Alabama Gymnastics Takes on Stanford in Palo Alto Sunday
3/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
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The Alabama Gymnastics team, moving farther west each week of its three-meet road swing, hits the West Coast Sunday for a meet against Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. at 2 p.m. PST.
The Crimson Tide tied Stanford for third place at last year's NCAA Championships. All told the two teams have met six times before this weekend's competition, four times at the NCAA Championships and twice during the regular season. The last regular season meeting came in 2000 at the Tide hosted Super Six Challenge where Alabama won with Stanford finishing just .05 behind.
"Stanford is a very talented team," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "They've had some problems with injuries early, but they are very talented and we expect this to be a very good meet."
In addition to being the Tide's first trip to the Stanford campus, the meet will serve as a homecoming of sorts for junior Mari Bayer, the lone Californian on the Tide's roster. Bayer grew up just 20 minutes from the Palo Alto campus, in San Jose, Calif. Two of her uncles, Steve and Chris Weber, played football for Stanford.
A two-time All-American and two-year Scholastic All-American, Bayer is a mainstay on three events, the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise, where her long lines and elegant style really shine through.
Fans will be able to keep up with the Tide-Cardinal match up online at www.gymtide.com, and on WVUA-FM 90.7 radio. The radio broadcast can also be heard online at www.broadcastmonster.com.
