Alabama Gymnastics Faces Kentucky Friday Night
2/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
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The No. 4 ranked Alabama gymnastics team faces No. 17 Kentucky this Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum in its last home meet until mid-March.
The Tide, which upended Auburn last weekend in front of a nation's best 13,299 fans, faces a Wildcat team that has competed very well in Tuscaloosa over the last few years.
"The last two times that Kentucky has been here, the meet has come down to the last event and the last competition," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "This meet could be the same way. This is a very good Kentucky team."
After Friday, Alabama will be on the road for a month, with stops in Athens, Ga., Fayetteville, Ark. and Stanford, Calif.
Friday will also be Academic Achievement night in Coleman Coliseum. Elementary school students in the Tuscaloosa/Northport area who are on the A/B honor honor rolls are eligible for a ticket voucher that is good for the admission of two people into the general admission seats in Coleman Coliseum.
"Academics are obviously very important to us, and we are excited to host area students and recognize their achievements," Patterson said. "We've enjoyed a rich history here at Alabama both in the gym and in the classroom. A good education will carry you so far in life."
Last season eight members of the Tide's third place NCAA squad earned Scholastic All-American honors and 11 were named Academic All-SEC. Alabama has earned more NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships than any other program in the nation. The Tide also leads the SEC in Academic All-SEC accolades by more than two dozen.
Kentucky is riding a season best performance last week into Friday's meet in search of a win.
"We've just got to bring the same energy we had last weekend into every meet as we try to go down and knock off Alabama," UK head coach Mo Muhammad said. "We always compete well at Alabama and hopefully we can come home with an SEC victory."
Alabama is coming off a strong performance of its own. Junior Ashley Miles, the ranked No. 1 nationally on the vault and floor exercise, is the SEC Gymnast of the Week after winning the all-around as well as the vault and floor exercise against Auburn. The San Antonio, Texas native scored her second vault 10.0 of the season last weekend.
Freshman Terin Humphrey is the nation's top ranked balance beam worker. She won both the beam and uneven bars against Auburn. Humphrey made her Tide debut on the vault last Friday and is scheduled to compete those three events again this weekend.
Tickets for Friday's meet are available through the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.BAMA) or online at www.rolltide.com.
