Freshmen Report

At this juncture, the Tide has four freshmen with a very good chance of making the vault line-up by the January 2003 Super Six Challenge.  Mari-Christine Bayer (Yurchenko 1/1), Dana Pierce (Yurchenko 1/1) and Ashley Miles (Yurchenko 1/1 and 1 ½) are a little ahead of Dana Filetti (Yurchenko full on, pike off) in terms of standing their vaults up consistently. Filetti also has the 1/1 and a Hristakieva in her arsenal, so this promises to be an interesting battle over the next 6-8 weeks. Lauren Pruitt struggled a bit today with her front tuck with a ½ twist while Larissa Stewart was throwing Yurchenko layouts into the pits.  Rachel Delahoussaye was off today.

On uneven bars, Miles has the only complete routine at this juncture but Stewart is close behind her.  Pierce and Bayer continue to add elements and refine their technique; overall they are sporting some impressive skills.   Filetti has improved considerably over the past three weeks in terms of execution and the number of elements she has added to her routine.

All of the freshmen look strong on balance beam, including Rachel Delahoussaye, who has shown in previous practices that she has the look the coaches traditionally seek on this pressure event.  With three returning first team All Americans on beam (Sterner, Rice and Hrozek), Alabama is looking for three new routines that they can count on to score equally big each week.  One or all of these three routines could come from the freshmen.

Floor exercise choreography runs were free of tumbling today.  This event promises again to be Bama's major scoring threat and it will be hard to keep the freshmen from shining early and often here.  Trying to imagine a line-up caused PBAs a headache on this date so we will wait and see what the coaches decide come January to alleviate further brain pain.

Sophomores Report

Alexis Brion was back to work on the vault with her awesome pike ½ twist, while Michelle Reeser started to twist her Yurchenko 1/1 today in the pits and Shannon Hrozek worked on the Yurchenko layout (still slightly favoring her right ankle, which she sprained about 2 ½ weeks ago).  All three looked very consistent on the bars and beam and Shannon was even adding a second release towards the end of practice (Tkatchev).  Yowza!

Juniors Report

Stephanie Kite worked on her new floor routine and was looking very solid again on the beam and vault.  Lauren Holdefer rocked her beam routine and stood up the pike ½ twist vault.  She practiced her new floor routine as well.  Jeana Rice looked great on all three events and is still refining her new floor routine, to Motley Crue. Jump back! 

Senior Report

As we've come to expect, Kristin Sterner once again nailed her beam and bars routines and is now throwing Yurchenko layouts into the pits! Wow! She also has opted for new floor music this year and we got a chance to see some of the choreography.  Looking good! 

Next report: Somewhere between November 24 - December 16, 2002. So stay tuned and Roll Tide!