Okay Tide fans, it's now the moment you've all been anxiously awaiting...at least for the past week, that is:) Here it is, my recap on the annual, and highly anticipated, Ghosts and Goblins!! Yesterday was definitely a day of high excitement, beginning when we entered the locker room. The Ghosts had decorated it full out in white & orange streamers, while the Goblins tried to outdo their rival team with black and green decorations everywhere! The ghosts dressed in all white, complete with white facepaint and orange mardi gras beads. The goblins were intimidating in their black and green ensembles, complemented by dark and dramatic eye make up.

Now that you've got such a vivid picture in your head I suppose I can go ahead and fill you in on the amazing gymnastics that went on There was so many high points and exciting routines, it would take days for me to get through them all. So, I'll share my highlights with you, and then you'll just have to come out to our first meet to see it all for yourself!

Vault saw huge yurchenko fulls done by Morgan, Kayla, and Brittany. Ricki also did hers and then followed it with an impressive yurchenko 1 1/2. Our two non- yurchenkos came from Megan who did a nice handspring pike 1/2 and Alyssa who threw a gorgeous tsuk layout full. It was exciting to see Kassi do her yurchenko full, as she has only started vaulting recently due to knee surgery early this summer.

On bars, there were two main highlights for me. One was seeing Miss Jac back in action! She did a stunning Higgins through to sky high Tkatchev, overshoot to immediate toe-catch up to high bar. Of course at this time, dismounts are out of the question, but I was so proud of her, especially with it being her first pressure set since last season. My other favorite "surprise" came from Amanda. She did her last year's bar routine first and then after chalking up again she unveiled her new flying double layout! Everyone was so excited for her! Kassi rocked her bar routine with the addition of a giant 1/1 at the end of her routine. Kayla was rock solid performing a 1 1/2 pirouette to tkatchev, and then much to her fellow Goblins' delight, stuck her double layout cold! Cassie hit her set with ease, and Megan showcased a new Shaposhnikova for the first time under pressure! Honestly, everybody did awesome routines...it's difficult to just narrow it down to a few!

I think it's pretty exciting to have such a strong beam team. There are six girls doing front aerials and Kayla, Morgan, Brittany, Kassi, and Terin are all throwing either a double tuck or double pike dismount to end their sets. That's pretty studly:) From the way our team performed on beam, you would think we were in mid season. Casey had a flawless routine complete with the stylistic consistency she lead us off with last year. Despite not having many repetitions under her belt, Ashley O performed an impressive routine proving that knee is ready for competition! Everyone looked so confident up there and just attacked their routines one after another.

All I can say about floor is WOW! In addition to Kayla's piked full in, Brittany, Terin, and Ricki are training them as well, while Morgan and Alyssa are doing tucked full ins. Morgan was of course impressive with her booming double layout, and new freshman, Megan, showed off her double layout too! Kaitlin has added her signature front layout-front double full to her repertoire of skills and she made it look too darn easy! Both Kayla and Ricki are doing triple fulls and Terin's double arabian is better than ever! With so many new passes, it gives the coaches the opportunity to pick and choose, putting together the routine that will score the best.

So for all of ya'll who came out to watch us, I know you were NOT disappointed. You got to see our freshmen in action for the first time, and they are the real deal!! They keep getting better and better and just really shine under pressure. It was also exciting to see all of our surgery rehabbers back in action, not looking like they've missed a single beat. I'm sure you fans are just dying to see the new floor routines but they're not quite ready to be unveiled yet. I've already said that the music is absolutely awesome, and so far the routines have been incredible. They're still works in progress so you're going to have to wait in suspense until January 11, 2008 when were taking on the Fighting Illini here at Coleman!!

Well considering you've just spent the past hour reading my column, I think I'm going to have to wrap it up! Come back and visit us next week!!