Ashley Miles Wins Three Titles at SEC Gymnastics Championships
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
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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.
Senior Michelle Reeser was named the SEC Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year in a post-meet ceremony. The accounting major, a three-year Scholastic All-American, carries a 3.96 grade point average for her career.
Georgia won the title with a 197.250, followed closely by LSU's 196.975. Alabama's third place finish was its 21st top-3 finish in the 25 years of the championship. Florida finished fourth with a 196.150. Arkansas was fifth at 195.325, followed by Auburn's 195.125. Kentucky rounded out the meet with a 193.800.
"I can't be any more disappointed," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "It was an opportunity and we beat ourselves. On a night like this, you can't have mistakes like that, because somebody is going to hit their routines."
Alabama finished off the meet extremely well. Trailing Florida going into the last rotation, the Tide posted the meet's best score on the uneven bars, 49.45 to overtake the Gators and make a run at second place LSU. It was the Tide's best bars score of the season by almost two tenths. Alabama also posted the meet's top vault mark with a 49.3.
After struggling early, Alabama came on strong in its third event, the vault. Miles posted a 9.925 to win the vault and seniors Alexis Brion and Shannon Hrozek and freshman Kaitlin White all scored 9.85.
Alabama started the night off with a 48.875 on the balance beam, getting a 9.85 from Bayer and a 9.825 from Hrozek.
The Tide had trouble early in the floor exercise lineup, when its first two routines went out of bounds, but strong routines from Humphrey, Brion and Miles, brought the Tide back to score a 49.075. Miles scored a 9.95 to anchor the Tide's lineup while Humphrey scored a 9.9, good for second place, and Brion a 9.875.
Alabama has next weekend off from competition before hosting the NCAA Central Region Championships April 9. Teams competing the six regionals will be announced Monday (March 28). Tickets for the Central Region can be obtained through the Alabama ticket office (205.348.2262) or online at www.rolltide.com.
