The Alabama Crimson Tide Gymnastics team is ready to showcase another terrific season of top notch tumbling in their quest for SEC title #6 and NCAA National Title #5.  We had a chance to scout the team as they went through extensive workouts on Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend in Tuscaloosa, including several intra-squads on the uneven bars and balance beam.  We have come up with our predicted line-ups for each event, keeping in mind that these positions are fluid and could change according to nicks and bruises that may arise leading up to the opening meet.  Without further ado…

Vault

1. Kaitlin White (Sr) Once again vaulting the Yurchenko 1/1 and most likely will be the lead off as she begins her final year with the Tide. To score higher this year, Kaitlin has been working on her timing for blocking off the vault table with more explosiveness.  Her off-season elbow surgery may affect her being moved in and out of the line-up on this event throughout the season in order to pace her for the demanding post-season schedule. 
2. Kassi Price (So) After having successful clean up surgery in the off-season on her knee, Kassi is again attacking the vault with confidence but still has to clean up her form during the mid-flight twisting to maximize her scoring.  She will throw the Yurchenko 1/1 and the 1 ½ in 2008.
3. Ricki Lebegern (So) Returning once again in terrific shape for her sophomore campaign, we expect to see the Yurchenko 1 ½ thrown pretty early in the season by Ricki but she will start off with the Yurchenko 1/1 against Illinois.
4. Brittany Magee (Jr) Yurchenko 1/1 – she practiced what looked like a 1 ½ this past weekend but seems more comfortable with the 1/1.  A little more height and faster rotation in the air could result in some big scores this season.
5. Kayla Hoffman (Fr) This will be one of the Tide’s best vaults right out of the chute for 2008. Kayla throws a remarkable Yurchenko 1/1 with great distance from the table and flares it out with superb form near the end as she is landing, reminiscent of Kim Zmeskal.  She sticks this vault in practice on a regular basis and hopefully will transfer this to the competition floor Friday night.
6. Morgan Dennis (So) Anchoring the vault for the second year in a row, Morgan also will continue to throw her own powerful and high-octane version of the Yurchenko 1/1. 

Variations could include: Casey Overton (Yurchenko 1/1), Alyssa Chapman (Tsukahara 1/1) or Megan Mashburn (Front Pike ½ Twist).  Terin Humphrey is not expected to vault until later in the season to pace her in the all-around as well.

Uneven Bars

1. Kaitlin White – same routine from the past three years of competition and she is not expected to throw the double layout dismount that she has been training at this first meet.  Kaitlin has worked hard on reaching handstands and completing the pirouetting on top of the bar to garner the higher scores in 2008.  Geinger release, Pak salto transition to low bar and a full turn to double tuck dismount are the primary elements in her routine once again.
2. Morgan Dennis – Pike Jaeger release and a double front dismount, with potentially a double layout added later in the season to reduce the chances of deductions for cowboy form on the DF landing. Very smooth, flowing routine, super high release.
3. Kayla Hoffman – Beautiful form, extension, pirouetting will set this routine apart in the eyes of the judges.  She pirouettes 1 ½ turns on the top bar to an immediate Tkatchev release, straddle toe-shoot transition back to the high bar and a stunning double layout dismount.  If Kayla attacks the bars with confidence, this will be a high scoring event for her from day one.
4. Cassie Martin – our junior from Hill’s Angels in Maryland garnered a 9.90 score from the visiting judge this past week during an intra-squad and appears ready to go for a similar score Friday night against the Fightin’ Illini.  She will once again throw the toe-on toe-off on the high bar to an immediate Tkatchev release to immediate Pak Salto combination and will dismount with the front giant to ½ turn to double tuck dismount. Still working on upgrading her dismount to an Arabian double front.
5. Kassi Price – 2^nd team All American on the bars as a freshman.  Will once again throw a Hindorff release but will leave out the toe-shoot straddle transition to the high bar in the first meet.  Double layout dismount to finish with a full twist to be added later in the season.
6. Terin Humphrey – if she is good to go Friday night, look for the Khorkina release but not the hop full or the new full twisting double layout dismount quite yet.  She will be looking for title # 3 on this event at the NCAAs in April.

Variations to this line-up: Could include Ricki Lebegern (new Pike Jaeger release), Amanda Montgomery (improved form and a double layout dismount soon) and Brittany Magee (more consistency this year with her Tkatchev, Pak Salto and a ½ in ½ out dismount).

Balance Beam

Some combination of the following deep group will be used against Illinois and we may see Terin Humphrey take a break depending upon how her elbows are feeling.  She was also experiencing some back pain this past week and was limited during intra-squads over the weekend as a result, so the coaches may play it safe for this first meet.

1. Casey Overton – steady as a rock as lead off in 2007, earning her the same position for 2008.  Front aerial to back handspring to layout step-out, switch leap to sheep jump, switch side straddle jump and for now a back handspring to gainer full twist off the side for her dismount.  Has worked a back handspring to double twist off the side but not sure if we will see this during the season.  Casey has also worked a double tuck dismount in pre-season training.
2. Amanda Montgomery or Kassi Price – consistency will dictate who claims this position in the line-up and Amanda has been amazing during intra-squads but Kassi is closing the gap with more focus on her form (front aerial to immediate back handspring to layout step-out flight series) and on her extension during tumbling skills.  Amanda has the more visually unique routine (front aerial to side aerial, split full jump, one-arm back handspring to wolf full jump) and is in terrific shape for her junior season.  She will dismount with a running full twist off the end of the beam and nails it just about every time, while Kassi will throw a double pike dismount.  Tough decision for the coaches.
3. Ricki Lebegern – the SEC beam champion will retain her routine from 2007, highlighted by a back handspring to layout step-out, switch leap to straddle-straddle combination, side Somi, round off to double twist dismount.
4. Kayla Hoffman – back handspring to layout step-out flight series, running switch leap-to switch leap combination, front aerial to gainer back layout step-out, switch leap to tuck full jump, back handspring to two-footed back handspring to double twist dismount. Again, her form, lines, extension, toe point will set her apart along with the tumbling difficulty on this event.
5. Morgan Dennis – this year she will be throwing the bhs to two layouts it looks like from the opening meet and will dismount also with the double tuck.  Very confident on this event with strong tumbling and it’s consequently very hard for the coaches to keep her out of the line-up. 
6. Brittany Magee or Terin Humphrey – Britt will shift into the fifth position when Terin is in the line-up.  She has added a leap series combo for this year that has a third element: switch split leap to pike jump to tuck full jump; one arm back handspring to layout step-out; front aerial, also added a gainer back layout step-out to replace her punch front and will dismount with a round off to double tuck.  Terin’s routine has some new choreography but she will continue to throw the same difficult elements: the Humphrey mount; full twisting back handspring to back handspring to layout step-out; ¾ twisting back handspring to split handstand, switch leap to wolf jump, wolf front aerial to flutter jump and a round off to back handspring to double tuck dismount.

Floor Exercise

1. Ashley O'Neal or Kaitlin White – “O” is looking pretty strong on floor for 2008 with new music and dance.  She will open with a double pike, front-front full twist to front layout, and will close with a double tuck.  Kaitlin may rest for another week or two before showcasing her new floor routine.  She will tumble some combination of the following: opening double pike, front punch layout to a front double full (E), and will end with a front punch layout to 1 ½ with the possibility of eventually throwing an immediate layout-step-out out of the last element (zounds!).
2. Ricki Lebegern – her floor routine music is the same this year but she will open with a pike full in, follow this up with a front-front full twist to front layout, and close with a double pike. 
3. Brittany Magee – If Britt gets the nod to go on floor against the Illini, she will open with a whip-whip-bhs-double pike, follow with a front-front full twist to front tuck, and will close with a double pike.  New music (Celtic mixture) and strong new dance elements, with added difficulty later in the season (pike full in) may see her regain All American status on this event for 2008.
4. Kassi Price – don’t think we will see Kassi throwing her E passes right out of the chute but she will still tumble with some impressive skills: front pike through to a round off to back handspring to double pike; 2 ½ twist, close with a double tuck or a double pike. 
5. Kayla Hoffman – opens with a pike full in, follows with a 2 ½ twist to punch layout, closes with a double pike.  Don’t be surprised if the coaches possibly opt to water these passes down a bit for the opening meet considering that it will be her first time in front of 13,000 plus fans and the adrenaline pumping might be too much to handle all at once. But if Kayla is staying consistently in bounds during warm-ups, the coaches will likely give her the green light. 
6. Morgan Dennis – will open with a double layout (E), follow with a tuck full in (E) and close out with a double tuck (D), the latter out of a front tuck through to a round off to back handspring.  As the defending NCAA National Champion on the floor, she will be debuting a sassier routine highlighted by groovy new dance elements that reflect her well-earned confidence on this event for 2008.

Casey Overton and Terin Humphrey, along with Megan Mashburn and Alyssa Chapman will figure in the floor exercise mix shortly and we may see several exhibitions during the first few meets on this event as well.