"And there's still a hour before the meet starts," said the disbelieving Florida fan to a fellow Gator. They just shook their heads as the sea of Bama fans behind the little knot of Gator faithful continued cheering 'Roll Tide!' and 'Go, Bama!'. It wasn't long, however, before the Gator fans were up doing the 'Gator chomp' taunt and a few '2-4-6-8' cheers of their own. And so it was, from the warm-ups right through to the end of the meet, the atmosphere at the SEC Championship was simply electric.

There was a method to our cheering madness, in that we knew that Bama would need all the energy we could give them as quickly as possible. The Tide found itself in the unenviable position of starting off the first rotation on bars and ending the meet on a bye. The gymnasts and coaches most definitely don't like to be off the competition floor during the last rotation with the meet on the line. However, perhaps even more critical is the tendency of the first rotation to lack the excitement - and high scores - of later rotations. This was further complicated by Georgia, for all intents and purposes, competing at home in the Arena at the Gwinnett Center after drawing a first round bye and Olympic rotation.

After an old-fashioned march-out to the accompaniment of each team's fight song, the Tide headed over to their first event, the uneven bars. Although the Tide's success has been a bit, well, uneven on uneven bars this year, I thought the bars team put in one of it's best performances at SEC's. The team score of 49.325 didn't really reflect the progress the Tide has made on this event. (See the above discussion concerning the first rotation. However, keep in mind that I was a little 'discombobulated' at SEC's by having such wonderful seats. I'm used to being 'behind the goal', so to speak, with my normal Coleman Coliseum seats being in the 'end zone' area'. The Bama section at SEC's, on the other hand, was right on the '50-yard-line', with the vault runway and the Floor X mat directly in front of us and the beam and bars to our left and right, respectively.)

Shannon Hrozek led off for the Tide and had yet another wonderful routine for a 9.825, which probably would have been even a little higher later in the rotation. Ditto's for Brittany Comeaux who followed with a 9.825, as well.* Ashley Miles then put up just a fabulous routine for a 9.90. Dana Filetti's 9.775 was a bit of a surprise, we thought it looked great. Mari-Christine Bayer followed her with the GymTide's third 9.825 for the rotation, again a bit of a surprising score. Jeana Rice then powered up a 9.95 routine that was not any kind of a surprise, whatsoever. Where football is a game of inches, gymnastics is a game of tenths - tenths of a point, that is. Bama scored a 49.325 on bars, not bad at all. But we just had a tantalizing feeling that there was a tenth or two 'left out there' at the end of the rotation.

The Tide then went straight to the balance beam, where they would eventually score yet another 49.325. There were a few notable items during the beam rotation (as usual!). Michelle Reeser led off and was, once again, remarkably steady and sure for a huge 9.875. Rachel Delahoussaye was back in the usual spot and back to her usual ways with a confident 9.85. Alexis Brion, who has suddenly become a real force on Bama's beam squad, thrilled us, her teammates, the coaches - even herself! - with a beautiful routine for a 9.825. Shannon followed up with a 9.80 that we thought was deserving of more. As it turned out, however, it was a vital score because the unthinkable happened next, Mari-Christine Bayer fell during her routine and had to take a 9.30. Two points about Mari's routine. First, a 9.30 with a fall means that it was at least a 9.80 without the fall. In turn, that means that Mari didn't give up much in the way of deductions other than the fall. In team gymnastics, those saved tenths can be crucial. Second, since this was Mari's first beam fall, it answered one outstanding question about her. It turns out that, yes, she looks elegant even while falling off the balance beam! Jeana beam routine was, well, perfect. One judge too few agreed, however, so she 'only' managed a 9.975. (Each event had four judges and the score for each routine was determine by throwing out the high and the low score and averaging the remaining two scores. If memory serves, Jeana received two 10.0's and two 9.95's.)

After a bye, the Tide returned to the arena for floor exercise. Lauren Holdefer led off and just rocked the floor for a booming 9.875. Mari was completely unfazed by the balance beam bobble and ballet-ed her way to a 9.90. Stephanie Kite had a little bobble of her own on her first tumbling pass, but still managed a respectable 9.675 (again, saving tenths, just in case!). Then it was Jeana with a 9.95, Alexis with a 9.95, and Ashley Miles with a beautifully performed and tumbled 10.0 - giving the Tide a rock-solid 40.675.

After another bye, the Tide came back for vault and posted the meet's highest score for that event, a 49.625. In fact, Bama's vault rotation has developed into one of the most high scoring vault team in the country. And likely the team using the greatest variety of 10.0 start value vaults, as well. Shannon led off with a 9.90, and was quickly matched by Brittany Comeaux and Dana Filetti. Not to be outdone, Jeana was once again close to perfection for a 9.975. Alexis had a little trouble with her vault and had to 'settle' for a 9.875. Then Ashley 'gasped' the crowd with another awesome effort, but was 'marked down' to a 9.95 for a tiny scoot on her landing.

With shades of 1996, Bama put in a great night of gymnastics, only to be edged out for first place by a red-hot Georgia team (198.175 - 197.950). Here's hoping that the rest of the season falls right in line with 1996! Roll Tide!!!


*It's got to be tough for the coaches to decide who to put up in the early part of the rotation on bars. All the potential candidates can get you that 9.80+ score you want to start off with, but they are each also capable of scoring that 9.90+ you'd like to save for later in the rotation. Luckily, Bama has a lot of variety within the bars team, with Shannon and Mari-Christine Bayer covering the elegant style, Ashley Miles and Brittany doing the 'power bars' thing, and Jeana Rice and Dana Filetti with their complex, intricate routines.