A Look Back at the 2005 Season, A Peek Forward to 2006

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Top Five Highlights of the 2005 Season

1.                    The successful and exciting debut of Tide freshman and 2004 Olympian Silver Medalist, Terin Humphrey.  By mid-season she was performing in the all-around, second anchor to junior Ashley Miles.  By season's end she had brought home the NCAA uneven bars title at the National Championships and earned 1^st Team All America honors on the balance beam and floor exercise as well.

2.                  Consecutive "10"s scored by junior Ashley Miles on the floor exercise and vault on the second night of Championships that sparked the Tide to a 2^nd Place finish.  Miles is the first gymnast in the history of the NCAA Championships to score consecutive 10s.  She also was named SEC Gymnast of the Week four times during the regular season and claimed the vault, uneven bars and floor exercise titles at the SEC Championships.  Miles also finished ranked 1^st nationally in the vault and floor exercise at the end of the season, the only gymnast to accomplish this feat.

3.                  The emergence of junior Dana Filetti in the all around for 8 straight weeks during the regular season.  Her superb performance on the uneven bars during the first night at Nationals earned her 1^st Team All America honors.

4.                  Superior performances by seniors Michelle Reeser (9.850), Shannon Hrozek (9.875) and Alexis Brion (9.925) on the floor exercise during the NCAA Super Six, helping lead the Tide to the top team score on this event (49.600).

5.                  Freshman Kaitlin White's steady progress on the vault during the second half of the season, culminating in a critical 9.875 performance at the NCAA Super Six and sophomore Brittany Comeaux's superb rendering of the very difficult "pinball" vault on the same night that garnered a 9.950 from the judges. 

Honorable Mentions: 

Junior Mari Bayer's elegant choreography and consistent performances throughout the season on the floor exercise and junior Dana Pierce's clutch all-around victory against Stanford when Hrozek and Filetti were too ill to perform. 

Top Five Reasons to Get Excited About The 2006 Season Now

1.                    2004 Canadian Olympian, Melanie Banville, will be aboard to help Humphrey and Miles anchor the all around.  Banville has been busy winning the All-Around title at the 2005 Elite Ontario Championship in April and just captured the 2005 Canadian National Championships All-Around title in Vancouver on Wednesday Night. She continues to increase her difficulty as an international elite gymnast and will bring superior skills on each event, including a variety of 10-valued vaults and four passes on the floor exercise.

2.                  Vault will be a "reload" event with the talents of freshmen Banville, Bianca Puello, Courtney Priess and walk-ons Ashley O'Neal and Amanda Montgomery.  The Tide loses Hrozek and Brion on this event but remember that Dana Filetti did not perform at Nationals due to some back soreness and will return in 2006 with two vaults available (Pike Luconi and the Yurchenko 1/1).  The usual suspects will include Comeaux, Miles, White, with Pierce and Bayer, as well as Erin Rightley, providing additional depth.

3.                   Uneven Bars in 2006 suddenly becomes the Tide's deepest and most competitive event, with potentially 13 gymnasts who could perform high-scoring routines.  What a great problem to have.  Look for the freshmen to challenge the upper class for as many as three positions in the line-up but don't be surprised if sophomore-to-be Kaitlin White pushes extra hard to claim one of these.  Dismounts will include double fronts, double layouts and a triple-twisting flyaway (Amanda Montgomery). 

4.                   Bama's coaches are expecting lots of competition for balance beam positions as well during the fall preseason workouts. The Tide will be looking for challenging and consistent routines that are executed confidently from beginning to end, knowing this is what it will take to win the SEC and National titles in 2006.  And you can bet the coaches will spend a lot of time in the off-season working towards these objectives.  Terin Humphrey, Mari Bayer and Ashley Miles, along with Rachael Delahoussaye, will be charged with the responsibility to lead the team on the beam with more confident performances in 2006.

5.                   On floor exercise, Bama will once again have exciting depth and big-time skills from almost every incoming freshman.  Melanie Banville will pace Humphrey and Miles with her own "E" and "D" level skills, which include a pike full-in, a triple twist, a 1 ½ to a 2 ½, and end with a double pike.  Cassie Martin throws one of the most beautiful double front Arabians out there and Ashley O'Neal recently finished 7^th at JO Nationals with one of the most difficult floor routines, throwing a double front and a double pike.  With Dana Filetti, Kaitlin White, Dana Pierce, Erin Rightley, Mari Bayer and newcomers Puello and Priess mixed in, the coaches will again be hard-pressed to choose the final competitive line-up if all remain healthy. 

We will continue to update the Bama Nation over the next several months as information becomes available.  A special thanks to the seniors, Shannon Hrozek, Alexis Brion and Michelle Reeser for four fantastic seasons and exemplary behavior as student-athletes representing the University of Alabama.  They leave with an NCAA National Championship ring (2002), an SEC Championship ring (2003) and three Regional Championship Titles.  Roll Tide!