Alabama Gymnastics Hits the Road, Heads to Athens
2/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
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After competing at home four of the last five weeks, the No. 5 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team takes to the road this weekend for the first of three consecutive away meets that will take the Tide almost literally coast to coast.
The Tide opens its road swing with archrival Georgia, currently ranked No. 7, Friday at 7:30 p.m. EST. After that, the Tide heads to Arkansas and then Stanford. The Tide's trip to Athens is its first in two years. The Tide comes into the meet sporting a 7-3-0 overall record and a 3-1-0 Southeastern Conference tally. Georgia, sporting a very young team, is 8-3-0 and 3-2-0.
Alabama is coming off back-to-back conference wins against Auburn and Kentucky at home, while Georgia is coming off three consecutive losses, including the last two on the road against Oklahoma and LSU.
"No matter what kind of season Georgia is having, I have no doubt that they will be ready for us Friday night," head coach Sarah Patterson said. "This is a great rivalry for just that reason. No matter what either team is going through, we both find a way to competitive against each other."
"One of the reasons gymnasts come to Alabama is to compete in these kinds of meets," Patterson said. "They like the challenge and they like the excitement."
Patterson and company are coming off a sub-par showing against Kentucky where a combination of illness and fatigue caused Patterson to shuffle her lineup. With most of the illness behind them and a solid week of practice under their belt, the Tide gymnasts should be back close to full strength for the Lady Dogs.
Junior Ashley Miles is in her fourth week as the nation's best on the vault and floor exercise. She scored a 9.975 on the vault against Kentucky, and has two 10.0s already this season on that event. After sitting out the uneven bars and floor exercise last weekend, Miles is slated for all-around duty against Georgia.
Freshman Terin Humphrey, ranked second on the balance beam, is slated to compete three events, vault, uneven bars and balance beam. Senior Shannon Hrozek, who also sat out the floor exercise last week, will be available for the all-around as will junior Dana Filetti, the only Tide gymnast to go all-around every meet this season.
