LINCOLN, NE - Tonight was Ashley Miles' night.

After shining all season for the Alabama Gymnastics squad in team competition, during individual event finals tonight, Miles capped her rookie season by winning the NCAA Vault title with a 9.9375.

"All season long Ashley has been the exclamation point on our floor and vault lineups," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "Tonight she put an awesome exclamation point on this championship and her rookie season."

In individual event finals, a gymnast must do two different vaults in front of a six-judge panel. The average of the two vault scores constitutes the final total. Miles scored a 10.0 on her first vault and a 9.875 on her second effort. She was able to fend off 2002 NCAA vault champion Jamie Dantzscher of UCLA for the win. Junior Jeana Rice finished eighth on the vault with a 9.8375

LINCOLN, NEB - The kids are alright.

A very young Alabama team stayed with a tough, veteran UCLA squad tonight, but came up just short here in tonight's Super Six team finals, coming up with an NCAA Runnerup finish.

"I told our ladies to go out and have fun tonight," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "I told them, 'Let's make a great team beat us tonight,' and a great team (UCLA) did. Tonight, UCLA was the most talented team. I wanted our team to put themselves in a position to win tonight and I couldn't have asked for a better job out of us."

Alabama used six freshmen in its lineup to come up with a 197.275, finishing ahead of third place Georgia, 197.150 and fourth place Nebraska, 197.125. Michigan and Utah finished fifth and sixth on the night with a 196.05 and 195.3 respectively.

LINCOLN, NEB -- While the NCAA Gymnastics team title is on the line here tonight, the lineup of competitors for tomorrow night's individual titles is already set.

The participants for individual event finals comes from both Thursday after sessions, with the top four individuals (and ties) advancing to Saturday night. Alabama has five gymnasts going eight routines.

Junior Jeana Rice will compete on the vault, uneven bars and balance beam. Freshman Ashley Miles will compete on the vault and floor exercise while sophomore Alexis Brion will compete in her second consecutive vault final. Senior Kristin Sterner will join Rice on the uneven bars while freshman Mari Bayer joins Rice on the uneven bars.

LINCOLN, NEB -- Alabama, UCLA and Michigan, all advancing from the afternoon session today, are joined by host Nebraska, Utah and Georgia from the evening in the NCAA Gymnastics Super Six Team Final Friday night here in the Bob Devaney Center.

Alabama will start the night on the second bye and finish on the balance beam, the same rotation that the Crimson Tide won the 2002 NCAA Championship with.

--UA--

LINCOLN, NEB - The Alabama Gymnastics team has once again accomplished their perennial goal. Tomorrow night (April 25) the Crimson Tide will be on the floor the last night of the national championships with a chance to win the title.

Using a 196.775, Alabama finished second in the first of two sessions today, advancing to the Super Six Team finals which will pit six teams against each other for the 2003 NCAA title.

"Tonight was the hardest part," head coach Sarah Patterson said. "We won't hold anything back tomorrow. We'll put the best kids in that can score the highest in the event."

LINCOLN, NEB -The regular season is but a fond memory, the conference and regional championship titles are already won and in the book and the travel, practices and press conference leading up to the national championships are done.

Alabama gymnastics is ready to defend its NCAA Championship.

That defense starts today (Thursday, April 24) at 1 p.m. To advance to tomorrow night's team finals, No. 5 Alabama has to be one of the top three teams in today's six team session. Also striving for one of three spots from the afternoon session will be No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 10 Michigan, No. 13 Iowa and No. 14 LSU.

Alabama will be led by all-arounders Kristin Sterner, a senior, and Jeana Rice, a junior, along with super-frosh Ashley Miles.

The evening session starts at 7 p.m. and features No. 2 Nebraska, the host team, No. 4 Georgia, No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 Utah, No. 9 Florida and No. 17 Auburn.

Ashton Welborn has been a fan of the Alabama Gymanstics team and since they have gotten to know her, the 2003 Alabama Gymnastics team has quickly become even a bigger fan of the 7-year-old gymnast.

• Girl scores '10' with gymnasts. Source of inspiration 7-year-old student battles leukemia

Still basking in the glow of their 2003 Southeastern Conference Championship win, the Alabama Crimson Tide marched back home to Tuscaloosa to host the Central Regional Championships on April 12, 2003.  Entering the NCAA National qualifying meet as the top seed in the Central Region, the Tide ironically drew what has become their signature rotation (bye-floor-vault-bye-uneven bars-balance beam]. Feeding off the home crowd's vocal support, Bama proceeded to whack the opposition on all but one event.  Enroute they claimed the all around (Kristin Sterner), vault (Ashley Miles), balance beam (Kristin Sterner) and floor exercise (Ashley Miles) titles as well. Despite their celebrated youth, the Crimson Tide called upon all of their members to forge this victory.  There were several key performances that we'll highlight at this time.

• 2003 NCAA Gymnastics Championships - Schedule of Events

The Alabama Gymnastics team knew Saturday night that they were advancing to the program's 21st consecutive NCAA Championships. Sunday morning they found out who they would be facing in Lincoln, Neb. and where they would start their bid to defend their 2002 crown.

"This never gets old, qualifying for the finals of the NCAA Championships" Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "Our goal year-in-and year out is put ourselves in a position, on the last night of the season, to win a national championship. To do that, we must be in the top-3 teams of our session Thursday and advance."

In addition to familiar faces UCLA and Utah, the 2003 NCAA Championships will be heavy with Southeastern Conferences squads. Including Alabama, five SEC teams will make the trip north, the most in league history, tying the mark set in 1993 when Alabama, Auburn and Georgia all finished in the top 5. It would be Auburn's last trip until this season. Alabama and Auburn will be joined by LSU, Florida and Georgia.

TUSCALOOSA, ALA - The Alabama Gymnastics team will have a chance to defend its 2002 NCAA Championship.

The Crimson Tide earned its 21st consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships here tonight by winning its 19th NCAA Regional title, scoring a 197.550 at the Central Regional. Alabama's total was well ahead of Auburn and Central Michigan's second place 196.350.

"The Regional is the hardest part of the year from a coaching standpoint because you are trying to advance," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "You never feel comfortable until it is over and it's never over until the last routine is in the books."

TUSCALOOSA, ALA -- The Alabama Gymnastics Team already has one title under their belt this season, having won the 2002 Southeastern Conference Title, but this weekend is their most important meet of the season.

Saturday, April 12 starting at 6 p.m., the Crimson Tide will be one of six teams gathered in Coleman Coliseum with the same exact goal - finish in the top-2 of the NCAA Central Regional Championships and advance to Lincoln, Neb., site of the NCAA Championships.

"This is the biggest meet of the season, because this is the one meet that advances us to the national championships," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "There are 36 teams around the country that have the same exact goal for Saturday night - Be in the top two and move on."

Alabama gymnast Kristin Sterner has been named recipient of the 2002-03 H. Boyd McWhorter Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year Award, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive announced Wednesday. The awards will be formally presented to the two student-athletes at the annual Awards Banquet at the league's spring meeting in Destin, Fla. on May 29.

Florida basketball player Matt Bonner won the men's award. The two were chosen by a committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives from SEC universities and will each receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship.

"The H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Award is the highest honor a student-athlete can receive in the Southeastern Conference," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. "Matt and Kristin, through their hard work, dedication and commitment - in the classroom, athletics and in the community - have set a standard for excellence that makes them outstanding recipients of this honor."

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

• Chalk Talk update

The 2003 SEC Gymnastics Championship went down to the wire for the second straight year Saturday Night at Bartow Arena on the campus of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.  And once again, it was a contest between the same two teams from start to finish.  With Alabama holding a one-tenth lead over the Bulldogs after three events each, Georgia knew they had to have their best vaulting of the season to have a chance to pass the Tide's similar scoring power on the floor exercise and they came within a whisker of pulling it off.  But tremendous floor routines from Kristin Sterner and Stephanie Kite helped to set up freshman Ashley Miles for the routine of her life.  After rocking her three passes and raising her hand to the roof in a final dance move salute, Miles began to jump for joy and promptly launched herself at Bama Assistant Coach, Bryan Raschilla, who insisted that he could not lift her in his arms any higher than she was bouncing at the time! Alabama claimed their fifth SEC title with a final score of 197.575 to Georgia's 195.525 while there was still one official rotation to go.  The highlights were many, so we'll dive right in.