Pooh Bear's assistants, along with several Tide fans and even a few well-known news hounds (Ray and Andrew), were gathered en masse at the annual Ghosts vs. Goblins competition on this date to get a peek at the 2001 Alabama Gymnastics Team. The audience was treated (not tricked) to some awesome tumbling and we have all the gruesome details to share with you.

First, the squads were split into the following teams:

Tide gymnasts still recovering from injuries who did not compete on this date: Tiffany Byrd, Helen Burgin, Erin Holdefer. Alexa Martinez pulled a muscle in her shoulder while rotating bars during warm-ups and had to be iced down. She was later able to practice some leaps and jumps on balance beam.

Vault

The vault competition was definitely one of the more exciting events for the fans to witness because of the high number of gymnasts throwing 10.0 start value vaults this early in the practice season. The following vaults were competed as noted:

The most impressive and consistent vault performances were turned in by Andree Pickens and Jeana Rice, followed closely by Sara Scarborough, who was really wowing everybody with her explosive new Tsukahara vault (where did that come from?), Kristen Sterner, Katie Hornecker and Raegan Tomasek. Everyone was turning in exceptional vault runs on this date and seemed to gain energy from the success of the previous vaulter and the crowd's response.

Uneven Bars

The Tide returns four All-Americans on the bars and there will be fierce competition for positions 1 and 2 in the rotation. Some eye-popping moves were observed:

Kristen Sterner: she now has the full twisting Tkatchev down pat and competed a full routine sans the dismount on this date. She nailed this release successfully all through warm-ups as well. In just two weeks she has gone from practicing this move on the high mats to throwing it in a full routine without missing a beat. She also had a pike Jaeger and dismounted with a double front tuck out of a reverse giant.

Andree Pickens: she now has FIVE release moves and threw them all in a complete routine on this date. The routine includes a Shaposhnikova, followed by a Hindorff, a Geinger, a Tkatchev, a straddle release back to the low bar, two giants, and a full in dismount. We think that 'Dree is eventually going to try and combine the Geinger with the Tkatchev for bonus (as if she needs more bonus) as she becomes more familiar with the new release and increases her power

Dara Stewart: her routine is basically the same except she has added a straddle Jaeger release move (Tkatchev is her signature release) and is now dismounting with a full twisting double layout. Awesome form and extension as usual.

Natalie Barrington: the Canadian Prankster returns in awesome shape once again and has the same flawless routine from her sophomore year but has added a double front out of a reverse giant dismount to her arsenal.

Jeana Rice: this is basically the same routine from her 7^th place AA finish at the 1998 USA Nationals, including two inverted giants, a Tkatchev release, and a full in dismount. An additional release move as well as full turns or release out of a heli are being worked on to increase her high scoring potential.

Robin Hawkins: despite still recovering from an ACL injury, Robin was throwing the highest Tkatchev release moves we have ever seen from her on this date. At this point her routine remains the same as last year but we expect to see some additional skills once she is fully recovered.

Raegan Tomasek: a toe on-toe off on the high bar and a pike Jaeger are the highligts of this routine

Katie Hornecker: a beautiful, high pike Jaeger and a full twisting double layout dismount were retained in her routine. We expect Katie to add her heli back in order to gain bonus connection and nudge her past that 9.85 scoring plateau.

Whitney Morgan: Bama's triathlete returns in awesome shape and has a tan to boot. She threw both a Tkatchev and a pike Jaeger release on this date and dismounted with a double layout.

Balance Beam

All of the gymnasts have added news skills to their beam routines and we will highlight some of the more difficult combinations and series here:

Raegan Tomasek has added a punch front mount and a flic flac to an Onodi flight series. Andree Pickens has added a wolf jump to a punch front, a flic flac, layout, layout flight series, and a 360 degree wolf jump. Katie Hornecker mounts now with a round off to two-footed layout. Stephanie Kite mounts with a punch front, has a flight series of flic flac to two-footed layout, has another punch front and dismounts with a front double full. Jeana Rice threw a sissone leap to a ¾ wolf jump, a flight series of flic flac, layout, layout, a Miller, a punch front, a 360 degree wolf jump, and dismounted with a triple full. Lissy Smith was the last competitor on balance beam (and in the competition) and appeared to be throwing her same routine until she set up for her flight series, which consisted of a flic flac, layout, layout, layout!!! The crowd gasped and then broke into thunderous applause when Lissy nailed this series. She completed a 360 degree wolf jump and a gainer tuck as well to add to a routine already jam-packed with difficulty. Other excellent routines were thrown by Dara Stewart, Kristen Sterner, Natalie Barrington, Whitney Morgan, Lauren Holdefer, Robin Hawkins, and Sara Scarborough. Noticeably absent but expected to be back in the line-up by January was Alexa Martinez, who again was icing down a sore shoulder on this date.

Floor Exercise

The Tide gymnasts were not allowed to throw complete floor routines but had to do three tumbling passes. The increase in skill difficulty was again noticeable on this event among the majority of gymnasts competing. Some highlights include:

Kristen Sterner: double pike, triple full

Andree Pickens: double front out of a handspring front and a double tuck; she has also been working on a pike full in; double twist

Sara Scarborough: double tuck, double pike, double twist

Raegan Tomasek: 2 ½ twist to a punch front, double tuck, double pike

Robin Hawkins: double tuck, double pike, double twist

Krista Gole: double pike, double twist, double tuck

Jeana Rice: pike full in, triple full

Whitney Morgan: pike full in, double pike, double tuck

Lissy Smith: double pike, double tuck, 2 ½ twist

Natalie Barrington: 2 ½ to punch front, double tuck

Lauren Holdefer: double pike, double tuck

Additional tumbling was demonstrated by Stephanie Kite, who threw a beautifully high layout step-out that started with a front tumbling series.

Miscellaneous Notes:

The Tide had four all-around competitors during this intrasquad meet, Pickens, Sterner, Tomasek, and Rice. Look for them to go all-around during the season as well if they keep on their current pace. If the Tide had to compete this weekend, the line-up might shape up like this based on Monday's competition:

If the Tide can remain injury-free this year, the possibilities are limitless because the energy, teamwork and enthusiasm seem to be present among all the gymnasts this year. The depth will enable the coaches to pace the team into the middle and final meets of the year and will provide several gymnasts an opportunity to refine their skills for possible starting roles during competitive year 2002. Pooh Bear's assistants will continue to provide reports from practices during the month of November and December.