Alabama Gymnastics Ranked Sixth in WCGA Preseason Coaches Poll
12/17/2021 2:47:00 PM | Gymnastics
The defending SEC Champions closed the 2021 season with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Alabama is No. 6 in the 2022 Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Preseason Poll which was released Friday.
The defending Southeastern Conference champion Crimson Tide finished fifth at last year's NCAA Championships and returns the majority of its lineup this season.
Alabama opens the season against No. 3 Oklahoma in Norman, before traveling to Gainesville, Fla., the next week to take on No. 2 Florida. The Crimson Tide will also take on No. 5 LSU in Baton Rouge and No. 14 Auburn on the Plains during the regular season.
The Tide will welcome No. 11 Arkansas, No. 13 Kentucky, No. 15 Georgia and No. 16 Missouri to Coleman Coliseum this season as well as No. 35 North Carolina. Western Michigan, which joins Alabama and UNC in a midseason trimeet, received votes in the coaches poll.
The 2022 Crimson Tide
- There are 16 gymnasts on the 2022 roster – one graduate student, five seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen
- Alabama returns 22 of its 24 routines from its 2021 SEC Championships lineup, including its entire vault and uneven bars lineups
- There are two individual NCAA Champions on this year's team – Luisa Blanco (balance beam) and Lexi Graber (floor exercise)
- The Crimson Tide's 2022 lineup returns four All-Americans who combine for 15 honors – Blanco, Graber, Makarri Doggette and Shallon Olsen
- Blanco returns as the 2021 WCGA District 1 and SEC Gymnast of the Year and a finalist for the 2021 Honda Award
- A total of three NCAA Regional champions are back this season: Blanco (2021 – all-around, balance beam), Doggette (2021 – uneven bars) and Graber (2018 – all-around, vault)
- There are four individual SEC champions on this year's team: Blanco (all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam), Graber (balance beam), Doggette (uneven bars) and Shania Adams (uneven bars)
- The Crimson Tide also returns six gymnasts who have earned All-SEC honors during their careers: Adams, Blanco, Doggette, Graber, Olsen and Kaylee Quinn
- Dana Duckworth, in her eighth season as head coach, is in her 27th season with the Tide, including four years as a gymnast, nine as a volunteer coach and six as an assistant coach
- Ryan Roberts is in his fourth season as an assistant coach at Alabama
- Gina Quinlan is in her first season as an assistant coach with the Crimson Tide
- After taking fifth at the NCAA Championships in 2021, the Crimson Tide has finished in the top-12 nationally for the last 40 years in a row (1982-2021), making Alabama one of only two schools in collegiate gymnastics history to post top-12 finishes every year since women's gymnastics came under the NCAA auspices
- Alabama is one of just seven teams to win an NCAA championship, taking home the crown in 2012, 2011, 2002, 1996, 1991 and 1988
- The Crimson Tide has won an NCAA-best 32 regional championships, including the 2018 Tuscaloosa Regional title
- Alabama has also won 10 SEC team titles, including five of the past 13 seasons
Season tickets are currently available through the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.2262), located in the lobby of Coleman Coliseum, or online at RollTide.com. After opening the 2022 season with back-to-back road meets at Oklahoma and Florida, the Crimson Tide opens its home season on Jan. 21 against Kentucky.
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Players Mentioned
