TUSCALOOSA, ALA -- The No. 1 Alabama Gymnastics team rode the largest crowd in the past four years to the fifth highest score in school history here tonight, downing No. 4 Florida in the process 197.925-196.175.

"It was a great crowd and it really pushed us to a great score," head coach Sarah Patterson. "I am very pleased with our progress and the way we performed tonight."

Junior Jeana Rice won the all-around with a 39.7, the uneven bars with a 9.95 and the balance beam with a 9.925. Sophomore Ashley Miles brought the seventh largest gymnastics crowd in Alabama and Southeastern Conference history to its feet with a 10.0 to win the vault, a 9.975 to win the floor exercise and a career best 9.925 on the uneven bars.

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

• ChalkTalk: Friday, January 30, 2004

When Alabama, the nation's No. 1 ranked gymnastics team faces off against No. 4 Florida this Friday in Coleman Coliseum, Crimson Tide head coach Sarah Patterson knows interest will not only be avid, but nationwide.

"All eyes will be on the Coliseum this Friday," Patterson said. "Just like they were the first week of the season when we hosted the Super Six Challenge. This meet is a big deal."

Tickets for the meet, which gets underway at 7:30 p.m., are on sale now through the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.2262) located in the lobby of the Coliseum, or online at www.rolltide.com.

The Alabama Gymnastics Team, on the strength of a trio of high scoring meets to open the season, has vaulted to the No. 1 spot in the national rankings.

The Crimson Tide holds a 197.150 season average, more than a quarter of a point better than No. 2 Georgia. Utah comes in at No. 3 while Alabama's next opponent, the Florida Gators, are No. 4. Iowa State is No. 5, while last season's national champions, UCLA comes in at No. 6.

Alabama, who finished last season as the NCAA Champion Runner-up, was last ranked No. 1 last season during the first week of February.

BATON ROUGE, LA - The No. 2 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team came into Pete Maravich Assembly Center tonight to face the No. 20 LSU Tigers and break its Baton Rouge losing streak.

Mission accomplished.

Alabama beat the Tigers 197.600-196.775, season best marks for both schools. It was the first time Alabama has won in Baton Rouge since 1998. The win boosted Alabama's record to 7-0-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the Southeastern Conference. LSU fell to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in the SEC.

For the first time this season, the No. 2 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team hits the road, traveling to Baton Rouge to face LSU this Friday (Jan. 23) at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The meet starts at 7 p.m.

And while this will be Alabama's first road contest of the season, it will also be No. 20 LSU's first home meet after to contests.

"This will be a tough meet for us," coach Sarah Patterson said. "LSU is hard to beat at home. Their fans are very vocal and they'll still be pumped up from the national (football) championship. I have no doubt it will come down to the last event and we will have to hit six beam routines to win."

"The old saying that a team improves the most between its first and second outing might have been coined for the GymTide. Any fears that Bama might suffer a letdown after the previous week's emotional Super Six Challenge victory were quickly dispelled as the Tide jumped out to a big lead over first-time-out Penn State, and 'never looked back'."

"The Tide's vault team got the evening started with a 49.350, within .025 of their number-three-in-the-nation Super Six Challenge vault score of 49.375. Bama's vault rotation could be called a play in three acts, or better, a tale of three scores. Shannon had a 9.30, Ashley had a 9.95, and everyone else had a 9.85. Shannon is making the tough front vault to Yurchenko vault transition that Kristin Sterner made last year. To use a technical term, Shannon got a little 'discombobulated' in the air and fell. However, I did a quick poll of ten fans at the post-meet reception asking the question, "Will Shannon's Yurchenko vault be a success?" Eight fans responded with, "absolutely, of course!" one said,"Your what?" and the other said, "Salto, you're so lame, and so is your silly poll." Well, anyway...(ahem)...moving on, Ashley's vault was yet another 9.90-plus. I'll tell you, fans, it's worth the price of admission just to see Ashley's vault, simply amazing every time. Even though everyone else had a 9.85, there was a lot of variety. Dana Filetti's unique vault still really stands out and was well executed. It was great to see Dana Pierce throw a very nice Yurchenko 1/1(we thought it might even get a 9.90). And it's a shame that the 'style points', so to speak, don't actually start until the gymnast gets to the vault table, because Alexis' high-flying vault looks good from the moment she starts down the runway. In fact, the same goes for Dana Pierce's vault, as well. I don't want to leave the vault without a mention of Mobile's own Johnna Gay. The Tide freshman got her first taste of competition with a very creditable exhibition Yurchenko back tuck 1/1 vault for a 9.775."

* Channel on the Comcast system in Tuscaloosa area.

^&2003 Alabama Gymnastics Senior Kristin Sterner is featured as an NCAA Top VIIII Award winner

The Alabama gymnastics team remains at No. 2 in this week's national rankings.

The Tide stands just behind No. 1 Utah in the rankings which are figured by high score. Alabama is ranked just ahead of No. 3 Florida, adding excitement to two SEC teams' Jan. 30 showdown in Tuscaloosa. Iowa State and Georgia are tied for fourth.

Arizona and Iowa are tied for sixth and Nebraska is No. 8 while Washington and UCLA round out the top-10 at ninth and 10th respectively. This weekend in Baton Rouge, Alabama will face No. 20 LSU, going for its first win in the Maravich Assembly Center since 1998.

TUSCALOOSA, ALA -- The Alabama Gymnastics team ran their season record up to 6-0 with a win here tonight against Penn State, 197.125-194.600 in front of 8,065 fans.

"We had a 197 in the back of our mind as a goal," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "We wanted to take a step forward from last week, but at the same time, get some different faces into the lineup. We were able to do both, so I am pleased."

It was just another day at the office for senior Jeana Rice as she led the Crimson Tide with 39.6 all-around effort. It was the 14th time in her All-American career that she has posted a score of 39.5 or better in the all-around. She won three of the four individual events, taking the uneven bars and balance beam with a pair of 9.9s and the floor exercise with a 9.95.

"It seems that every gymnastics season starts out a bit like the weather outside of Coleman Coliseum last Friday night: murky, hazy, indistinct. How will the team perform? Are they ready? What are their strong points? What needs a little work? How will they stack up against the other teams? What about the judging, will the routines score well? Late last week, Coach Sarah Patterson spoke about this in a Birmingham News article by Doug Segrest. " 'I don't know if we're the most talented team, but I like where we stand,' she said. 'At this point, we're not going to get any better until we compete.' " In this regard, Alabama's first-place finish in the 2004 Super Six Challenge was in many ways a perfect victory: lots of great gymnastics, a great score, lots of stuff to work on for next Friday's visit by Penn State."

A super meet to start off the 2004 season in style took place on Friday, January 9th in Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide hosted Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Denver and Oregon State before 9,817 fans and came away with the golden ring. This is the third time Bama has won this meet, which had its inaugural run in 2000. The ladies overall looked very impressive and still left a few areas to work on back in the gym as they prepare for a dual home meet this next week against Penn State. Some of the highlights for the Tide on each event were as follows:

NASHVILLE, TENN -- Former gymnast Kristin Sterner was sitting on stage Sunday night at the NCAA Honors Banquet held here at the Opryland Hotel with some of the most impressive people produced by intercollegiate athletics.

The two-time captain of the Crimson Tide received her NCAA Top VIII Award during the star-studded evening. And while there is no doubt that the 11-time All-American belonged among their number, it was probably a little reassuring to have fellow Alabama alum, Reece Davis, up on the dais with her as the master of ceremony.

In introducing the NCAA Top VIII, Davis, now a broadcaster with ESPN, pointed out that there were 360,000 student-athletes involved in NCAA athletics every year and that those being honored Sunday night were the best of the best.

The Alabama Gymnastics team starts the regular season at No. 2 in the national rankings released today.

The Crimson Tide were ranked third in the preseason coaches' poll released earlier in the month. The rankings are currently based on high score. Utah is No. 1 with a 197.350 at UCLA. Alabama's 196.725 won the Super Six Challenge while Nebraska is third with a 196.550. Washington and UCLA were fourth and fifth respectively. Iowa State, Stanford, Florida, Arkansas and Georgia round out the top-10.

Alabama used a stellar floor exercise rotation to win the season opening Super Six Challenge and their score of 49.6 propelled them to the top spot nationally in that event. The Tide is ranked second on the vault, 10th on the balance beam and 16th on the uneven bars.

TUSCALOOSA, ALA -- Alabama Gymnastics started out 2004 one place better than it ended last season.

The Crimson Tide, NCAA Runner-up last year, won the season opening Super Six Challenge held here in Coleman Coliseum tonight with a 196.725, going nearly a point better than second place Florida's 195.950. It was the best opening night score in school history. It also marks the third time in the five year history of the Challenge that Alabama has posted the top score.

Georgia finished third with a 195.550 while Oklahoma was fourth at 195.275. Oregon State was fifth at 193.775 while Denver brought up the rear at 193.600.

TUSCALOOSA, ALA - The No. 3 ranked Alabama gymnastics team will come out swinging to start the 2004 season Friday (Jan. 9) night at the Super Six Challenge held in Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama drew the uneven bars as its opening event during a banquet held for the meet's participants. After staring on the uneven bars, the Crimson Tide will move to the balance beam and then to a bye. After its first bye, the Tide will compete the floor exercise and then the vault before finishing the evening on a bye.

No. 2 Georgia will start on the vault while No. 11 Oregon State begins the evening on the first bye before progressing to the uneven bars. No. 13 Oklahoma starts on the balance beam while No. 7 Florida sits on the second bye to start the night before moving to floor exercise. No. 18 Denver starts the night on the floor exercise.

"Yes, the PBA's and I couldn't stand it, we had to go by practice one last time before Friday's Super Six Challenge in Tuscaloosa. It was my turn to drive and I must say, I think I managed to scare the living daylights out of 'em!"

Be that as it may, one benefit of my (skillful, swift, yet relentlessly law-abiding) driving was that we got to the practice gym fully 10 minutes before anyone else showed up - anyone except the Texas Tumbling Tornado, Stephanie Kite, that is. In ones and two and threes the rest appeared and began assembling, sitting around in a tight little group on the floor x mat. As is our wont, we sat on the floor just to the side of one corner of the floor x mat, trying to blend into the nearby exercise equipment and remain inconspicuous. The PBA's, being relatively small people, managed this pretty well. I, on the other hand. . . "

The Alabama gymnastics team gets the 2004 season underway with the SUPER SIX CHALLENGE Friday, January 9 at 7 p.m.

The Crimson Tide, which finished second at last year's NCAA Championships, welcomes Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Denver and Oregon State to Coleman Coliseum for the nation's premiere "kick-off" event.

"The Super Six Challenge is set up just like the last night of the NCAA Championships, from the number of teams to the way we warm up," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "I think it's good for us to start our season the way we want to finish it. We have a strong field coming in and we are excited to get going."

Coming off a Southeastern Conference Championship, an NCAA Regional title and a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships, the Crimson Tide finds itself in the enviable position of returning all but one gymnast off last year's championship squad. Of course, filling in for that one athlete will be tough. Kristin Sterner graduated as an 11-time All-American and two-year captain of the Tide. But Alabama has four freshmen ready to step in and help with the transition, plus 12 veterans ready to improve on last seasons results.

Improve on two postseason titles and a No. 2 national finish? Obviously that will take some doing, but this squad has a definite advantage over last year's, namely experience. While Alabama is still one of the nation's youngest team, with 10 athletes in its freshman and sophomore classes, the Tide now has 12 athletes with at least a year of collegiate experience under their belt, as opposed to just seven last year.

Last season the largely revamped lineup was looking to carve out its own identity, this season, with so many returners, the Tide can focus on building on last year's accomplishments.

PBAs and Salto were present for practice sessions on December 14, 2003 and January 3, 2004 and are ready to give a final report on how the team is looking less than one week before the opening meet (Super Six Challenge, January 9 in Tuscaloosa). Everyone is healthy at this juncture, including freshman Meredith Laxton, who was practicing vault, uneven bars and balance beam on Saturday. We'll now take this opportunity to highlight each gymnast in terms of their likely contributions on the four events and what skills to expect right out of the chute.

We've got a new slide show and a photo album for "A Fisherman's Practice"

• Slide Show: "A Fisherman's Practice"
• Photo Album: "A Fisherman's Practice"

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

41 kb 01 HEY! Who -- Oh it's Coach David

44 kb 02 Ashley avoids the high Tide on bars

73 kb 03 Not bad Steph-but can you hook a worm