Alabama
NCAA Championships - Team Preliminaries
Gymnastics Advances to NCAA Super Six Team Finals
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
April 16, 2009
Results | Photo Gallery 
| RollTide.com's NCAA Championships Central
LINCOLN, Neb. - The Alabama Gymnastics team started off solid, got stronger as the night went on and came away with the highest score of the evening session, a 197.025 here at the NCAA Championships, advancing to Friday night's Super Six Team Finals.
"We are just so thrilled to be advancing," head coach Sarah Patterson said. "Each year, when we start the season in September, the goal is to be on the floor the last night of the season with a chance to win the championship, and so to do that you have to put yourself in a position where you advance. We have achieved that goal tonight and now tomorrow night we are just going to go out there and lay it all on the line.
Arkansas also advanced to the Super Six, scoring a 196.950, meaning that with the three Southeastern Conference schools that earned bids from the afternoon session - Georgia, Florida and LSU - five of six spots in finals are from the SEC, an NCAA first. Utah won a tiebreaker over ULCA to take the final spot out of the evening session after both teams scored a 196.625. Oregon State scored a 195.350 and Illinois scored a 195.05 to round out the session.
"I'm extremely proud of our SEC counterparts," Patterson said. "I had no doubt we had five schools that could do this because I have seen these teams week in and week out. We've defeated all of our opponents in the SEC and pretty much we've lost to all of them in the SEC early in the season. I just know if you are not on on any certain night, you are going to get beat. I think the reason we are all tested and we are strong competitors is because week in and week out that is what we face."
The Crimson Tide finished strong on the night, posting a 49.375 on the balance beam, the highest beam mark of the night. Junior Ricki Lebegern started the rotation with a 9.9 a score that freshman Ashley Priess echoed from the anchor spot. In between freshman Caitlin Sullivan scored a 9.875, junior Kassi Price, freshman Geralen Stack-Eaton and junior Morgan Dennis all posted 9.85.
Alabama got things started on the floor exercise with a 49.125 led by matching 9.85s from Lebegern and Priess. Senior Ashley O'Neal got the Tide going with a 9.825 as score matched by Sullivan.
On the vault, freshman Rachel Terry tied her career-high score with a 9.9, leading Alabama to a 49.325. Stack-Eaton got the rotation started with a 9.85 while Lebegern and sophomore Kayla Hoffman scored 9.875s. Dennis finished the set off with a 9.825.
On the uneven bars, Priess nailed down a 49.2 team score with a 9.9 to finish off the rotation. Dennis scored a 9.875 while Lebegern got it started with a 9.825. Stack-Eaton and Terry both scored 9.8s.
In the afternoon session it was an all Southeastern Conference affair with Georgia, Florida and LSU advancing to Friday's Super Six Team Final.
Players Mentioned
