Georgia’s gymnastics team was good Friday, unfortunately their opponents in the NCAA Championships preliminary round were simply better.
That was the sum of the Gym Dogs’ efforts in the NCAAs by coach Danna Durante, after Georgia finished fifth with a 196.6 and failed to make the cut for Saturday’s Super Six.
Utah and Florida tied for first in the afternoon session with a 197.475, while Stanford qualified with a 197.175. Michigan (197.025) and UCLA (196.4) failed to qualify along with the Gym Dogs.
Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Nebraska, Auburn and Oregon State competed in the evening session to determine the final three spots in Saturday’s Super Six.
The finish was a disappointing one for the Gym Dogs, who placed fifth at the NCAAs last year and sixth in 2013, but simply came down to not having a good day when other teams had great ones, Durante said.
“Utah was on fire, and Florida and Stanford may have had their best meet of the season and we didn’t,” Durante said. “We did what we have been doing most of the year. We’re disappointed, but those teams were just better than us tonight.”
The Gym Dogs got off to decent start on vault, scoring 49.1, then put themselves in the running for one of the qualifying spots with a 49.35 on the uneven bars.
At the halfway mark the Gym Dogs were in fifth place with a 98.45 and needed some big efforts in their final two events to catch Utah, which had a 98.525.
Stanford and Florida led the competition at that point with 98.875 and 98.75, respectively.
Unfortunately for Georgia, the Utes, whose only losses this season have been to Georgia, weren’t going to let the Gym Dogs get the best of them again.
Utah posted a 49.45 on the vault to all but seal its position in the finals, while Georgia struggled on the balance beam, scoring 48.9. Three of the beam scores were in the 9.7 range while Brittany Rogers fell and scored just 9.3.
Georgia finished with a strong 49.25 on the floor, led by a 9.9 from Mary Beth Box, but it wasn’t enough as Utah posted a 49.5 to surge to the top of the standings with Florida, while Michigan and Stanford also stayed on pace to finish ahead of Georgia.
“We gave it our best effort and I’m proud we fought all the way through, but we needed more in the tank,” Durante said.
The Gym Dogs thought they’d found a little more at their regional competition when they scored a 197.025, their second-highest score of the season, by using some different lineups.
But Friday’s result wasn’t so much about coaching strategies as it was momentum, and the Gym Dogs just couldn’t get things rolling.
“We were good tonight, but we had to be better,” Durante said.
The competition isn’t over for all the Gym Dogs as Brandie Jay qualified for Sunday’s individual competition on the vault with a 9.925, Rogers qualified on the uneven bars with a 9.95 and Box qualified on the floor.
“I’m really excited for those gymnasts,” Durante said. “They are all juniors, and that is huge for the future in my mind.”
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