Alabama Gymnastics Set for Friday’s NCAA Championships Semifinals

FORT WORTH, Texas – Following a spirited two-hour training session on the podium at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday afternoon, the Alabama gymnastics team is officially done with practice for the 2021 season. With its final workout in the books, the Crimson Tide opens competition at the NCAA Championships Semifinals in Session II on Friday at 5 p.m. CT.

Alabama will be joined in the evening session by Oklahoma, LSU and Utah with the top-two advancing to the championship final on Saturday. The Tide will start on the vault, then rotate to the uneven bars and balance beam before closing on the floor exercise. Oklahoma will start on the uneven bars, Utah on balance beam and LSU on floor exercise.

Florida, Michigan, California and Minnesota will compete in Friday's afternoon semifinal at 12 p.m. CT. Both semifinal sessions will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

In addition to serving as the gateway for the NCAA team finals, the semifinals round will also determine the individual champions on all four apparatus and the all-around.

Head Coach Dana Duckworth Said

"Advancing to the final rounds of the NCAA Championships for the 37th time has been about culture, character and unwavering belief in the process. This team is a special group of women who have been on a journey of faith, resilience and competitive greatness. Through discipline, poise and confidence they won an SEC Championship, a very tough regional semifinal and advanced out of an equally challenging regional final. This opportunity is something we never take for granted and it never gets old. The mission is to be on the podium the final night of the championship with the opportunity to shine under the bright lights on the biggest stage of the year. Team47 comes to Fort Worth honored, excited and on fire for greatness."

Alabama at the NCAA Championships

This weekend marks the Crimson Tide's 37th team appearance at the NCAA Championships final site
Only Utah has been to more NCAA Championships as a team than Alabama and only Florida has been to as many
Coming into this year's competition, Alabama has been represented at every NCAA Championships final site since the first in 1982 as either a team (36) or individual (2)
The Crimson Tide won its sixth national championship, and second in a row, in 2012, marking the first time in Alabama's storied history that the team has won back-to-back titles
Alabama is celebrating the 30^th anniversary of its 1991 NCAA title, the 25^th anniversary of its 1996 championships and 10^th anniversary of its 2011 national title
In addition to its six NCAA Championships (1988, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2011, 2012), Alabama has posted 29 top-four finishes and 13 top-two finishes at the national championships
Alabama gymnasts have also excelled individually, winning 27 individual NCAA championships, including Katie Bailey's 2016 vault and 2017 uneven bars titles
With the cancellation of the 2020 postseason due to COVID-19, this will be just the second time that only eight teams, instead of the traditional 12, advanced to the final site

Inside the Score Sheet

Luisa Blanco has not scored below a 9.875 on balance beam this season, scoring a 9.900 or-better in eight out of her ten routines
Lexi Graber has scored a 9.9-or-better in 15 of her last 16 floor routines, with 19 of her 30 career routines on the event a 9.9-or-higher and all 30 routines completed without a fall
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 42
Blanco is second in routines competed this season with 39. Her last 16 routines have all scored 9.9-or-higher
Blanco leads the Tide with 21 event titles so far this season, with seven on the balance beam, six in the all-around, three each on the vault and uneven bars and two on floor exercise
Luisa Blanco is the only gymnast in the country to have scored a 39.800 or higher in the all-around three times
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

Last Time Out

On Saturday, April 3, Alabama advanced to the NCAA Championship semifinals after finishing in the top two of the Tuscaloosa regional finals with a 197.575.
One day prior, the Tide won the regional semifinals over Arkansas, Iowa and Iowa State with a 197.525, advancing to the regional finals on April 3.
The Tide set a new program and Coleman Coliseum record on the uneven bars during the regional semifinals, scoring a 49.675 on the event.
Alabama followed up its Friday semifinal uneven bars performance with the third-best total in program history on Saturday, putting up a 49.625. The entire uneven bars lineup set a new season-high on the event over the course of the two days, with Makarri Doggette (10.000), Luisa Blanco (9.975), Shania Adams (9.975) and Cam Machado (9.925) all setting new career-highs.
Luisa Blanco won the regional all-around title with a 39.800, the highest out of any of the regional semifinals
Blanco also picked up an individual regional title on the balance beam, where she scored the first perfect 10 of her career to win the event.
The Crimson Tide's last 10.0 before Blanco's came from Kiana Winston on the floor exercise on Feb. 3, 2017
Makarri Doggette also scored the first perfect 10 of her career, posting a perfect score to take home the individual regional title on the uneven bars.
Luisa Blanco's and Makarri Doggette's perfect 10.0s marked the first time since 2005 that the Tide had two 10.0s in the same meet.
Emily Gaskins competed in the all-around for the first time since 2019, competing in all four events in back-to-back nights and scoring a career-best 39.450 on Friday before besting that total with a new career-high 39.525 on Saturday
Griffin James posted back-to-back 9.900s on the floor exercise during the regional championships, setting her career-high with the first on Friday and matching it on Saturday during the final
Shania Adams set a new career-best on the uneven bars during the championship final with a 9.975, the highest score of the day on the event

Watching the NCAA Championships

Both of Friday's NCAA Championships Semifinal Sessions (I & II) will air live on ESPN2 with Bart Conner and Kathy Johnson Clarke calling the action
Saturday's NCAA Championships Team Finals will air live on ABC at 2:30 p.m. CT with Conner and Clark once again on the call

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