'Keefe (9.825). 

  Balance Beam  

Rachael Delahoussaye was also feeling a bit under the weather right up until the meet but gut-checked for the team and turned in a solid 9.75 performance on the beam.  Deductions came on the bhs-layout (slight shoulder drop and check of one foot), the side switch leap (a little bent forward on landing) and the small hop on the landing of the gainer back pike dismount.  Dana Filetti (9.60) also had a little trouble on her layout element during the flight series (handstand to immediate layout-stepout) but recovered well until the dismount, where her foot slipped a bit and she had to compensate by throwing a full rather than a double twist, resulting in a lower start value.  Erin Rightley was put in place of Shannon on the beam and she reduced some of her difficulty by throwing a bhs-layout but fell on the second element.  The switch leap-switch leap to Korbut combination was very solid, as was the straddle-straddle-wolf leap series and the dismount of a bhs-gainer full twist, stuck landing (9.150).  Mari Bayer (9.65) was tentative on her front aerial and the beam bit back accordingly (bent at the waist to recover, step back) and she lost vital bonus by throwing only a bhs-bhs.  However, she attacked the rest of her routine, including the switch ½ leap and the switch leap-straddle-wolf combination, ending with a stuck gainer back pike dismount.  Mari was all serious after the initial stumble and her extra intensity and concentration during the rest of her routine proved to be very important for the team's final score on this event.  Ashley Miles (9.375) literally had a perfect routine going, nailing the round-off layout-stepout mount, the switch leap to straddle side leap combination, the wolf full and even the gainer back handspring to layout-stepout elements.  However, during her dismount she appeared to come back into the beam and grazed her head as she executed the double tuck out of a round-off back handspring combination.  The crowd gave her hearty applause after she saluted the judges and clearly seemed to appreciate her unique difficulty in this routine and her efforts on this date.  Terin Humphrey (9.850) went to work in the anchor spot on beam and completed the triple turn mount, left leg extended, known as the Humphrey, followed by the flight series of a full-twisting back handspring to back handspring to layout.  She completed the gymacro series of a switch leap to ¾ twisting handstand to split position and dismounted with a round-off to back handspring to double tuck (jammed the landing and had to take a step to the left to balance).  Team total on beam: 48.225.

  Kentucky posted strong scores on the floor from Rachel Riley (9.825) and senior Michelle Gales (9.85 for a double layout and a double tuck closing pass). The 'Cats were able to take advantage of the Tide's problems on the beam and moved one-tenth ahead after three rotations.

 Floor Exercise 

Despite being behind going into the final rotation, the coaches stuck to their plan to rest Hrozek, Brion and Miles on the floor and allow their teammates to bring home the victory, which they did in solid if not spectacular style.  Dana Pierce (9.775) opened with a super high double pike that she had to take a step back on the landing to control the adrenaline but ended with a crowd-pleasing double twist to immediate punch front (the Ten Troupe loves this move ) . Michelle Reeser followed with her first floor routine of the 2005 season and opened with a super double pike, perfect landing, but her second pass (front full - front layout) had control problems on the third element and she bounded forward on the landing but stayed in bounds; she finished strongly with a front-whip ½-layout-stepout for a 9.675.  Dana Filetti (9.775) opened with a double pike, one step back, followed by a much better front full-front full and added some cool new dance elements during her middle sequence and at the end of her third tumbling pass (front full - front layout).  She was happy with the results and was promptly mugged by her teammates at the end of her routine.  Erin Rightley (9.875) opened with another soaring double pike, much better landing this week, followed by the front through to a 1 ½ (Rudi) and ended with a picture perfect front-front full-front pike.  This was a well-controlled routine from start to finish.  Mari Bayer (9.825) had another terrific outing (double pike, front-front full-front tuck, double twist) and we could not detect the location of her deductions after watching the replay of the meet.  Kaitlin White (9.750) debuted her routine on the floor and was able to stand up all three tumbling passes (whip ½ to front full, two front layouts, double twist) with expressive dance throughout.  More difficult tumbling will come in time.  Team total: 49.00 and final score 195.250.

  Kentucky struggled mightily on the balance beam with three falls, two of which were counted in their final score.  Michelle Gales received a 9.700 for a routine that was highlighted by a bhs-layout, punch front and a 1½ dismount.   The 'Cats finished with a 193.825. 

More Audio:

• Interviews:
  • Sarah Patterson:
    • pre-meet -
    • post-meet -
  • Terin Humphrey: post-meet -
  • Dana Filetti: post-meet -