BIRMINGHAM, ALA -- The No. 5 Alabama Gymnastics team won its fifth Southeastern Conference Championship here tonight in Bartow Arena by 5/100ths of a point over 2002 champion Georgia.

"We lost this meet last year by a tenth of a point after counting a 9.6 on the balance beam," head coach Sarah Patterson said. "So I did want to win this one again. It's a great win for us...a lot of fun."

Alabama scored a 197.575 while Georgia went 197.525 in a meet that wasn't decided until Crimson Tide freshman Ashley Miles nailed her floor exercise routines in the sixth spot for the Crimson Tide with a 9.975, which tied her career best.

The Crimson Tide's season-ending dual meet with the Auburn Tigers in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum started off with a display of superior force on the bars and vault from the defending National Champions but a reengagement with the beam gremlin by gymnasts Dana Pierce and Shannon Hrozek sure made things interesting in the closing moments. Nevertheless, Bama finished with a seven-tenths victory over the Tigers and left knowing that their best performance as a team still lies ahead. Whether this will come to fruition at the SEC Championships or Regionals remains to be seen. Regardless, this team is to be commended for finishing strongly despite not having a week off during the regular season, while other teams had this built into their schedules. One more meet (SEC Championships) and the team will have a well-earned break of two weeks before the all-important Regional Championships, which will be in Tuscaloosa on April 12^th. Let's chat about some of the highlights from the Tide-Tigers meet.

The Alabama Gymnastics team makes the short trip to Birmingham and Bartow Arena on the UAB campus for the 2003 Southeastern Conference Championship held this Saturday (March 29) at 6 p.m.

The SEC Championships has long been a six team meet, but this season will be different. Gymnastics newcomer Arkansas will compete. The Ladybacks inclusion in the meet necessitated the addition of a seventh rotation to the meet. And for the last 13 years, the title has gone to either Alabama or Georgia, another thing that could change this year as Florida and LSU both sport strong teams.

The Crimson Tide is coming off its highest scoring regular season, averaging over a 197 for the season. But the competition promises to be fierce with five of the seven teams ranked in the top 20, including No. 4 Georgia and No. 8 Florida. The Gators are perhaps the league's most improved team coming into the meet.

The Championship Draw...Alabama starts on vault and ends on a bye.

We have updated the [ Hall of Fame page ].

The Alabama Gymnastics, which ended the regular season by dispatching No. 16 Auburn last Friday, is No. 5 in the rankings released today.

UCLA is No. 1, followed by Nebraska at No. 2, Arizona State at No. 3 and Georgia at No. 4. In addition to Georgia, Alabama will face No. 8 Florida, No. 12 LSU and Auburn at the Southeastern Conference Championships Saturday (March 29) in Birmingham, Ala. The meet will be in Bartow Arena on the UAB campus for the third consecutive year.

Alabama is ranked second on the floor exercise, third on the uneven bars, fourth on the vault and sixth on the balance beam. UCLA holds down the top rank on all four apparatus.

AUBURN, ALA - It was the closest Alabama-Auburn gymnastics meet since 1997, but the Crimson Tide pulled out its 40th consecutive dual meet win, 197.300-196.600.

Junior Jeana Rice led the Tide with a 39.700 while senior Kristin Sterner posted a 39.525 to take second. The Tide has not lost to Auburn at any gymnastics competition since 1979.

"Kristin Sterner and Jeana Rice have been rocks for us all season and they have led us every step of the way down this home stretch," head coach Sarah Patterson said.

The No. 5 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team will close out the regular season with a trip to Auburn to face the No. 16 Tigers Friday (March 21) at 7 p.m.

Alabama is coming off a narrow loss to Georgia at home while Auburn had last weekend off from competition. The meet marks the Tide's first road trip in a month and the fourth of six meets that will take place within the boundaries of the state of Alabama.

It will be the second meeting between the two schools. Alabama scored a season best 197.975 to better Auburn's 196.600 on March 1 in Tuscaloosa. It was the third highest score in Auburn history.

While the real UGA VI was somewhere back in Athens snoring away in his luxury doghouse, his GymDawgs were busy outperforming the defending National Champions in Tuscaloosa this past Saturday Night, claiming the Dawg's first dual meet victory over the Tide in Coleman Coliseum since February 1999. Despite the loss, Bama had several sparkling moments, starting with Jeana Rice's perfect 10 for the meet's opening routine. Following a superior performance on the uneven bars, the Tide was hoping to break the meet wide open with a similar performance on the balance beam. Unfortunately, either that gremlin was still hanging around from last week or UGA VI belched at just the right moment to scare Larissa Stewart, Kristin Sterner and Mari-Christine Bayer into a trio of uncharacteristic performances on beam that ultimately cost them vital tenths towards the final team score. All joking aside, this was definitely another great meet in the UA-UGA series, which by far continues to be the best gymnastics rivalry in the NCAA.

The bus to the Auburn meet, (Friday, March 21st) will leave Coleman Coliseum at approximately 3:00pm. The cost is $20.00. This does not include a ticket since Auburn does not have reserved seating for their meets(at least they haven't in the past). The cost of tickets in the past has been $4.00. If at all possible (depending on time) there might be a stop in Montgomery to get supper, then continue on to Auburn. There will possibly be a short stop on the return trip also.

Alabama junior Jeana Rice was named Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Week for the third time this season by the league office today.

The nation's No. 1 ranked all-arounder, Rice won the all-around Saturday against Georgia with a 39.750, matching the top score in the conference which the Longwood, Fla. native set earlier in the year. Rice scored a 10.0 on the vault to get the meet started. She also won the uneven bars with a 9.950.

The bus will leave at 3:30PM instead of 4:00.

See the item below for the rest of the info.

The Grand Gala will be held on April 19 at 7:00. It will be at the Sheraton Four Points hotel. You can purchase tickets from a Medalist Club Board member.

The Medalist Club is sponsoring a bus trip to the SEC Championship meet in Birmingham. Since the meet will start at 6:00, the bus will leave Coleman Coliseum at (and this is a change from the previously announced time) 3:30pm Saturday afternoon, March 29th, going to Bartow arena, attend the meet and return immediately afterward. You could bring a take-out meal with you on board the bus. The cost of the bus is $15.00 and does not include a ticket. These tickets were included on your season ticket order form and you could probably still add these if you didn't order originally by calling the UofA ticket office. Sign-up for the bus trip will be at future home meets or receptions or by contacting Lucy Boteler at lboteler@bama.ua.edu or by phone at 205-752-9058.

TUSCALOOSA, ALA - For the second meet in a row, the No. 3 Alabama Gymnastics team used a big floor exercise score to compensate an off night on another event, but it would not be enough to hold off a solid Georgia team, as the Tide fell 197.625-197.250.

"I told the ladies to hold their heads high tonight and to not be down," head coach Sarah Patterson said. "We took some steps forward tonight and even with a bobble here and a bobble there on the balance beam, we still put together a very good team score."

Junior Jeana Rice won the all-around with a 39.750, which tied her career best mark. Alabama's lone senior Kristin Sterner posted a 39.300 on senior night.

To paraphrase that great song by Little Anthony and the Imperials, things were kind of spooky this past Saturday afternoon when the Kentucky Wildcats and the Alabama Crimson Tide clashed in Coleman Coliseum. For the home team and their devoted fans, the meet appeared to shift from moments of befuddled exasperation to sheer elation and incredulity at the skills being executed. Case in point: after going through terrific long warm-ups on vault and floor, freshman Ashley Miles suddenly experienced the heebie-jeebies during her three-minute touch on vault, resulting in three balks and the coaches' decision to scratch her from the line-up for precautionary reasons. In direct contrast, after struggling during her vault long and short warm-ups, sophomore Alexis Brion proceeded to vault the lights out in the anchor position, earning a 9.925! The Kentucky "mojo" followed Alabama to the uneven bars, where the Tide experienced their first significant problems of the season on this apparatus, having to count a fall in the process. Checking the stands at this point, we noticed that Salto was beyond the benefit of smelling salts. The Tide moved next to the balance beam, preparing to stay on for dear life. While Bama's nerves were apparent at times their tenacity won the day, as the team went 6 for 6 and a collective sigh of relief was heard 'round Coleman Coliseum. Or was that Salto waking up from his fainting spell? Well, he was just in time to witness the Crimson Tide's dynamic floor performances, enroute to a comfortable victory margin of 196.475 to Kentucky's 195.125. Alabama junior Jeana Rice claimed the all-around title once again with a total score of 39.625. Now, for more details...

This Saturday (March 15) will be a night to remember for Alabama Gymnastics fans.

Not only will arch-rival Georgia be in town for the second of two regular season dual meets, but it also the last regular season home meet of the year for the defending NCAA Champions and lone Alabama senior Kristin Sterner will be competing in front of the home crowd in a dual meet setting for the last time.

Sterner is a nine-time All-American, two-time All-SEC, three-year Scholastic All-American and two-year Academic All- SEC standout for the Tide. She was captain of the last year's NCAA Champion squad. Alabama has not lost a "Senior Night" since 1993.

We've got a new slide show and a photo album for the TideTykes and Teens

• Slide Show: TideTykes and Teens
• Photo Album: TideTykes and Teens

Here are a few of the Photos:
(Click on a thumbnail to view a full size picture)

39 kb 06.Jeana gets her face design and

49 kb 07.Admires Mari's handiwork

40 kb 08.Alexis gets handy with the paint

We've got a new photo album for the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony (Saturday, March 08, 2003)

• Photo Album: Alabama Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony (Saturday, March 08, 2003)
• Press Release: Sarah Patterson Inducted into Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Saturday

Here are a few of the Photos:
(Click on a thumbnail to view a full size picture)

22 kb Scrushi-Patterson

27 kb patterson autographs

17 kb Patterson-Sloan

Records and rankings are the first things to fly out the window when Alabama and Georgia get together in gymnastics as they will next Saturday (March 15) at 7 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum.

Even so, the rankings still came out and both teams are ranked in the top-5 with Alabama at No. 3 and Georgia at No. 5.

Both squads are in a holding pattern, staying in the same ranking slot as last week. UCLA remains the nation's No. 1 team with Arizona State holding onto second. Nebraska stands between Alabama and the Lady Dogs in fourth place. Stanford is sixth, followed by Utah in seventh, Florida in eighth, Michigan in ninth. Oregon State rounds out the top-10.

We have a new "Chalk Talk" from Coach Patterson:

• Chalk Talk update

The PBAs have put together some info on Bama Vaults for interested fans. This page will be updated with more detail in the coming weeks.

• Alabama Vaults for 2003

TUSCALOOSA, ALA - Despite struggling through its first three rotations, the No. 3 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team pulled out a 196.425-195.125 win over Kentucky.

"We got a little rattled early and we didn't really recover from that," head coach Sarah Patterson said. "I was very pleased with how our fans helped carry us through though. They really did their best to lift us up and put us back on our feet."

Alabama counted a fall in its total for the first time since the season opening Super Six Challenge when the first two athletes on the uneven bars fell. The Tide has scant time to recover with arch-rival Georgia coming in town next Saturday (March 15).

When the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame came calling in September of 2002, Sarah Patterson was more than a little surprised.

"It wasn't really something I thought about a lot," Patterson said. "And I certainly didn't expect to hear from them while I was still coaching. I thought it was nice that my name has been on the ballot the last year or two, but beyond that..."

Even after being voted in this past Fall, Patterson has spent most of the time between now and then getting this year's team, which includes seven freshmen among the 14 gymnasts, heading in the right direction. She's done that and done it well. The Tide is ranked No. 3 in the nation going into Saturday's meet against Kentucky.

David Wasson, executive sports editor of the Tuscaloosa News, spent the day with Sarah Patterson and came away with a view of her on the run days, but the scope of her career.

• Couple build tradition based on commitment

Tim McGraw knows how to sing it and the Bama nation knows what it wants... Alabama gymnastics and record setting performances at Coleman Coliseum.

What a weekend this will be for fans and the storied Alabama Gymnastics program. It will be a rare afternoon meet followed by a night honoring Coach Sarah Patterson.

Smoking! That's what the Tide gymnastics team did in Coleman Coliseum last Saturday night against Auburn. By vaulting the roof off the arena and tumbling the night away to a season high score of 197.975.

• Alabama vs. Auburn (Saturday, March 01, 2003)

TUSCALOOSA, ALA - Sometimes when the person who previously held your job watches you work, it can make you nervous. Such was not the case tonight as the 2003 Alabama Gymnastics team rolled to a season best score, beating Auburn 197.975-196.600, while 40-plus gymnastics alumni, among the 8,306 fans, looked on.

With their past looking on, Alabama's present posted season best scores on three of the four events and its overall score. It was the Tide's highest score since winning the 2001 NCAA Central Regional with a 198.000. For the Tigers it was the third highest score in school history.

"It was obviously a great night," head coach Sarah Patterson said of her 39th consecutive win over the Tigers. "But give Auburn credit, they are closing the gap. We're in the portion of our season where we are home for several weeks now and we have to opportunity to add more skills in and to continue to improve and tonight was a great step in that direction."