Alabama Gymnastics Faces Georgia Saturday in Coleman Coliseum
3/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
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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.
The meet starts at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event are available through the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.2262) or online at www.rolltide.com. ESPN will be in the house, covering the event for a tape-delay broadcast.
In addition to facing the No. 5 ranked Dogs in gymnastics, Alabama is also hosting Georgia in baseball this weekend. Fans who attend Saturday's Alabama-Georgia baseball game can use their ticket stub for a two-dollar discount for admission to the gymnastics meet. Saturday's baseball game gets underway at 4 p.m.
Alabama comes into the weekend looking to avenge a week-two loss to the Dogs by the slimmest possible margin, .025. Over the past three seasons, the two squads have split the home-and-home regular season dual meet series, with the home team winning each time. Georgia's average margin of victory over that span has been .175 while Alabama's has been .633.
This is the last year of the current home-and-home commitment, though Georgia will be in Tuscaloosa twice next season, for the Super Six Challenge and the dual meet.
Alabama, the nation's third ranked team, is led by junior Jeana Rice, the nation's No. 1 ranked all-arounder, Sterner, ranked 13th in the all-around and freshman standout Ashley Miles who scored a 10 on the vault against Auburn and a 9.975 on the floor exercise last weekend against Kentucky. Of the six meets Rice has gone all-around in this season, she has won five.
Georgia relies heavily on the junior trio of Chelsa Byrd, Kinsey Rowe and Cory Fritzinger. Byrd is currently ranked 11th in the all-around and has won the vault in eight of Georgia's 11 meets and the floor exercise in nine of 10 tries.
Alabama and Georgia posted identical 196.425s last weekend. Alabama was at home against Kentucky while the Lady Dogs were at Auburn.
