2003 - Bama in Athens
...again...

by: Salto

Athens...again. I wonder: if gym teams had to compete against each other back to back to back the way pro baseball teams do, would they start having the gymnastics equivalent of 'beanball' wars? Nah, probably not...still...

That old saying about teams improving the most between their first and second contest was borne out, and how, by the Tide in Athens. And the improvement was in more than just Bama's overall team score (from 196.000 to 197.025). The GymTide seemed to take a big step forward in confidence, as well, applying relentless pressure to the Gymdawgs at every turn. To their credit, even though they buckled a bit, the 'Dawgs managed to hold on to win by the narrowest possible margin of victory, 0.025.

This week's effort on the Uneven Bars remained about the same as last week for the Tide, at least by the team score. The Tide scored 49.100 on the Bars at the Super Six Challenge. This week, with the scoring somewhat 'tighter', they managed 'only' a 49.025. The Tide's highest score on the Bars was the soon-to-become-all-too-familiar 9.875 that went to Jeana Rice. However, the freshmen in the event, Dana Pierce and Ashley Miles, appeared to make progress from last week. Michele Reeser's fall was a real shock, primarily, because her bar-set otherwise went rather well. We again thought that Kristen Sterner's score of 9.65 was too low, only to learn from the PBA's that she had again encountered the same technical problems as last week. Shannon Hrozek led off with a solid, beautiful 9.85 routine. In fact, before we remembered that it is actually quite a compliment, we were just about to give 'The Woodlands Wonder' a new nickname, 'Poor Shannon', for having to lead off on three of the four rotations (Bars, Beam, and Vault).

Vault was a lot of fun, what with all the new vaults Bama was throwing. I believe that five of the Tide's six vaults had a 10.0 start value, compared to only - I think - two or three last week. The most amazing was Kristen Sterner, who, in just a few weeks, has successfully changed to a totally different style of vault. (To get a feel for this change, imagine yourself doing a cartwheel - yes, it's quite a stretch for me, too! First your hand goes down on the ground, then the other hand, then you cartwheel over to your feet. Now, imagine yourself doing another cartwheel, this time going the opposite direction and having your other hand hit the ground first. Seems awkward even to think about to me. Now imagine doing the second cartwheel at the end of a full-speed run!) The ubiquitous 9.875 showed up again, this time as the high score for Bama's Vault rotation awarded both to Jeana and to Ashley.

Bama finally broke through the 9.875 barrier on the Floor with Ashley's underscored 9.95. Let's be fair to the judges, I think it must be harder to award a 10.0 than a lesser score. The judges, individually, are allowed to deduct in increments as small as one half of a tenth of a point, that is, .05. Now, if a judge thinks a gymnast's routine was certainly better than a 9.85, but not quite a 9.90, he or she must decide which score to award. The 9.85 would seem completely unfair. And, if the judge goes ahead and awards the 9.90, at least the score indicates that the judge saw some reason for deduction. But, what if the judge thinks that the routine was better than a 9.95, but not quite a 10.0? My idea is that the judge would be more likely to award a 9.95 due to the inclusion of one additional factor. Namely, was the routine 'perfect'? I thought Ashley's routine was - for all intents and purposes - perfect. Of course, I am not a judge... Going back to the 9.85/9.90 analogy, if one judge gives the 9.90 and the other judge gives a 9.85, then the gymnast will end up with, guess what? That's right a 9.875, which is exactly what the next highest scorer, Jeana, was given. In fact, this was Jeana's third 9.875 in a row. Jeana must have been positively thrilled with this score by this time. Not!

The Bulldog's beam bit Bama badly but one week ago. Bama bounced back by breaking out a beautiful 49.550. But enough of that - well, maybe a little more. The big story of Beam was Jeana's perfect, and I mean perfect, 10.0. The Gymdawgs' outstanding Cory Fritzinger (fans may remember her as the one who used to make fun of 'Sweet Home Alabama' in her Floor routine) had received a 10.0 of the variety I mentioned above. She had some tiny bobbles, but not enough to make her routine closer to a 9.95 than to a 10.00. Jeana's Beam routine, on the contrary, was completely flawless. Although Jeana was able to avoid being tagged with another 9.875, three other Gymtiders were not: Michelle Reeser, Kristen Sterner, and first-time-to-compete-on-beam Mari-Christine Bayer. These scores, along with Jeana's 10.0 and Dana Pierce's awesome 9.925 routine accounted for Bama's 49.550. This score (at the second meet of the season!) was just 0.175 away from the Tide's record setting 49.725 from last year's Southeast Regional. Gosh, if only those 9.85 judges could have agreed with the 9.90 judges on all those 9.875's...

The scoring seemed a bit 'tight' all night, I suppose for both sides. It's only the truth to point out, however, that the Gymdawgs had as many 9.90 or better scores on the Bars (3) as Bama had for the whole meet. In fact, the Tide received seven of those pesky 9.875's on the night, including Jeana Rice's three. (In a further coincidence involving her, Jeana came in 2nd in the All-Around to Chelsa Byrd by the same tiny 0.025 margin that Bama came up short to the Lady Bulldogs' team score.) The combination of the repeat performance in Athens, the tight scoring, the close-close-close loss, etc put us into a real 'If and But' session after the meet. Cooler heads prevailed, however. We came to realize that, despite the loss to a bitter rival, Bama had treated us to an exceptional performance. We have young, very talented team that, I think, really came together last weekend. The tough time they had on the Beam at the Super Six Challenge only served to spur the Tide on to an awesome performance on the Beam this week - you have to like that. The fact is that what goes on at these gym meets is important to a lot of people, the fans, the coaches, the gymnasts, of course. I like to think that the importance we all attach to the GymTide has a lot to do with why outstanding gymnasts from across the country continue to want to sign on each year with Alabama. Be that as it may, it's always gratifying to see the freshmen 'get their gameface on' for a meet, along with the veterans. I don't know if Bama managed to "go teach the Bulldogs to behave", but they surely showed them some "pluck and grit".

The Tide has a real gymnastics adventure planned for this weekend, what with stops at Arkansas and Nebraska on the schedule for Friday and Sunday, respectively. However, in a little more than a week we will be treated to our first home meet. On Friday, January 31st, Bama will host the No. 9 University of Michigan gym team featuring Olympic great, Elise Ray. I understand that there will even be a neat hand-out item or two available to those who come early (and keep in mind that the doors open at least an hour before the start time to allow the fans to watch warm-ups and to get settled in). The way the GymTide is shaping up - if I were you - I wouldn't miss a minute of it! Roll Tide!!!

PS: I can't let this opportunity go by without thanking the 'bus trip' crew for all their help and kind indulgence. Lucy, our Medalist Club travel chair extraordinaire, was unable to lead the bus trip this time due to a long-scheduled prior commitment. That meant that responsibility fell to her untested and untried assistant, yours truly, and my wife and daughter, Salsa and Saltine. Everything went just fine, however, thanks primarily to the invaluable assistance of our bus driver, Mr. David Pitts, Adventure Travel, Coach Patterson and gymnastics office crew, the folks at Holiday Inn Express-Athens, the parking and athletics department folks at UGA, Lucy, and last, but not least, all my bus-trip companions.