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The Medalist Club - Gymtide.com
The Booster Organization for the University of Alabama Gymnastics Program
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[MeetCentral] [Scores] [PlayByPlay] [Postmeet] [Buzz] A marathon, not a sprint…
Salto is pinch-hitting for PBA2 who was neck-deep in a Medalist Club newsletter, to bring you the post-meet commentary with a whimsical twist here and there. Enjoy! It was the result of a marathon, not a sprint, the goal that Tide Head Coach Sarah Patterson had been working toward, virtually since the end of last season's 'Think Pink Wear Pink' meet with Auburn. Namely, to fill up Alabama’s newly renovated Coleman Coliseum with pink-clad fans to help raise awareness for the importance of early detection and treatment in the fight against breast cancer. And on Friday Night, January 20, 2006, 15,162 fans braved threatening weather to help Coach Patterson cross the finish line. The GymTide took the standing-room-only crowd on a roller-coaster ride before they finally put away a tenacious Florida team with a score of 195.775 to 194.625. In the individual competition, Florida freshman, Corey Hartung – the evening’s only all-arounder - won that competition with a score of 38.575. Ashley Miles came in first on the vault with a score of 9.90. On bars it was Terin Humphrey for the top honor with a score of 9.90. Florida junior Samantha Lutz won the balance beam with a score of 9.85 and Miles also won floor with a score of 9.95. The GymTide started off on vault, coming away with a 49.025 team score. Melanie Banville led off the evening for the Tide, scoring a 9.725, and displaying that impeccable form throughout that we are beginning to expect, with one small step on the landing. Dana Filetti put up a 9.750 for what might have been the night’s best Hristakieva vault, while Kaitlin White had a 9.725 for her big Yurchenko 1/1 (which she unfortunately landed a little piked down). Ashley O'Neal had great height but a step on the landing, which scored a 9.80. It looks like she is really beginning to ‘dial-in’ that pike 1/2. Finishing up the event was the 9.85 of Brittany Magee, who just needed to find a crisper landing for an even bigger score, and the 9.90 of Ashley Miles for her exclamation point of a Yurchenko 1/1, with just a small hop backwards and a little off center on the landing.
In the second rotation, Alabama had a team score of 49.125 on bars. Kaitlin White went first, scoring 9.725 for a well-executed routine (hop forward on the landing, a little bent at the waist as well). Freshman Courtney Priess received a 9.75 for her routine, which seemed a little low. She did miss vertical on one handstand and had a fair-sized hop on her tough Arabian double front dismount. After suffering a fall on bars in each of the first two meets, freshman Cassie Martin was finally able to benefit from her clean lines and near flawless form, receiving a 9.80 (perhaps a tiny bit ‘short’ on a couple of handstands and a small step on the landing). She was followed by yet another freshman, Melanie Banville, who scored a 9.85 and deserved every tenth of it. Melanie worked hard in the pre-season to add a ‘straddle back to handstand’ transition move to the low bar and she executed this element perfectly. Senior Dana Filetti followed with a 9.825. Her routine was a ‘Dana Filetti classic’ featuring her unique, but elegant style, lacking only a few perfect handstands and almost a stuck landing (double front) for a nice score. Terin Humphrey did garner the huge score of a 9.90 in the anchor spot. So much happens in Terin’s bar routine that it seems incredible that she has more yet to add, including the signature release (Khorkina) to the current Geinger. That will be two major release moves once her routine is upgraded. Very nice double layout dismount was displayed to close out the Tide’s set on bars. In their first two rotations, the Gators had a team score 48.975 on vault, after a 48.200 mark on bars. So, at the halfway point, Alabama had built a considerable lead of 98.15 to 97.175, a lead that was not to last long.
Brittany Magee led off the beam for the Tide, scoring a 9.775 for an overall nice routine marred only by a slightly bent waist landing on the second element of her flight series (layout step-out) and a tiny hop in place on her difficult round-off double tuck dismount. Brittany has ‘soft feet’ on beam, very reminiscent of former Tide great Kristin Sterner, and is really fun to watch perform – or would be were I not, as usual, scared silly during Bama’s beam rotation. Ashley Miles performed in the beam line-up for the first time this season and for the first 9/10’s of her routine made the absolute best of her opportunity. Then, after ‘missing a foot’ on her dismount and suffering a scary-looking, but – thankfully - harmless fall, Ashley had to settle for a 9.125. That put the pressure on freshman Ashley O'Neal, who responded magnificently with a 9.80. ‘O’, as her teammates call her, provided one of the night’s biggest ‘ooh and aah’ moments for the crowd with her amazing double front (tuck) dismount. The Tide’s final three on beam, Mari-Christine Bayer, Cassie Martin, and Terin Humphrey - who suffered similar fates by missing connections and losing bonuses - scored 9.60, 9.45, and 9.675, respectively. It was a nervous night on beam for both teams. Of course, if you can’t have a few ‘nerves’ in front of 15,000 plus fans, when can you? And, as the meet rolled on to the finish, it became important that Bama’s last three on beam – despite the unfortunate bobbles and low scores – never-the-less still managed to stay on the beam. For the beam, the Tide managed to eke out a 48.300 while the Gators were putting up a 49.075 on the floor. So, after three rotations, the large Bama lead was reduced all the way down to an oh-so-close 2/10’s of a point.
The personable Ashley O'Neal set Bama’s first mark of the last rotation, the floor exercise, charging up the crowd with a 9.80. The only real deduction in her routine came from a two-step ‘shuffle back’ on the landing of her second pass. Cassie Martin encountered major problems in competition for the first time this season on her extra difficult Arabian double front mount, having to lunge forward to stand it up and landing it out-of-bounds in the process. That, along with a problem with her second tumbling series (tucked instead of twisted the last element, devaluing the pass) led to a score of 9.275. Terin Humphrey, who had a real ‘trip to the beach’ on floor in the Penn State meet, rebounded fully with a 9.825, highlighted by a very nice 2 ½ twist to punch front to open, followed by a strong double pike on her second pass. Melanie Banville and Brittany Magee then put together back-to-back 9.875’s. Melanie’s opening pike full-in was, well, the best I’ve ever seen anyone do - and the crowd appreciated it, too. The crowd also ‘oohed and aahed’ Brittany’s second tumbling pass of a whip, whip, back handspring, pike double back. Every time she does that pass she builds up so much power and momentum that I fully expect her just to fly straight up into the stands. Ashley Miles anchored the evening for the Tide and absolutely lit a fire under the crowd with a near flawless 9.95 effort. Ashley has a fun new routine for this year, but, after the success she had with last year’s routine, there had been that nagging little bit of doubt about how the home crowd would react. However, the new routine retains many of the popular elements of last year’s routine, even beyond the tumbling passes. That, along with Ashley’s matchless ability to get the crowd involved assuaged all concerns.
Alabama’s strong finish on floor, which netted a 49.325, combined with Florida’s previously mentioned difficulty on beam (for a 48.375 team score), resulted in a 1.150 point margin of victory for the Tide. However, the competition was far closer than the margin implies. Both of these teams showed a lot of potential, not to mention plenty of pluck for putting on a great show of gymnastics in front of what had to be an intimidating crowd - and congratulations are due both teams. An additional note of gratitude goes out to Florida Head Coach Rhonda Faehn and the Gator’s athletic administration for so readily and enthusiastically embracing the night’s theme and color. Pink is a long way from blue and orange. However, Florida not only looked great, but also helped to promote a great cause – and for that we say thanks, and ‘Go, Gators’! The Tide returns to action on Friday in Auburn against the Tigers. The meet starts at 7:00 pm. Fans who can’t attend the meet can still keep up with the Tide live online at www.gymtide.com and on the radio WVUA-FM New Rock 90.7.
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