The Alabama Gymnastics Team conducted a final intra-squad meet prior to heading to Gainesville, Florida for the 2005 Super Six Challenge.  The coaches treated this like an official meet, which included 15-minute warm-ups on each apparatus and the donning of the competition leos within a set time period.  The coaches challenged the Tide by starting them on the floor exercise and finishing on the balance beam.  Results were mixed as several gymnasts were performing complete routines after only a few days of practice since returning from the Christmas Holiday break.  This was evident in the lack of timing and rhythm with the execution of certain elements.  However, the overall impression we came away with was still very good in terms of the degree of difficulty they were throwing at this early juncture across all events and the solid efforts of each gymnast.   Before we describe the performances in order of the line-up on each apparatus, we will take some time to address a few observations and relate some news, to be known as Tidebits from this point forward in honor of Alabama fan, almays1.

 Tidebits

v     Freshman Terin Humphrey arrived early at the gym for stretching on this date and PBAs and Salto were lucky enough to be the first to greet her upon entering the facility.  Salto just managed to contain himself from falling to the floor and claiming unworthiness in her presence.  We had the smelling salts handy just in case.  More to follow on her incredible skills.

 v     Sophomore gymnast Brittany Comeaux was working hard in the gym on the uneven bars and vault and her overall conditioning has definitely strengthened since our last report.  She was participating in the rotation of the squad to each event and was receiving verbal support from her teammates as she worked the aforementioned events during long warm-ups.  By the way, her nickname is Bee.

 v     Tommy Deas of The Tuscaloosa News was present for the intra-squad and shared with us that he will be writing two articles each week on the Tide gymnasts throughout the 2005 season.  More coverage means more exposure and hopefully more fans to the meets!

 v     Chad Anderson, WVUA sports director, was on hand to do a run through for the upcoming audio coverage of the Tide this season.  He's young, he's energetic and ready to roll out his pithy commentary as soon as he learns the difference between a Kotchetkova and a Humphrey on the beam.  Tune in to 90.7 this year if you can't be there in person to see the Tide.

 Now it's time for some Tide highlights.  We'll describe the primary skills thrown on each event, the overall quality of execution and anticipated upgrades in the near future. 

 Floor Exercise

 1.      Erin Rightley: (Sophomore) Music from Tomb Raider.  Opened with a front handspring to a Rudi (1½ twist), slight scoot backwards on one foot upon landing.  Second pass of a round off to double full, executed and landed very well.  Final tumbling pass of a front, front full to a front pike, another solid landing.  Nice overall presentation and her confidence on this event has greatly improved since last year.  Upgrades planned: double pike (awesome height and form), Rudi-layout-step-out, double layout.

 2.      Shannon Hrozek (Senior) Music from Santana.  Opened with a round off to a very high, booming double pike, landed perfectly.  Second pass of a front - front full - front tuck, which was landed short and she had to take three steps back to keep from falling. Final tumbling pass of a round off to double tuck, landed well (spotted by Bryan Raschilla).  This is a sassy mixture of classic Santana music that Shannon really enjoys dancing to and she threw a strong wolf and straddle Popa combination for her required jumps.  Upgrade planned: double front Arabian.

 3.      Dana Filetti (Junior) Music is a mixture of Higher Ground, Aerosmith and Kill Bill.  Opened with a terrific round off to a double pike, followed by a round off - whip ½ - whip full combination.  Final tumbling pass of a front - front layout - front tuck.  Lots of funky dance sequences including the moonwalk. Dana really likes this routine and sells it well. Upgrades planned soon: double front Arabian, triple twist. 

 4.      Mari-Christine Bayer (Junior) Music is from Strictly Ballroom, one of Mari's favorite pieces.  Her opening tumbling pass was a double pike, a small shuffle back on one foot upon landing. Second pass of a front - front full - front tuck, executed beautifully.  Final pass of a round off to double twist, one slight foot forward to check her landing.  Beautiful presentation by Mari but some of the dance elements are a little repetitive and there are indications that Dana Dobransky is still polishing this routine.  Nevertheless, great potential to score high.  Upgrades are not planned at this time but Mari has a tuck full-in as a reserve pass.

 5.      Alexis Brion (Senior) Music is Sandstorm from her freshman year.  She also has new music that may be incorporated by mid-season.  Wow! Opening pass of a whip through to a round off to double pike.  Her height and air-time with this new tumbling element are unbelievable.  Alexis was struggling with staying in bounds with the double pike during warm-ups so during the competition she appeared to accommodate this by landing a little stiff-legged, requiring one quick foot forward to catch her momentum.  Otherwise this was a terrific pass.  Second pass of a round-off - whip half - whip full (will add a punch tuck out of this soon) and a final tumbling pass of a round off to double tuck, very nice landing.   Upgrades planned: possibly a double layout. 

 6.      Ashley Miles (Junior) Music is a techno version of My Favorite Things that shifts into Outkast and Drumline.  Opening pass of a round off to a double layout, followed by a front -front full - punch front layout.  Final tumbling pass of a double tuck on this date. Ashley was favoring her ankles a bit during warm-ups and went easier on this last pass.  Bryan Raschilla spotted her on the opening and ending passes to ensure safety.  Leap series included a cat leap full and a full turn (leg extended) to tuck 1½ combination but this year she is not including the seat drop down, her very cool signature move on floor during the past two years.  Upgrades planned include the return of the double pike for her third pass and the possibility of a fourth tumbling pass (perhaps back to back tumbling sequences to open).  There are lots of funky dance moves in this routine that will delight the fans.

 7.   Dana Pierce (Junior) Music is a combination of Backstreet Boys, Jett, Drumline.  This is great music for Dana and she also seemed to really enjoy the new dance sequences from start to finish.  She opened with a round off to a super double pike (landed high on her toes) followed by a front handspring - front layout - front layout (slight bend in the knees on her third element) and a final tumbling pass was a round off to double twist, another strong landing.  She has a ton of dance and leap combinations that will give her bonus, including a switch side leap to straddle Popa to straddle Shushonova combination, a double turn to wolf full combination and a ring leap.  Upgrades planned: a whip to double pike; double twist - punch front (she threw this during long and short warm ups).

 Additional gymnasts working on their choreography for the floor during long warm-ups and subsequent practice time included senior Michelle Reeser, (same music and routine from junior year) freshman Kaitlin White (very nice dance sequences and selling of the routine to her audience), and junior Rachael Delahoussaye (her music is an interesting classic rock combination from Deep Purple, Golden Earring and RamJam).  Freshman Terin Humphrey worked primarily on her leaps and timers for her opening pass of a double front Arabian (fantastic height achieved). 

Vault

 1 Erin Rightley   

Yurchenko Layout (excellent height, beautiful form and distance, small step back on landing). 

Has already thrown the Yurchenko 1/1 consistently in pre-season on the hard mats and will likely compete this or the layout at the Super Six Challenge to gain immediate competition experience.

 2 Dana Filetti

Yurchenko full twist on back pike off. 

Excellent entry, flight and landing.  Ready to roll.

 3 Dana Pierce

Yurchenko 1/1 

Her blocking off the vault table was not strong enough and then the twisting of this vault was either too late or held too long in the air, resulting in a touch down immediately upon landing.  Dana rarely misses this vault in competition so we expect to see her out there Friday night.

 4 Shannon  Hrozek

Yurchenko 1/1  

Awesome blocking, her form throughout was terrific and she stuck the landing. Huge smile in response.

 5 Alexis Brion

Front pike ½ twist

Powerful run, blocking and position during flight; she landed it a little low at the waist leading to a small hop to the side.

 6 Ashley Miles

Yurchenko 1/1

Another great vault by the national champion, one foot back slightly on landing to check her momentum. 

 Kaitlin White, Meredith Laxton, Brittany Comeaux, Jessie Silver, and Terin Humphrey were also working their respective vaults during additional practice segments.

Uneven Bars

 1      Shannon Hrozek: this was the first time we've seen the senior fall upon mounting the bars and during a later uprise to giant (overshot).  She is mounting from the high bar this year and her timing for some reason was off today despite throwing several solid warm-up routines.  Her routine mainly consisted of a full turn to Gienger release and a ½ turn to double tuck dismount but she has already trained upgrades that will include a Shaposhnikova and a front in back out dismount. 

 2      Kaitlin White: a very confident, solid routine, highlighted by a full turn to Gienger release, a Pak Salto release, and ending with a full turn to double tuck dismount, one step on the landing.  Upgrades will include a double pike dismount or a full-in by mid-season.

 3      Alexis Brion: another solid routine until the dismount; beautiful giant uprises to handstand positions on the high bar, a very confident full turn to immediate Tkatchev release and a giant to ½ turn to reverse tuck off the high bar, several stumbles back on the landing, deep knee bending as well.  If she can upgrade the dismount, this will be a winning routine.

 4      Dana Filetti: the best routine of the day, starting with a toe on straddle release to the high bar, a full turn to a Gienger release and a perfect transition to handstand position on the low bar, ending with a pencil sharp ½ turn on the high bar to immediate double front dismount, stuck landing.  Dana is ready to go. 

 5      Ashey Miles: a solid routine but she can do better; a new move consisting of a free hip circle on the low bar followed by a free hip release to the high bar, a booming Hindorff release and a double tuck dismount (was struggling on this date with the double layout in warm-ups). 

 6      Mari-Christine Bayer: an excellent routine, highlighted once again by her signature perfect handstand positions on the high and low bars, a ½ turn to pike Jaeger release and a full turn to double tuck dismount, chest high landing.

 7      Dana Pierce: lots of intricate pirouetting, including giant ½ turn to two reverse giants (eagle grip) to ½ turn to a Tkatchev release.  Dismount includes a giant with a ½ turn to immediate reverse tuck off the high bar.  Same as Brion, she must master a more difficult dismount to score to her full potential with this routine.

 Brittany Comeaux was also showing progress with her double front dismount after several mishaps early on and the Tkatchev release out of a full turn was looking very strong as well.  Terin Humphrey showcased most of her signature moves on the bars, including the Markelov and Gienger releases, a hop full and some nifty stalders. 

Balance Beam

 1      Rachael Delahoussaye: she was moved to the opening position for this intra-squad meet and responded with a super routine.  Highlights included a gorgeous wolf full to open, followed by a bhs-layout stepout for her flight series; a wolf to Korbut, running switch side leap and a switch leap to wolf.  Gainer back pike, stuck landing on the dismount.

 2      Dana Filetti: flight series of a handstand to immediate back layout stepout; straddle-straddle-wolf jump combination, a sheep jump and a wolf to Korbut; the routine was just about nailed when she fell unexpectedly on a tuck full jump (got ¾ around) but stuck her double twist dismount.  She looks confident on this event for 2005.

 3      Michelle Reeser: just like Shannon was off on her bars routine, Michelle was off on her best event, beam.  She fell unexpectedly on the second element of her flight series (the bhs-layout-Korbut) and had other bobbles that were uncharacteristic of her (full turn break at the hip and a hesitant switch leap that cost her combination credit on the subsequent wolf jump).  She threw a very nice switch leap to straddle-straddle combination and dismounted with a bhs-gainer full twist off the side, a little loose in form. 

 4      Ashley Miles: despite solid warm-ups as well on the beam Ashley encountered problems on this event by falling on her mount, the very difficult round off layout-stepout.  She showed pretty good composure with the rest of her routine, which included a wolf full and a switch leap to split side leap combination as well as a gainer bhs-layout stepout.  A shoulder roll down onto the beam was sharp and she dismounted with a round off to double tuck, a little loose in her form as well but landed pretty well.

 5      Shannon Hrozek: her new flight series of the bhs-layout-layout was stuck cold but she was hesitant on her subsequent switch leap, costing her combination credit as she then threw the wolf jump.  A nice straddle jump to wolf combination was thrown and she was also solid with the hitch kick to sheep jump combination.  Dismounted with a strong double twist, slight check on the landing.

 6      Mari-Christine Bayer: one of the three best routines performed on this date; highlighted by her flight series of the front aerial to immediate bhs to Korbut; a standing side split scale, one leg held in place; a front walkover to needle scale; switch leap to straddle to wolf jump combination; gainer pike dismount, stuck landing. 

 7      Erin Rightley: a beautiful routine, highlighted by a bhs-bhs-layout (super solid); switch leap - switch leap combination, slight hesitancy before then going into a Korbut; straddle-straddle-wolf combination (beautiful amplitude on the third element especially); bhs-gainer full twist dismount.  Wow.

 8      Alexis Brion: rough day for the seniors in general on the balance beam.  Started off looking pretty good with a bhs-bhs-layout (fell on third element); nice switch leap to ¾ straddle combination; very rough punch front (had to put hand down to keep from falling) but finished with a switch leap to side split leap combination, landed lightly and confidently before dismounting with a gainer pike off the end of the beam. 

 Terin Humphrey showcased the mount (3 ½ turns on the beam, leg fully extended) named after her in the code of points during practice as well as the Kotchetkova and a switch leap to one-handed back handspring.  Dismount will be the round off to double tuck.  Meredith Laxton was showing solid skills via her flight series (bhs-bhs-layout) and the wolf full.  Dana Pierce also had several reps on this date on the beam but mainly continued to practice her dismount off the bars to improve her timing and form. 

 We look forward to bringing you all the details online from Bama's opening meet in Florida Friday night, starting at 5:30 pm EST, 4:30 CST.  Roll Tide!