Tide Muzzles Dawgs in Athens, Ashley Miles Claims 5^th All-Around Title

The Alabama Crimson Tide went on the road for the first of three straight away meets and notched a decisive victory over the Gymdawgs of Georgia, 197.025 to 196.175.  It was the second time in three weeks that the Tide was decked out in their hot pink and white silk leos for breast cancer awareness and the Dawgs celebrated the cause with fluorescent pink and black leos of their own.  Talya Vexler, a breast cancer survivor and former Gymdawg great, was on hand to help donate $100,000 to the Athens Regional Medical Center.  And while the meet was not quite a sell-out, the fans that were present applauded the gymnastics performances and the cause with enthusiasm.  Enroute to the team victory, junior Ashley Miles claimed her fifth straight All-Around title with a season and career high of 39.675.  Kudos need to be given as well to junior Dana Filetti , who performed in the All-Around for the 7^th straight week.  Thanks to all Tide fans who traveled to the meet to provide extra support to the Bama gymnasts.  Your cheering was loud and greatly appreciated by the team and support staff.   Now for some highlights.

  Uneven Bars

 As the visiting team this week, Bama started on the uneven bars and because they were cable bars versus free-standing, the long warm-ups were primarily used to help Ashley Miles adjust to the extra-flexibility this type provides.  And it wasn't until she actually performed her routine successfully (9.850) in the fourth spot that the Tide coaches could breathe a collective sigh of relief because prior to this she had missed all but one of her warm-ups on this apparatus.  The rest of the team met the challenge as well, starting with Brittany Comeaux (9.700), who hit a soaring Tkatchev out of a full turn but was harshly deducted for missing her transition handstand on the low bar and taking one step on the double front dismount.  Dana Filetti (9.850) hit all of her handstands as well as the big moves, including the full turn to Gienger release, the transition to handstand position on the low bar and the double front dismount.  Mari Bayer (9.825) had a perfect routine going until she took a hop on her double tuck dismount out of a full turn and was off center as well where she landed.  Mari displayed beautiful uprise giants, toe-point and extension and the best pike Jaeger release we've seen from her this season.  Shannon Hrozek was not shy about throwing the E-level dismount (Arabian) and this element contained the only obvious flaw in her routine when she had to take two steps back on the left foot to check her landing (9.775).  Terin Humphrey (9.875) mounted from the high bar and wowed the crowd with a stalder before throwing the toe-on ½ turn to Markelov release, then another full turn on the high bar before transitioning to a beautiful handstand on the low bar and ending with a double layout.  She was deducted mainly for a hop forward on the landing of her dismount and for missing vertical on one of her handstand uprises. Freshman Kaitlin White exhibited her best routine of the 2005 season, hitting all of her major moves (full turn to Gienger release, pak Salto, full turn to double tuck dismount, stuck the landing chest high).  Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain a final score for this impressive routine. Team Total: 49.175

Meanwhile, over on the vault, Georgia had a strong team performance, highlighted by Brittany Smith's stuck Hristakieva (9.900) and Ashley Kupets booming Omelianchik (9.900).  Team Total: 49.325. 

Vault

After conquering the bars without a significant break, Bama was determined to push the scores up in order to put pressure on the Dawgs.  Shannon Hrozek threw a solid Yurchenko 1/1 but was deducted for landing off center and checking her balance with a small step (9.775).  Brittany Comeaux (9.825) had her best vault of the season, standing up the Yurchenko ½ on - front tuck - ½ tuck off with much better height and form this week.  Dana Filetti (9.775) vaulted the Yurchenko full twist on - back pike off with a hop on the landing and chest down a bit.   Terin Humphrey rocketed the Yurchenko ½ on - front pike - pike ½ off, small hop back for a 9.875.    Alexis Brion was fueled by her efforts and seemed to easily nail the front pike ½ twist (9.95) .  Ashley Miles received a 9.975 for her Yurchenko 1/1 that had the slightest hop back that was visible on the replay.   Kaitlin White vaulted the Yurchenko 1/1 in exhibition and stood it up very well, nice height and solid twisting in the air, one step forward on the landing.  Again, no score was immediately available for us to report but we would figure this was tallied somewhere between a 9.70 - 9.75. Team Total: 49.400

Georgia encountered problems on the uneven bars from the beginning when freshman Audrey Bowers fell on her double layout dismount (9.200) and later when  sophomore Kelsey Ericksen missed her toe-on element and had to drop from the bars at the beginning of her routine (9.275).  Freshmen Nikki Childs (9.825) and Katie Heenan (9.825) picked up the pace in their respective routines and Childs maximized her scoring with excellent toe-point and vertical handstands on top of the bars.  Heenan threw a nice toe-on release to the high bar and dismounted with a double front, hop forward on the landing.  Team Total: 48.375

Floor Exercise

The Tide was leading Georgia at this juncture with a running total of 98.575 to 97.700 when they moved to their strongest scoring event so far of the 2005 season.  Shannon Hrozek encountered problems on her second pass this week (front handspring to a front full to a front tuck, third element landed low) but she completed the double pike opening pass and the final pass of a double tuck without a problem.  Some new dance moves were incorporated as well.  Dana Filetti was up next and threw a strong double pike to open (one step back), followed by a front handspring to front full-front full combination that she nailed this week; she ended with a whip ½ to front layout, another solid landing for a 9.825 .   Erin Rightley stepped back and just out of bounds on one foot during the landing of her super high double pike.  She recovered and threw a strong Rudi (1 ½ twist out of a front handspring) and finished with a solid front handspring-front full-front pike for a 9.725 (one-tenth automatic deduction for stepping out of bounds).  Mari Bayer (9.825) stepped back on the landing of her high double pike to open but had terrific control on the front-front full-front tuck and the double twist to close.  She had a few new dance moves towards the end of her routine and received nice applause from the partisan Georgia crowd for her efforts.   Alexis Brion (9.900) had the highest double pike of the night (whip-bhs-double pike in combination) and rocked the landing to open her routine.  She followed with two front fulls to a front tuck and ended with a front handspring-front layout-front tuck.  Ashley Miles then proceeded to electrify Stegeman Coliseum, opening with a double layout, front handspring-front full-punch layout, ending with a double pike.  Her dance was contagious and several of the Georgia students could not prevent themselves from whooping and grooving right along with her.  Michelle Reeser exhibited with a nice opening double pike, a more controlled second pass this week of the front full to front layout, ending with a stuck third pass sequence of a front-front-whip ½ to layout stepout.  Team Total: 49.225

Georgia , usually rock solid on the balance beam, had problems with the second gymnast up, Michelle Emmons , who fell on her front punch and later during her double pike dismount (8.850).  We really appreciated the high level of difficulty in this routine, which also included a back handspring to two layouts, but her timing and concentration appeared to be off at critical points.   Brittany Smith (9.850) threw a nice wolf to standing back tuck and dismounted with a 1½, slight leg separation but a solid landing.  Nikki Childs (9.775) had the best toe-point and extension of the meet on this event, highlighted during two beautiful ring leaps (one in combination with a wolf).   Ashley Kupets (9.675) broke severely at the waist on the landing of her second flight element and took a large hop forward on the landing of her running front full twist dismount (tuck position), hence the lower score.  Team Total: 49.00

The Gymdawgs moved to the floor exercise to try and take advantage of any mishaps on beam that the Tide might encounter.  Despite the determined efforts of Kelsey Ericksen (9.925), Michelle Emmons (9.925) and Katie Heenan (9.925) that fueled a team score of 49.475 , Bama refused to relinquish the pace they had already set for their own team's performance.   Team Final: 196.175

Starting off on the beam for the Tide, junior Rachael Delahoussaye (9.850) displayed some fancy toe-point and extension of her own during the wolf full jump and the back handspring to layout-stepout flight series.  A switch side leap (1/4 turn in the air, straddle position) had nice amplitude and control on the landing this week and she dismounted with a gainer back pike off the end of the beam, stuck landing.  Dana Filetti (9.775) was inserted next when Michelle Reeser encountered problems during warm-ups and performed one of her best routines, highlighted by the handstand to immediate layout-stepout, a strong straddle-straddle-wolf leap series, the tuck ¾ jump, the gym-acro series of a back handspring to Korbut and a double twist dismount, small hop on the landing.  Shannon Hrozek (9.650) struggled a bit during warm-ups with her flight series and decided to throw the bhs-layout-bhs for this competition.  She had a balance check after landing the third element and had small checks later during the switch leap to wolf combination (slightest shoulder drop) and the hitch kick to sheep jump combination (foot check).  She dismounted with a solid double twist but had to take one step back and was visibly trying to maintain her balance as she then stepped back again, hence the lower final score.  Mari Bayer (9.825) added her Korbut this week to the flight series to increase her scoring potential (front aerial to back handspring to Korbut) and landed it very well (slightest shift of her right leg on the landing of the Korbut swing-down against the beam).  A very confident switch leap ½ turn was thrown by the San Jose junior and both of her signature needle scales were executed with nice flexibility and control.  She also threw a very confident switch leap to straddle to wolf jump combination.  A small shuffle on the landing of the gainer back pike was the only other deduction we could detect.  Ashley Miles (9.900) executed her best routine of the season, highlighted by the round off to layout-stepout mount, the switch leap to switch ¼ straddle combination, a wolf ¾ jump and a flight series of a gainer back handspring to layout-stepout.  She dismounted with a super round off to double tuck, one step of the right foot on the landing.  Freshman Terin Humphrey (9.875) was hoping to improve upon this score and was just about there when she popped the double tuck dismount a bit and had to take a left foot forward to stop her momentum on the landing (chest was also down a bit).  The rest of the routine was awesome (triple turn mount; the Kotchetkova to back handspring to layout-stepout; a switch leap to Omeliantchik).  Michelle Reeser also exhibited on this event for the Tide and encountered a balance check on the landing of her layout-stepout (third element of the flight series: two-footed back handspring to back handspring to layout).   She threw a nice switch leap to wolf and a straddle-wolf combination.  Team Total: 49.225.   Team Final: 197.025

• Meet the Gymnast:
  • Michele Reeser -
• Interviews:
  • Sarah Patterson:
    • pre-meet -
    • post-meet -
  • Dana Filetti Pre-meet -
  • Rachael Delahoussaye: post-meet -
  • Ashley Miles: post-meet -