We have a new Postmeet Commentary for the SEC Gymnastics Championships

• SEC Gymnastics Championships (Saturday, March 26, 2005)

INDIANAPOLIS -- The 2005 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships regional selections were announced today by the NCAA.

The University of Alabama, host of the Central Regional, will host No. 9 ranked Iowa State, No. 14 Utah State, Auburn, Kentucky and Kent State. Alabama is No. 4 going into the regional. The NCAA Central Regional is Saturday, April 9 at 6 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum. Tickets are available through the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.2262) and online at www.rolltide.com.

Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event [who has a minimum qualifying score (RQS) of 9.4] were named to each of the six regions. The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Auburn, Alabama, April 21-23, hosted by Auburn University.

DULUTH, GA --- Junior Ashley Miles won the vault, uneven bars and floor exercise at the Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championships being held here in the Arena at the Gwinnett Center, leading Alabama to a third place team finish.

Miles scored a 9.95 on the floor exercise and uneven bars and a 9.925 on the vault. It marked her third consecutive floor exercise title and first SEC vault and uneven bars title. She was tied for top honors on the uneven bars by freshman Terin Humphrey. Miles and Humphrey were both named All-SEC.

It marks the fourth consecutive year that Alabama has won three of the four apparatus at the SEC Championships. Miles has now won five SEC individual titles over her first three seasons. As a team, Alabama has won 20 individual SEC titles (including ties) since 2000.

DULUTH, GA -- Alabama Gymnastics team will start tomorrow's Southeastern Conference Championships on the balance beam in the Arena at Gwinnett Place.

Head coach Sarah Patterson drew the starting rotation at today's media luncheon. After beam, the Tide will have a bye, followed by the floor exercise, a second bye, vault, and then a third bye before finishing off on the uneven bars.

The competition begins Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. This is the second consecutive year the championship has been held at the Gwinnett Center. Last year, Alabama finished second, just behind Georgia.

Birmingham, Ala -- The Southeastern Conference sponsors a Good Works Teams for all 20 sports it sponsors. The Gymnastics Good Works Team represents seven SEC gymnasts, one from each competing institution. The Good Works Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. The first annual Gymnastics Good Works Team follows:

Dana Pierce, Alabama
Active in the community from day one, Dana Pierce has worked steadily to make Tuscaloosa a better place. She has read to area school children several times over the years, including on "Read Across America Day" in early March. Pierce has also helped raise money for the Salvation Army's Project Angel Tree. She has visited patients at the VA Hospital in Tuscaloosa as well as working with children at the Children's Hands On Museum. Pierce has also spoken to children at local schools on the importance of making positive choices. She is a Scholastic All-American and member of Academic All-SEC, as well as recipient of Council of Presidents' Freshman Academic Achievement Award. She was also inducted into Phi Eta Sigma honor society

We have a new Postmeet Commentary for the Alabama vs North Carolina meet

• Alabama vs North Carolina (Sunday, March 18, 2005)

Alabama gymnast Ashley Miles closed out the regular season ranked No. 1 nationally on the vault and floor exercise.

Miles, the defending NCAA vault and floor exercise champion, will attempt to win her third consecutive Southeastern Conference floor exercise title this weekend at the SEC Championships March 26 in Duluth, Ga.

The junior is ranked eighth in the all-around and 24th on the uneven bars. Senior Alexis Brion is fourth on the floor exercise and 19th on the vault. Freshman Terrin Humphrey is ninth on the uneven bars and 17th on the balance beam.

We've got a photo album for the Alabama at Stanford (during-meet photos)

• Photo Album: Alabama at Stanford (during-meet photos)

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

106959 kb AlabamaGymnastics vUNC 05

135802 kb AlabamaGymnastics vUNC 05b

215114 kb JrAshleyMiles vUNC 05

TUSCALOOSA, ALA - In the final home meet of the regular season, the University of Alabama gymnastics team relied on strong performances from junior Ashley Miles and senior Alexis Brion to overpower the North Carolina Tar Heels, 196.325-194.550.

"On the vault and floor, I thought we were at a championship level, not only the performance but the level of enthusiasm," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "We just need to the same on the bars and the beam."

Miles won the all-around title, scoring a 39.500, including a 9.925 to win the vault and a 9.950 the floor. Brion tied her career best to win the floor exercise with a 9.975. Freshman Terin Humphrey won the uneven bars with a 9.85.

We've got a photo album and slide show for Alabama at Florida & Georgia

• Photo Album: 2005 Alabama at Florida & Georgia
• Slide Show: 2005 Alabama at Florida & Georgia

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

158975 kb 01.Terin takes an extreme bars warmup at Florida

141730 kb 02.Kaitlin kick starts her Bama career on bars

158152 kb 03.Dana F floats to the high bar

Back from an extended road swing, the Alabama gymnastics team closes out its regular season Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama, who hasn't had a home meet since February 11, takes on the UNC Tarheels, which features Courtney Bumpers, who shared the 2004 NCAA Floor Exercise Championship with the Crimson Tide's own Ashley Miles.

The Tide has enjoyed great success on the road, racking up wins against Southeastern Conference foes Georgia and Arkansas as well as a west coast win against Stanford. But all that time on the road has made them hungry to return to the friendly confines of the Coliseum.

The Alabama gymnastics team, which faces UNC Friday night in its regular season finale, is ranked fourth in the latest national rankings.

The Crimson Tide, coming off its lone off-week of the regular season, closes out the regular season at home after three straight weeks on the road. It will also be Senior Night in Coleman Coliseum.

LSU is currently No.1, followed by Utah and Nebraska. UCLA follows the Tide to round out the top five. The rest of the top 10 looks like this, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 10 Iowa State.

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

• Chalk talk - Tuesday, March 15, 2005

We have a new Postmeet Commentary for the Alabama vs Stanford meet

• Alabama vs Stanford (Sunday, March 06, 2005)

We've got a photo album for the Alabama at Stanford (pre-meet photos)

• Photo Album: Alabama at Stanford (pre-meet photos)

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

88296 kb CableCarRiding

100537 kb CableCarRiding2

195028 kb DinneratScomas4

Alabama jumped to third this week in the latest national gymnastics rankings, up from seventh a week ago.

The Crimson Tide is the Southeastern Conference's top ranked team, coming just behind No. 1 Utah and second ranked Nebraska. LSU and UCLA round out the top five.

Alabama's bounce in the rankings comes from an outstanding 197.100 road performance against Stanford. It was the Tide's second highest score of the season and best road mark. Off from competition this weekend, the Tide will face UNC Friday, March 18 in Coleman Coliseum for its regular season finale.

We've got a photo album and slide show for the Alabama vs LSU meet 2005

• Photo Album: Alabama vs LSU meet 2005
• Slide Show: Alabama vs LSU meet 2005

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

148403 kb 01.Dana F warms up bars vs LSU

151456 kb 02.Mari concentrates on the task at hand

157107 kb 03.Shannon displays super technique in this Gienger

PALO ALTO, CALIF. -- With a very different lineup, the Alabama gymnastics team scored its highest road score of the season to beat Stanford here in Roscoe Maples Pavilion, 197.100-194.975.

As part of the pre-meet entertainment, a world class juggler came out and went through his routine. As good as Matt Hall was, he had nothing on the Alabama coaching staff, who had to put together a lineup without senior co-captain Shannon Hrozek or junior Dana Filetti. Filetti battling the flu, had not practiced all week and was not expected to compete. Hrozek on the other hand became ill just this morning.

"We talk about this all the time," head coach Sarah Patterson said. "This is exactly why everyone has to be ready to go at all times. With two all-arounders out of our lineup, things looked a lot different out there, and we challenged the ladies to step up. We talk about how anything can happen on the eve of the national championships and we just used this to help reiterate that point.."

The Alabama Gymnastics team, moving farther west each week of its three-meet road swing, hits the West Coast Sunday for a meet against Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. at 2 p.m. PST.

The Crimson Tide tied Stanford for third place at last year's NCAA Championships. All told the two teams have met six times before this weekend's competition, four times at the NCAA Championships and twice during the regular season. The last regular season meeting came in 2000 at the Tide hosted Super Six Challenge where Alabama won with Stanford finishing just .05 behind.

"Stanford is a very talented team," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "They've had some problems with injuries early, but they are very talented and we expect this to be a very good meet."

We have a new Postmeet Commentary for the Alabama vs Arkansas meet

NOTE: We have added audio clips to the Postmeet Commentary. Look for the icons. The icons link to mp3 audio files which most browsers should be able to play directly. (The mp3 files vary in size from 0.5 to 5 meg in size.)

• Alabama vs Arkansas (Friday, February 25, 2005)

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

• Chalk talk - Using a Challenge to Help Make us Better!