Alabama
Arkansas
No. 8 Alabama Gymnastics Set for Saturday’s SEC Championships in Huntsville
3/19/2021 7:43:00 PM | Gymnastics
The Crimson Tide took part in a 90-minute practice session on podium at the Von Braun Center Friday afternoon as a final tune-up before the 2021 SEC Championships
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – With one last practice session in the books, the No. 8-ranked Alabama gymnastics team is prepared to take the floor Saturday at 7 p.m. CT at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala., for the 2021 Southeastern Conference Championships.
The Crimson Tide will compete in the evening session of the championships which gets underway at 7 p.m. CT. Alabama will start on the floor exercise, rotate to the vault and uneven bars and finish on the balance beam. Florida, LSU and Arkansas are also in the second session, with the Gators starting on the vault, the Tigers on the uneven bars and the Razorbacks on the balance beam. Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky and Missouri will compete in the afternoon session, which starts at 2:30 p.m. CT.
Originally slated to be held in New Orleans, the meet was moved to Huntsville during the regular season. And while this will be the first time the Rocket City has played host to the SEC Championships, it will not be its first go around hosting collegiate gymnastics. The Von Braun Center held the Elevate the Stage meet between Alabama and Auburn in 2018.
Head Coach Dana Duckworth Said
"Excited is an understatement when it comes to SECs. I just keep thinking that a little over a year ago at this time we were loaded up on a bus ready to go to Birmingham, and I got a call from our Athletics Director that we had to unpack the bus. We really thought that two weeks later we would be back to championship competition. I would say grateful is an understatement as well. This team is so fired up to be at the SEC Championship and compete in a quad meet setting with all four events at the same time and show off all of their hard work."
The SEC Championships
- The No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide will compete in the evening session of the SEC Championships in Huntsville, Ala. on Saturday, March 20, along with No. 1 Florida, No. 2 LSU and No. 9 Arkansas
- The 2020 SEC Championships were cancelled due to COVID-19
- The Tide's session will be broadcast on SEC Network at 7:00 p.m. CT
- All eight SEC schools that sponsor gymnastics are ranked in the top 21 nationally, including four in the top 10 - Florida (1), LSU (3), Alabama (8) and Arkansas (9), while Kentucky (12), Auburn (15), Georgia (16) are in the top 20 and Missouri checks in at 21st
- Alabama is the only program to never finish outside the top four at the SEC Championships
- The Tide is also the only program to finish in the top three each of the last 21 championships, with Florida coming in second over that span with 18, Georgia with 14 and LSU with 10
- The Tide has won nine SEC Championships, the first in 1988 and the most recent in 2015
- Alabama has also finished in the top-two 28 times
- Senior Lexi Graber won the balance beam at the most recent SEC Championships in 2019
- Because of the 8-meet SEC-only schedule, the Tide has faced each one of these teams earlier in the season, and is 6-2, with wins over LSU, Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky (twice) and Missouri
Inside the Score Sheet
- Luisa Blanco has not scored below a 9.875 on balance beam this season, scoring a 9.925-or-better in five out of her seven routines
- Lexi Graber has scored a 9.9-or-better in 14 of her last 15 floor routines
- Shania Adams has competed in the all-around in all but two meets to this point in her rookie season, with her performance in the season-opener marking the first time a Crimson Tide freshman has competed in all four events in their first meet since Katie Bailey in 2014
- Adams also leads the Tide in routines competed this season with 30
- Blanco is second in routines competed this season with 27 while Lexi Graber is third with 24
- Blanco leads the Tide with 14 event titles so far this season, with five on the balance beam, four in the all-around, two each on the vault and uneven bars and one on floor exercise
- Makarri Doggette has competed in the Tide's uneven bars and balance beam lineups every meet thus far this season and has also competed twice on floor exercise
- Mati Waligora has competed on the vault and uneven bars every meet this season and has also competed five times on balance beam
Up Next
- Alabama hosts the NCAA Regional in Coleman Coliseum, April 1-3
For all the latest information on Alabama gymnastics, follow @BamaGymnastics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and head coach Dana Duckworth on Instagram at @UACoachDana.
Players Mentioned
