as Ashley Miles will be going on the vault and floor exercise while Terin Humphrey will be vying for the beam title. Roll Tide Bama Nation, thanks for tuning in. Goodnight from Corvallis, Oregon where the Gymtide finishes 3rd at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.

for the Crimson Tide: a 9.850 for her vault and a 9.875 for her uneven bars routine, highlighted by a superb double front that she stuck cold. As a team, Dana's class claimed 2nd, 3rd, 2nd and 3rd at the NCAAs in team competitions from 2003 to 2006. They also claimed the 2003 SEC Championship and three of four regional titles. They will be remembered as one of the Tide's most successful classes.

She has had the concept of "team work" drilled into her all four years, so she knows there is no blame on her or Erin for their unexpected falls on the beam. The reality as Coach Patterson said in post-meet comments was that Georgia had the edge on the higher-scoring vault event as their final rotation, so Bama just had to concentrate and do their best on beam. The best thing was how well the first three hit their routines and the final competitior, Terin Humphrey, hit hers to back up Erin and Mari. That's teamwork!

Lots of photos being taken across the way as the teams receive their awards. Bama as the sole 3rd place team will get the Bronze large plaque while Utah this year gets the 2nd place silver plaque. Last year Bama claimed 2nd while the Utes had to settle for 3rd, so they flipped this year.

Courtney Kupets won it with a 39.575, Ashley Postell was 2nd, April Burkholder 3rd, Tiffany Tolnay in 4th and Ashley Miles was 5th.

1st UGA 197.750
2nd Utah 196.800
3rd Alabama 196.725
4th Florida 196.275
5th Nebraska 196.175
6th Iowa State 194.725

when both Erin Rightley (9.100) and senior Mari Bayer (9.225) fell. Freshman Brittany Magee hit a flawless routine but was only scored a 9.850, Banville a 9.825, Miles a 9.90, and then Terin Humphrey hit a 9.85 to put the Tide in 3rd place with a final tally of 196.725 to Utah's 196.800 and Georgia's whopping 197.750. Georgia was hitting their vaults and clearly showed that they were the best tonight. More to come.

Utah finished with a 196.800 and they will sit out this final rotation. Here we go! Roll Tide to all!

national championship. But Georgia had a red hot floor performance as well, coming in at a 49.425, which just allowed them to move past the Tide by .025. And Georgia now goes to one of their power events, the vault, while Bama moves to the balance beam. Whatever happens, the Tide has done everything so far to put themselves in contention and here's hoping they finish out on another strong note, leaving no doubts or "what ifs" behind. Roll Tide!

Back after this rotation with the highlights.

balance beam with a 48.975 and a running score of 147.125 to Utah's 147.450.

Utah will be on vault, Bama on the uneven bars, ISU on the balance beam and Georgia on the floor exercise.

and Florida will be on balance beam, Utah on floor exercise, Nebraska on the vault and ISU on the uneven bars.

Bama had a red hot performance of their own on the vault, with Terin Humphrey going 9.800, Dana Filetti stuck her Hristakieva vault for a 9.85 (deserved higher we thought), before Melanie Banville, Brittany Magee and Ashley Miles all stuck their vaults magnificently for a 9.90, 9.90 and a 9.95 respectively. Bama's team total on vault is a 49.400 and a running score of 98.775. UGA is at 98.675, Utah is at 98.275, Nebraska is at 98.250 and Florida is at 98.150, ISU at 96.825.

floor and Florida on bars.

Janet Anson. They finished with a 47. 850 and have a team running score of 96.825.

a 49.475. Utah started off slow on bars with a 48.950 but got red hot as well on the balance beam with a 49.325, highlighted by Ashley Postell's 9.95. This was a strong follow up for Postell as she fell on her uneven bars dismount.

Ashley Miles hit the 9.95, Melanie Banville the 9.90, Magee a 9.875, O'Neal a 9.85 and Rightley a 9.80. Terin Humphrey received a 9.70 after stumbling back a few steps on her double front Arabian to open but boy did she nail that second and especially the final pass of the double pike, landed it Romanian style (legs perfectly together, no balance steps whatsoever).

on floor when she threw a cartwheel right in front of him. Way to go Court!

We'll back to post after Bama's first rotation. Roll Tide!

outlining waves in the same pattern as yesterday's leo but no contrasting white this time. Very nice.

Georgia is in a light gray, black and red leo, a starburst covering much of the front leo, etched in the colors above, the bottom in shiny black.

Florida and ISU tied for first with a 48.975 and Utah is at 48.950 (Postell fell on her dismount)with Nebraska (48.950 on balance beam).

Bama and UGA are now on the floor and uneven bars respectively, ready for the 3 minute touch.

that are competing. For now we will say a brief goodbye.

Iowa State is dressed in shiny red and black with silver sequins throughout the fabric.

Florida is dressed in black with marine blue trim on the arms and upper shoulders, a large UF insignia on the bodice front in silver-white.

Nebraska is dressed in shiny red, black and white, with the sleeves contrasted in white and a black band along the collar and upper bodice sections.

Utah is dressed in black and white leos with contrasting swirls on the bodice, almost like a modern art painting.

The good news is that tonight Alabama has a bye in the first rotation before they start on the floor exercise. They will have a chance to see how the scores go for ISU before putting their routines out there for the judges' assessment. Bama just needs to relax, have fun and shine on the floor. As they move to vault in rotation three, the Tide will obviously need to go for stuck landings but they must also explode off the vault table to garner the higher scores as well. After a bye in rotation four, Bama will return on the uneven bars where we must see much better performances tonight than we did in the Thursday afternoon session. On bars, it starts with senior Ashley Miles' huge routine and ends with Terin Humphrey's elegance and precision, so both gals must be ready to lead. Finishing up on the balance beam in rotation six, Bama should be relaxed yet focused, as they have pulled it together on this event in the last four weeks as well as any Alabama team has in the past. We hope here at gymtide.com that the Crimson Tide performs at their highest level on each event, no matter what the outcome may be, and wish the team and coaches all the best as they bring us to a very exciting close to what has been a fantastic 2006 season. Roll Tide!

a perfect Omeliantchik and a Kotchetkova (full twisting bhs) to bhs to layout step-out.

Ashley O'Neal is in the 7th position tonight and Magee looks very confident with her flight series in warm-ups.

Mari Bayer is struggling on her flight series and David Patterson is having a serious chat with her about the need to put it together in the remaining minutes. She hops back on and repeats the flight series perfectly this time.

and Bama is now finished and ready to go to the balance beam.

Miles, White, Filetti, and Bayer. Bama looks quietly confident. Nice stuck double layout dismount just then from Terin Humphrey.

before they start doing the skills. Looking for sharp handstands and stuck dismounts along the way.

UGA is on floor, Utah on vault and ISU on beam.

Bama returns shortly on the uneven bars.

Florida on balance beam and Utah on floor exercise. Bama and Georgia are both out on byes.

Bama will move to another bye in rotation four and then return for their final two events, bars and beam in rotations five and six.

This is getting downright spooky. Coach Patterson was right there to congratulate her. Brittany Magee is showing a few nerves on her vault runs as is Mel Banville but they get right back to it and Magee hits a strong Y-1/1 right to follow up.

affectionate, good-natured jostling from Sarah Patterson.

Ashley O'Neal also just had a terrific pike 1/2 twist, great explosion off the table.

Kaitlin White, Melanie Banville, Terin Humphrey, Dana Filetti, Brittany Magee and Ashley Miles.

Nice Yurchenko 1/1 just then from Kaitlin White, which included a terrific, hard run and push off the vault table.

The coaches are doing extra checks with Kaitlin to make sure she is good to go because she is showing a little soreness as she walks away from a few of her tumbling runs.

Bama now moves to the vault for rotation three. Florida is on bars, Georgia on balance beam and Nebraska on floor.

starting with Ashley O'Neal and then Erin Rightley, Terin Humphrey, Brittany Magee, Melanie Banville and Ashley Miles.

Kaitlin White and Court Priess will be the alternates.

to move to the floor for their 15 minute touch.

Nebraska on the balance beam and Iowa State on floor.

our radio and online commentary area here on the floor of Gill Coliseum and the gals were very loose, joking, singing and apparently ready to have fun tonight. They've worked very hard to get to this point and it's time to celebrate with hopefully their best performance of the year so there will be no regrets or, like Ashley Miles said last year "what ifs".

in Corvallis, Oregon. It's Super Six Night and Alabama will vie for their 5th National Title against Georgia, Utah, Florida, Nebraska, and Iowa State.

Bama is on a bye in rotation one of long warm-ups and will come back into the arena in rotation two for their long warm-up on the floor exercise.