Alabama Gymnastics Enjoys Stellar 2021 Season

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – With the spring graduation weekend coming to a close and two members of this year's team joining the ranks of Crimson Tide alumni, the 2021 Alabama gymnastics team has officially brought another standout season to a close.

This year's team ended the championship season with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, led by a pair of individual NCAA champions. It marked the Tide's 30th top-five national finish. The 2021 squad also brought home the program's 10th Southeastern Conference Championship after winning seven individual league titles.

Sophomore Luisa Blanco won the 2021 NCAA Balance Beam Championship along with two NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional titles and four SEC championships, while senior Lexi Graber, who is returning for a fifth season in 2022, won the NCAA Floor Exercise Championships to go with the SEC balance beam title.

Team 47 Highlights

The Crimson Tide won its 10th SEC Championships in 2021, remaining the only SEC school to never finish outside the top-four at the league championships
The Crimson Tide finished fifth at the NCAA Championships and just .025 out of advancing to team finals (final four)
While the Tide was third in its session, its score was fourth out of the eight teams that competed in the two NCAA Championships Semifinals
It was Alabama's 30th top-five finish and makes the Tide one of two schools, along with Utah, to never finish outside the top-12 in the final national rankings
Alabama posted five scores of 197.500-or-better during the season, the most since 2015
The Tide scored a school-record 49.675 on the uneven bars at the NCAA Regional Championships
All 12 UA gymnasts eligible by class earned a place on the SEC Academic Honor Roll
Gymnastics posted a 3.62 team grade point average in the fall

Individual Highlights from 2021

Luisa Blanco is a finalist for the Honda Award for Gymnastics and has already been voted the WCGA Region 1 Gymnast of the Year and the SEC Gymnast of the Year
Blanco is the only gymnast in the nation to post more than one score of 39.800-or-better this season, earning three such marks, with those scores giving her three of the five highest scores in school history
Blanco (balance beam) and Lexi Graber (floor exercise) both won individual NCAA titles, bumping Alabama's total to 29 all-time
Blanco, Makarri Doggette, Lexi Graber and Shallon Olsen earned All-America honors in 2021
Between Championship and Regular Season accolades, the Crimson Tide tallied 14 All-America honors, including 11 first-team honors
In all, 78 Alabama gymnasts have combined to earn 391 All-America honors
Blanco won the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional all-around title with a 39.800, giving her the highest all-around score of any regional in 2021
Blanco also picked up an individual regional title on the balance beam, where she scored the first perfect 10 of her career
Doggette won the NCAA Regional Uneven Bars title with a perfect 10.0
At the 2021 SEC Championships, Blanco won the all-around with a 39.800, the second highest score in championships history
Blanco also won the SEC vault, uneven bars, and balance beam titles, sharing the uneven bars title with Shania Adams and Doggette and the balance beam title with Graber.
Blanco, Adams, Doggette, Graber, Olsen and Kaylee Quinn all earned All-SEC honors, giving the Crimson Tide six honors this season
The Tide's 2021 total of All-SEC honors marks the second year in the past three that Alabama has led the league in all-conference honors
Adams earned SEC All-Freshman honors
Dana Duckworth was named the WCGA Region 1 Head Coach of the Year for the second season in a row, while Bill Lorenz and Ryan Roberts were named the WCGA Region 1 Assistant Coaches of the Year, also for the second year in a row
Alonza Klopfer, Jensie Givens and Kylie Dickson all earned undergraduate degrees during the 2020-21 academic year, joining the ranks of Alabama gymnastics alums
Givens, Griffin James and Mati Waligora earned all earned President's List accolades (4.0 grade point average) in the fall, with seven others receiving Dean's List honors (3.5-or-better GPA)

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University of Alabama Athletics