Alabama
NCAA Championships - Semifinals
Alabama’s Luisa Blanco and Lexi Graber Win NCAA Titles; Alabama Finishes 2021 Season in Fifth
4/16/2021 9:28:00 PM | Gymnastics
Blanco won the national balance beam title, while Graber won the floor exercise
FORT WORTH, Texas – Alabama gymnastics won a pair of individual NCAA Championships Friday night during its semifinal session of the national championships, with Lexi Graber taking home the floor exercise title and Luisa Blanco winning the balance beam in Dickies Arena at Fort Worth, Texas.
Seeded seventh coming into the weekend, the Crimson Tide finished third in its session and closed the 2021 season in fifth place with a 197.575, just .025 behind Utah and advancing to Saturday's team finals.
Tonight's finish marked the Crimson Tide's 30th top-five national finish and first since finishing third in 2016. With this weekend's finish, Alabama and Utah remain the only two teams to never finish outside the top-12 in year-end national standings.
The Crimson Tide came into the national championships on the heels of a strong regional showing and its 10th Southeastern Conference Championship.
In a battle for one of the two berths available out of the semifinal session to Saturday's team finals throughout the night, Alabama closed with its best floor exercise score of the season, a 49.5875, it's highest score of the season on the event, paced by Graber's 9.9625.
Alabama opened the night on the vault with a 49.2875 led by Shallon Olsen's 9.9250, 9.8875 from Lexi Graber and a 9.875 from Mati Waligora in her return to the Tide's lineup. On the uneven bars, Blanco and Makarri Doggette led the Tide to a 49.3125 after scoring a 9.9375 and 9.9250, respectively. In addition to Blanco's 9.9625, Emily Gaskins and Alonza Klopfer both scored 9.875s to lead Alabama to a 49.3875 on the balance beam.
Head Coach Dana Duckworth Said
"This team is dynamite. They fought and they never stopped fighting. We started on vault and bars, and had a few little uncharacteristic things, then went over to balance beam and floor and fought the way we're capable of fighting. I look back at where we started in the fall, overcoming so many obstacles that became opportunities for growth to becoming stronger versions of ourselves. To be where we are tonight, .025 out of qualifying for the team finals, it came down to the last gymnast and that is what championships are about. This team is so excited for one another. All season, everything this team has been about the love and discipline and mental toughness that they have developed as young women."
NCAA Balance Beam Champion Luisa Blanco Said
"It's fulfilling, because you see that your hard work is paying off. In the moment, I wasn't even thinking about winning a title, we just wanted to show everyone how hard we worked. Obviously, things didn't work out the way we wanted them to but we never gave up, we gave it everything we had those last two events and I think it really showed. We've been through so much this year, and I am really grateful to have been a part of such an amazing group of women. We truly do feed off of each other's energy, and I love them so much. This year has been amazing."
NCAA Floor Exercise Champion Lexi Graber Said
"Tonight was obviously a dream come true in some ways and bittersweet in others. I'm disappointed, but also very proud of this team. We have accomplished so much throughout this year, and to go out on a note like that, to come back like we did and come so close, it's tough but I am more proud of this team than anything else. I can't say enough good things about the fight and the sacrifice and everything that we put in. To finish that floor routine, not just for myself but for my team, was just incredible. I just put it all out there, we all did, and I could not be more proud. To end my four years that way was everything I could have asked for."
For all the latest information on Alabama gymnastics, follow @BamaGymnastics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. All the latest information on Alabama Athletics can be found on @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
