Post Meet Commentary: Alabama v Auburn (March 17, 2006)

Senior Night has come and gone for 2006, ending with tears and another victory notch on the belts of the Alabama Crimson Tide Gymnastics Team.  Bama now stands at 14-1 for the regular season as the Tide punted Aubie back to the Plains with another decisive victory, 196.400 to 194.850.  And yet Bama still has not hit their best performance as a team on all four events in one meet.  Will that come this Saturday Night at the SEC Championships? Only time will tell.  Read on to see how the Tide’s routines scored this past weekend

			AA Champs Ashley M, Terin, Julie Amanda, Ashley F, 7 Terin Ashley Miles Ashley O'Neal Bama Pre-meet Bars Champs Melanie, Terin, Julie Beam Champs Ashley, Erin, Julie Brittany Magee Cassie Martin Courtney Priess Dana Filetti Dana P, Mari, Dana F In The Balloons Dana Pierce Erin Rightley Floor Champs Ashley, Terin, Erin Kaitlin, Dana F, & Rachael Mari-Christine Bayer Melanie Banville Terin Humphrey Vault-champs
Gymnast	Vault Highlights	Score
Ashley Miles Sr	Yurchenko 1/1  Hop back = one tenth deduction.	9.900
Brittany Magee Fr	Yurchenko 1/1 Hop back = one tenth deduction.	9.900
Dana Filetti Sr	Hristakieva One slight step = one tenth deduction.  One of Dana’s two best vaults of all time.	9.900
Melanie Banville Fr	Yurchenko 1/1 Definitely one of her best efforts of the year, more powerful twisting and push off the table.  A little more amplitude and distance will yield the 9.90 plus score on this event.	9.850
Terin Humphrey So	Yurchenko 1/1 Tiny hop forward.  Rewarded for the “big look” of this vault in the air; legs were nicely controlled during twisting.	9.825
Ashley O'Neal Fr	Front Pike ½ Twist The best part of her vaulting is the aggressive push off the table and the height she gains in the air.  But she loses valuable points with loose form and limited distance from the table.	9.775
Total		49.375
Gymnast	Uneven Bars – Scoring was tightest on this event	Score
Melanie Banville Fr	Toe-on toe-off to full turn to Tkatchev to straddle back to handstand on the low bar to toe-shoot to high bar to giant, giant to double layout dismount, stuck it again this week.  Main deduction likely came on the straddle back not reaching perfect vertical position.	9.825
Terin Humphrey So	Small hop on the double layout dismount.  The judges also continue to nail Terin on her handstands when they are not perfectly vertical.	9.800
Mari-Christine Bayer Sr	Her best routine of the season, stuck the dismount chest high (out of a full turn).  Handstands looked solid and the pike Jaeger had excellent form and control.  This routine justifiably could have been scored higher.	9.775
Ashley Miles Sr	Another awesome routine, highlighted by a booming Shaposhnikova, huge Hindorff and a stuck double layout dismount, bent forward at the waist to maintain the stick however.  Way harsh.	9.750
Cassie Martin Fr	Hit all of her elements, double tuck was high, both rotations above the high bar, small step on the dismount.	9.750
Dana Filetti Sr	Caught her Gienger release too close to the bar and then over-rotated on one high bar handstand and had to do a half turn and kip back up.  But she stuck the double front dismount chest high!	9.425
Courtney Priess (Exh) Fr	Too bad this routine was not included in the regular line-up, it was terrific from start to finish.  Extra effort to reach vertical on her handstands, including the straddle back to handstand on the low bar. Excellent full turn to Tkatchev and a toe-on toe-off to giant to Arabian double front dismount, super controlled landing of this E element.	Did not see score flashed
Total		48.900
Gymnast	Balance Beam Highlights	Score
Ashley Miles Sr	Slight shoulder adjustment of the round off to layout step-out mount onto the beam; rest of the routine was solid: switch leap to side split jump; wolf full; gainer bhs to layout step-out; full turn; switch leap to Korbut; side shoulder roll; double twist dismount, small hop on the landing.	9.850
Erin Rightley Jr	No problems this week with the front aerial and the bhs to layout step-out; switch leap to straddle-straddle combination; switch leap to pike jump; bhs to gainer full twist off the side of the beam, tiny foot shift on the landing.	9.850
Melanie Banville Fr	She is getting more confident with this routine each week.  Handstand mount to back body roll to handstand to step-out; split full jump (slight check); bhs to layout step-out; full turn; a super punch front  (chest high landing, no steps); switch leap; straddle-straddle jump combination; round off to double twist dismount, excellent landing.	9.825
Terin Humphrey So	Another solid outing, nailed the Humphrey mount and  the flight series (full twisting bhs to bhs to layout step-out); strong punch front; switch leap to wolf; Omeliantchik; round off to a 1 ½ twist, almost stuck the landing.  A little underscored we think.	9.800
Brittany Magee Fr	Small drop of the right shoulder check on the second element of her flight series (bhs to layout step-out); rest of routine was solid: front aerial, full turn leg horizontal; switch leap to split jump (replacing the wolf jump for more bonus); punch front; round off to double tuck, nice and high, one step back on the landing.	9.775
Mari-Christine Bayer Sr	Balance checks this week were few and minor.  Really concentrated on hitting every element; switch leap ½ turn looked terrific and the front aerial had more control and better form.  Stuck the gainer back pike.	9.775
Cassie Martin (Exh) Fr	New opening leap of a switch side straddle jump; front aerial; she fell on the flight series again but hit the switch leap to double stag jump.	Did not catch score
Total		49.100
Gymnast	Floor Exercise Highlights	Score
Ashley Miles Sr	Only deduction: a whisper of a hop back on her landing of the opening double layout, caught by the judge to her immediate back and right side of this corner.	9.975
Terin Humphrey So	Double front Arabian had one step back to balance the landing, 2 ½ twist to punch front had better control this week but she had a small scoot forward on the landing of the second element; nailed the double pike to close, landing it with both legs together, no steps.	9.875
Erin Rightley Jr	This routine was just a snitch less polished than last week’s 9.90 performance.  Opening double pike had great height and the landing was maintained with only a slight foot shift in place.  The front through to a 1½ twist to layout step-out could use just a little more amplitude on the final element to maximize scoring.  Finished well with a controlled front-front full twist to front layout.	9.800
Melanie Banville Fr	Ironically, Mel hit the two most difficult passes of her routine without a problem: pike full in to open, double pike to close.  She had trouble on the second pass when she was throwing the third element: front-front full-front layout; she had to power up the third element and ended up with a major split in her legs during the front salto and her hips were behind her as well close to the landing.  However, she did stand it up and avoided a fall with quick thinking mid-air.	9.700
Courtney Priess Fr	We were excited to see Courtney on floor for the first time this year.  She had not even exhibited this routine up to this point but performed like a veteran when Ashley O'Neal had to sit out due to a bad headache.  On the opening pass of a double tuck Court just stepped over the line and was deducted automatically by one-tenth.  Her second pass was a strong, confident double pike and she finished with a double twist, a little loose in the twisting but pretty solid otherwise.  Dance and music were well-received by the home crowd.  This routine has good potential to go 9.800 or higher.	9.675
Brittany Magee Fr	Man, was this looking like a 9.90 plus routine until the final pass: front through to a double full; she got lost in the air on the second element and had to do a laid out barani half out of it, thus losing major bonus and execution points.  Fortunately, Britt still stood this pass up and the coaches were praising her for not forcing the double twist when it did not feel right.	9.550
Total		49.025