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The Medalist Club - Gymtide.com
The Booster Organization for the University of Alabama Gymnastics Program
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Post Meet Commentary: SEC Championship (Saturday, March 25, 2006) [MeetCentral] [Scores] [PlayByPlay] [Postmeet] [Buzz] Crimson Tide Claims 2nd Place at 2006 SEC Championships
The Alabama Gymnastics Team finished three-tenths behind the Georgia Gymdawgs in another terrific SEC conference championship showdown this past Saturday Night at the Birmingham BJCC, claiming 2nd place honors with their highest team score of the season, 196.975. Bama finished seven-tenths ahead of the Florida Gators and 1.075 ahead of the LSU Tigers, who finished 3rd and 4th respectively. The Tide was thrilled with their rock-solid performances on 3 of 4 events but not satisfied with the final outcome. It now comes down to a tough West Regional showdown against the StanfordCardinal (8th nationally) and the Oregon State Beavers (16th) on April 8th to ensure a 25th straight NCAA Nationals berth. Bama must be one of the top two scoring teams out of this regional to advance. All indications are strong that the Tide is starting to peak at the right time. But for now, let’s review some of the highlights from this past weekend. Vault: 48.975 Bama sat out on a bye in the first rotation and then began the competition on vault. Scores were tightest on this event across all teams. Melanie Banville (Fr 9.800) Yurchenko 1/1 was a little split
during flight but she stuck the landing and was rewarded accordingly. Terin Humphrey (So 9.675) Jammed the landing of the Yurchenko 1/1 with her left foot, stepping forward a bit. A forward (or backward) step towards the vault, however slight, was harshly deducted by the judges.
Brittany Magee (Fr 9.775) One of the best Yurchenko 1/1 vaults of the competition; the final score is just not reflective of the “big look” and execution of this vault, which had great height, form in the air and distance from the vault, ending with a small step to check her landing. Dana Filetti (Sr 9.775) Ditto, except Filetti hit the Hristakieva with a minute balance step in place, maintaining beautiful form and height throughout the execution of this vault. Ashley Miles (Sr 9.900) Well-controlled vault in the air and a small hop back on the landing. Uneven Bars: 49.325 The Tide had to sit out another bye in rotation three before heading to bars. Bama was polished yet noticeably aggressive with each routine, hitting four of six landings without a balance check. Ashley Miles (Sr 9.875) Super concentration with every element
of this routine. She had extra amplitude on the Shaposhnikova transition
and the Hindorff release looked huge. Stuck the dismount of the double
layout chest high. Great way to start the rotation off.
Mari-Christine Bayer (Sr 9.850) Aggressive, pin-point routine from Mari, highlighted by a high-flying pike Jaeger release, vertical handstands with excellent toe-point and extension and a full turn to double tuck dismount, another stuck landing. Dana Filetti (Sr 9.800) Small check on the double front landing, leg separation on the Gienger release follow through. Much better effort with her toe-shoot to the high bar this week and her handstands overall looked tighter and were more vertical. Terin Humphrey (9.850) Beautiful flow to this routine, very nice Gienger release, legs together; missed the final handstand just barely, small balance check as well on the double layout dismount landing. Balance Beam 49.175 One of the most polished, confident beam sets we’ve seen from all six gymnasts in the line-up during the past two years. With a little more concentration from the potentially higher-scoring gymnasts (Britt and Terin), this could become a high scoring event for the Tide in post-season. Brittany Magee (Fr 9.800) A small balance check at the shoulder occurred on the layout step-out element during her flight series; beautiful front aerial and a switch leap to split jump was executed with excellent extension and amplitude; a balance check observed during the punch front landing; small step on the double tuck dismount as well. Melanie Banville (Fr 9.850) Wow, what a difference we’ve seen between January and March in Mel’s confidence on the balance beam. She is now firmly embedded in the line-up and hit a another terrific routine on this date, highlighted by a split jump full turn, a bhs to layout step-out, super solid punch front, switch leap to straddle-straddle combination (very nice) and a double twist dismount, just barely missed sticking the landing.
Ashley Miles (Sr 9.875) This is the routine Bama has to have to be in contention during post-season and the senior delivered Saturday Night. Round off layout step-out mount was perfect; switch leap to split side jump; wolf full; gainer bhs to layout step-out; switch leap to Korbut; side shoulder roll; round off to double twist dismount, stuck the landing. Erin Rightley (Jr 9.825) Solid routine, highlighted by a front aerial and a bhs to layout step-out, switch leap to straddle jump, switch leap to pike (nice amplitude once again); stuck the dismount of the bhs to gainer full twist. Mari-Christine Bayer (Sr 9.750) Except for the shuffle on the landing of the gainer back pike dismount that cost her a higher score, this was another strong routine from Mari. Flight series of bhs to layout step-out, front aerial, switch ½ leap (very nice), both standing side split and back leg scales showed excellent flexibility and extension; switch leap to straddle jump was confident as well. Terin Humphrey (So 9.825) Terrific opening mount of the triple spin in lunge position; Kotchetkova was solid as well (full twisting bhs to bhs to layout stepout); stuck the punch front but again needs to land this element a little higher for maximum bonus; switch leap to wolf could use more extension and amplitude as well, perhaps a small deduction here; Omeliantchik looked rushed just a bit but she stuck the round off to 1 ½ twist dismount. Terin had been recovering from a serious cold/flu symptoms and seemed a little fatigued at the end of this routine as she dismounted the podium. Wonderful effort in light of the circumstances that limited her practice time earlier in the week. Floor Exercise 49.500 It seems like Bama as a team is just one meet away from seeing all six gymnasts hit their scoring potential TOGETHER on this event. Will it come at regionals?
Ashley O'Neal (Fr 9.825) Opened with a very strong double tuck, front-front full twist to front layout had nice amplitude and landing; finished with a high double pike, small check forward on the landing. She really sold this routine well and her leaps had more amplitude and flexibility this week. Erin Rightley (Jr 9.875) Terrific effort, starting with a super high double pike, following with a front through to a Rudi to layout step-out (very nice control and amplitude on the final element combination). Ended with a front-front full to front layout, stuck the landing without requiring a step forward. Leap series needed a little more control during the full turn in air for optimal scoring. Brittany Magee (Fr 9.950) Simply awesome. Hit all three tumbling passes, including the ½ in ½ out chest high, whip-whip-bhs-double pike, ended with a difficult front through to a double full, step forward to balance the landing but easily within the flow of the last tumbling element. All dance moves and leaps were executed beautifully. Melanie Banville (Fr 9.900) She achieved major air-time this week on her opening pike full-in tumbling pass but had to take a step back to balance the landing. Again, this was a smooth move within the rhythm of the tumbling element and she followed with a tight triple turn (well, 2 ¾ but she covered it well with a huge smile to the judge covering the out-of-bounds line). Followed up with her second pass, the front-front full-punch layout (she had struggled with this pass during warm-ups and was all smiles after standing it up so well in competition). Finished with an awesome double pike, stuck the landing as well. Terin Humphrey (So 9.150) Opened with a double front Arabian, step forward on the landing but otherwise well-controlled; trouble ensued on the second tumbling pass, where she went into the final element flat instead of rising (2 ½ twist to punch front), resulting in a sit down. Nice double pike to close, which was impressive considering her energy level was probably not optimal for this meet as noted earlier. Ashley Miles (Sr 9.950) Double layout to open, front-front full to front layout, double pike to close, slight leg lift after landing this last pass when she went for the absolute stick. Slightly awkward on her cat leap full to side leap combination, so the judges could have arguably taken off a little more in this routine.
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