The University of Alabama gymnastics team, ranked third nationally, maintained its unbeaten record at home with a 197.200-196.675 win over No. 22 Kentucky on Friday in Tuscaloosa. The victory brings Alabama’s season record to 8-4 overall and 4-3 in Southeastern Conference competition, while Kentucky falls to 1-8-2 overall and 1-4-2 in the SEC.
Alabama’s performance was highlighted by a season-high score of 49.600 on the uneven bars, tying for the fourth-best in program history and ranking as the third highest in the nation as of Friday’s meets.
Chloe LaCoursiere led the Crimson Tide by winning individual titles on bars (9.975) and beam (9.925). Azaraya Ra-Akbar captured top scores on vault (9.975) and floor exercise (9.950). Without an all-around competitor from Alabama, Kentucky’s Delaynee Rodriguez took that honor with a total score of 39.500.
Head coach Ashley Johnston commented on her team’s showing: “We wanted to give the people what they came for, which was an adventurous, thrilling ride, and I feel like we got that tonight. Obviously, there was a series of uncharacteristic mistakes throughout tonight. We wish we could go back and redo those moments, but all we can do is learn from them. As we gather together as a team at the end, it always comes back to, ‘what can I do? What will I do?’, and we can learn from those moments where we just fell out of our locked-in approach in certain ways. I think we’ve been going back-to-back weeks with some teams where it just creates and ignites an energy and excitement, and I feel like we missed a little bit of that tonight. We weren’t quite as clear with our focus and our approach, but we can learn from that, and we can make sure that we don’t repeat that on Sunday at Illinois.
“This team takes a lot of pride in being the best at getting better, and we just need to get on track and do that. We weren’t that far off track tonight but of course, counting a fall like we did on the beam lineup – five tenths off your team score that we had to count is certainly a hard thing to recover from. But I think this team did everything and more to recover from that – to make a statement and prove to themselves that they can handle those hard moments. They’re not going to get down and give up. They’re going to fight, lean in and make sure that they don’t give anything else away. I think our floor team did a great job of making a statement and our bars team had to follow that from vault as well.”
Alabama has achieved a score above 197 in every meet this season while remaining undefeated at Coleman Coliseum since January.
Love Birt made her collegiate debut for Alabama with a 9.875 on balance beam after two teammates recorded falls early in the rotation.
LaCoursiere continued her consistent form by posting scores of at least 9.925 in all ten meets this year.
Ra-Akbar has scored at least 9.900 in three events during four different meets this season.
Four gymnasts either tied or set career-high marks during Friday’s competition: Ryan Fuller matched her best with a 9.950 on bars; LaCoursiere equaled career highs with her performances; McKenzie Matters set a new personal best with 9.925 on floor; Ra-Akbar matched career highs on both vault (9.975) and floor (9.950).
In each event:
– On vault, Ra-Akbar anchored Alabama’s rotation with her top score.
– On uneven bars, four athletes posted scores above 9.900.
– Despite early falls on beam, Birt helped steady the team’s effort.
– On floor exercise, Rybicki started strong followed by high marks from Matters and Ra-Akbar.
Next up for Alabama is an away meet against Illinois scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
