Alabama Gymnastics Wins Fourth NCAA Championship
5/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - In August, Andree' Pickens and four Alabama teammates were spending more time in the training room than on the mats.
The Crimson Tide were healthy enough Friday night to capture their fourth NCAA women's gymnastics championship, once again before a home crowd.
"To see how far they've come, it's incredible," Alabama coach Sarah Patterson said.
Top-seeded Alabama finished with a 197.575 to beat Georgia (197.25) and end UCLA's two-year title run. It was the Tide's third time playing host to the event, and they have won the crown each time. But no host team had won the championship since Alabama in 1996.
Pickens punctuated the championship with her third 9.95 of the night, pumping her fists after landing cleanly from the balance beam.
Pickens, the runner-up in the all around, had become the first gymnast to earn five All-America honors in two seasons on Thursday night. She missed last year's championships after rupturing an Achilles' tendon in practice a few days earlier.
"This was the perfect ending of a four-year career," the 14-time All-American said. "The team told me they weren't letting me go without a title, so I'm grateful to them.
"I was crying before I went to the beam. I knew if we were solid, it was ours."
Seventh-seeded Georgia was a runner-up for the second straight year, while UCLA (197.15) slipped to third despite raising its score from the preliminary round. Utah was fourth with 196.95, while Nebraska had 196.425 and Stanford 196.025 in its first Super Six appearance.
The individual event championships will be held Saturday night.
For the fourth straight time, Alabama had to close on the beam, the event that cost the Tide the Southeastern Conference title with two flubbed routines.
They more than atoned for that slipup with six strong routines, discarding a 9.825 as Georgia failed to close ground on the floor exercise.
"To conquer the balance beam in a matter very few could do under those pressure conditions. ... I'm so proud and so happy for them," a teary-eyed Patterson said, surrounded by her team.
It was a far cry from August, when five of her 12 scholarship athletes were unable to practice and Patterson wondered if they would even get invited to their own championships.
"They all came to Alabama because they wanted a great education, they wanted to be part of a family environment and they all wanted to win a national championship," she said.
Alabama stretched its lead entering the final rotation with a superb showing on the uneven bars, with two 9.85s serving as the low scores. Pickens capped it with a 9.95 and had the same score on the vault.
That gave the Tide a quarter-point lead over Georgia entering the final rotation. With a final-round bye, the Bruins could only sit back and hope for the other teams to stumble and hand them a third straight title.
