Gymdogs in Duluth Today for SEC Championship

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Gymdogs in Duluth Today for SEC Championship

Georgia gymnasts react after winning during an NCAA gymnastics meet between the University of Georgia and the University of Utah on Saturday, March 14, 2015 in Athens, Ga. (Photo by Sean Taylor)
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Ninth-ranked Georgia will begin postseason competition this weekend at the SEC Championship in Duluth. The fifth-seeded Gymdogs will join the No. 6 seed Arkansas, No. 7 Kentucky and No. 8 Missouri in the afternoon session Saturday at 2 p.m. ET at The Arena at Gwinnett Center. Top-seeded Florida, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Auburn will compete in the evening session at 6 p.m. Georgia will start the meet on vault.


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The Gymdogs enter the meet with a 5-6 record, including a 3-4 SEC mark. The Gymdogs posted wins over the other three teams in the afternoon session.

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UGA has won a total of 16 SEC titles, which is more than any other team. Florida has nine SEC titles, Alabama has eight, while LSU has one. Georgia’s last SEC title came in 2008, incidentally in Duluth.
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Both sessions of the SEC Championship will air on SECN+, which is available via ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Last Time Out
[su_spacer size=”10″] Georgia had its best meet of the regular season last week, knocking off fourth-ranked and previously undefeated Utah, 197.450-197.275 in Stegeman Coliseum. The Gymdogs fell behind after one rotation, but a season-high 49.575 ignited a comeback, and Georgia closed the meet with a 49.5 on floor to seal the win.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Noteworthy
[su_spacer size=”10″] » Georgia’s win over Utah last week was made possible by a 49.575 on bars – its highest score on any event this season. The previous high was a 49.55 on floor the previous week against Arkansas and was nearly matched with a 49.5 on floor against Utah. Leading up to the Arkansas meet, the season-high on floor was a 49.275, but Georgia gymnasts have combined for seven floor scores of 9.9 or higher in the last two meets (12 routines).

» Georgia’s 49.575 on bars was more than two-tenths higher than the previous season-high on that event (49.350). Bars has been the top event for the Gymdogs in recent years, and last year Georgia scored an SEC Championship record 49.7 on the uneven bars.

» Nine different Gymdogs have taken top honors on an event this season. Ashlyn Broussard leads the team with six event titles – four on vault and two on beam. Mary Beth Box has five, while Brandie Jay, Brittany Rogers and Chelsea Davis have four. Kiera Brown and Gigi Marino have two, and Rachel Schick and Natalie Vaculik have placed first on an event once this season.

» Georgia competed this season against six teams currently ranked in the top-eight in the country: No. 2 Florida, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Michigan and No. 8 Auburn.

» Georgia has two gymnasts on the 2015 roster who have won SEC individual titles. Brittany Rogers tied for first on bars and beam her freshman season in 2013, and Lauren Johnson won a share of the vault title last year in Birmingham. Rogers was injured in pre-meet warmups at the SEC Championship a year ago and competed only on bars. Johnson sustained a torn ACL during the offseason and has not competed this year.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Rankings
[su_spacer size=”10″] Georgia moved up one spot to No. 9 this week with a 196.875 RQS. The Gymdogs are in the top-15 on all four events. They are 12th on vault, eighth on bars, 10th on beam and 13th on floor. Individually, Brittany Rogers and Chelsea Davis are 11th and 15, respectively, on the uneven bars, Brandie Jay is 18th on vault, while Mary Beth Box is ranked 25th on floor.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Up Next
[su_spacer size=”10″] Georgia will learn its NCAA Regional destination on Monday March 23 during the NCAA Gymnastics Selection Show on NCAA.com. The Gymdogs will compete in one of the six regionals on Saturday, April 4. The six host schools are Auburn, Cal, Iowa State, Ohio State, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

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