It is hard to believe we are heading into the seventh week of the 2003 season with half of our dual meets already complete! First of all let me say how excited we are to be returning to Coleman Coliseum in a Valentines Day showdown with the LSU Tigers. With only one more travel date prior to the championship season we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel! Our travel schedule has been rather grueling and certainly not the way I would have planned our schedule if the choice were given to me.......but we have made the best of it and have a few of the highest road scores in the country.

Our team continues to impress me and our freshman seem to have a better idea about how the college system differs from international and national competition. Those that weren't quite completely ready on a few events are not quickly learning about "making the most of their competitive opportunities" and how valuable each and every routine is to our team. Sophomore's Michelle Reeser and Shannon Hrozek are perfect examples of "being ready" when the season begins and they have seen invaluable competition. Our junior class and Senior Kristin Sterner continue to provide the stability this young team needs and we are proud of their contributions thus far. A few notes:

• Freshman Ashley Miles continues to improve from what doctors believe is a significant patella tendon sprain. We feel fortunate that Ashley continues to respond to rest and rehabilitation and most certainly we are glad that her injury is much less severe than we first indicated. This will be a huge boost for our team during the championship season.
• Sophomore Alexis Brion continues to improve each day after being released from Dr. Gould at Health South who operated on Alexis's ankle earlier this year. We continue to hope she will return to competition. She has begun vaulting and tumbling again and now just needs the training time to allow her to be competitively ready........so keep you fingers crossed! Hope you can bring your favorite person to Coleman Coliseum on Valentine's Day and join us for what promises to be a great showdown between the Tide and the Tigers!

Roll Tide!