Georgia gymnastics was outscored Friday night in Stegeman Coliseum 196.900-196.875 by Alabama. Although it was a loss for the Bulldogs, this was a celebrated victory for the team after a devastating loss in Oklahoma on January 11th. Their score of 196.825 is also now their season-best final score.
At the season opener meet against Ohio State in the beginning of January, Georgia finished with a 196.600 which is .275 lower than the current high score. The Gym Dogs also improved their team scores in bars, beam and floor so that they too were the best of the season. Bars moved up by .075 to 49.275, beam by .05 and floor by more than a full tenth of a point, .125.
“I would honestly that the Georgia vs Alabama rivalry is so huge so even before we started the meet we were super pumped, more than usual,” said Sydney Snead, the only senior on the team. I think tonight we did a great job of being aggressive, being confident and honestly, the routines just built off of each other which is exactly what they are supposed to do so.”
Snead broke a season and career record of her own Friday night with her overall score of 39.600. The star gymnast’s previous score was 39.400. The crowd goes crazy when her name is called and Friday night there was an insane amount of noise coming from the stands as the meet was completely sold out at 10, 408 fans. Second-year head coach Courtney Kupets Carter was asked about the impact that crowd could have had on the positive scores that came out of the night.
“I think at a couple of places it really did. At times, we had to make sure that we could actually speak with them (gymnasts) so you really have to be conscious of using the fans in the right way and having that energy keep going but making sure that they (gymnasts) are focused and concentrated on what they are doing,” she said.
The next meet is set for Monday, January 21, 2019 here in Athens against Iowa State at 1:45 pm.