They’ll have to do better if they plan to make a return trip to the NCAA’s Super Six in two weeks, but at least the Georgia gymnastics team knows it has that chance.
Four other teams competing in the NCAA Athens Regional on Saturday won’t have that opportunity. No. 6 Georgia and No. 7 Michigan justified their superior distinctions as the top two seeds by besting the field and advancing to the NCAA Championships on April 18-20 in Birmingham, Ala.
There was some disappointment that the Bulldogs let a visitor outperform them in Stegeman Coliseum. The Wolverines edged them 196.750-196.375. But there’s a bigger score to settle in Alabama.
“That’s what we’re going to take away from it,” UGA second-year coach Danna Durante said. “We’re going to get back in on Monday and (train). Obviously vault and bars continue to be very strong for us. I’m excited that we did a good job there. Now we have new life going into prelims.”
Central Michigan (195.600) was a distant third, followed by Ohio State (195.100), N.C. State (194.550) and Rutgers (193.750).
UGA senior Lindsey Cheek was the meet’s top performer with 9.95s on vault and bars. Teammate Brittany Rogers tied for first on bars, and Morgan Reynolds was among five gymnasts to score 9.85 on beam.
There’s no mystery about where Georgia needs to do better. Beam and floor, which have been a struggle off and on all season, were again the difference in posting an impressive score. Georgia lost seven-tenths on floor and .225 on beam to Michigan.
“We’re just going to go back and practice and just learn to be intentional on each turn and take that into the meet,” gymnast Cat Hires said. “We do it every day in practice. We just need to take that mental approach into the meets.”
Georgia had an ideal start, opening with a bye, then starting on uneven bars, on which it is the nation’s top-ranked team. And the Bulldogs started wonderfully.
Georgia’s first five performed near perfect routines. In fact, Cheek and Rogers might’ve commanded perfect 10s had the Bulldogs’ pass come later in the meet. Even with a fall by No. 2-ranked Chelsea Davis, the Bulldogs came away with a 49.6.
Georgia then moved to what has been its little house of horrors the past few years — the beam. Once again, the apparatus was tough. Cheek and Kaylan Earls both had falls, meaning Georgia knew it had to count at least one leading to final performer Ashlyn Broussard.
Broussard, a freshman, came through with a solid 9.825, and the Bulldogs avoided disaster. But they managed just 48.475 and, with a running score of 98.075, fell behind Michigan (98.775).
“Really clutch,” Durante said. “She was in that spot because we took Brittany Rogers out, who has been battling a foot issue and hadn’t been training well. That was a very clutch situation.”
On floor, Georgia stumbled out of the gate when Sarah Persinger (9.175) fell on her second pass. Georgia knew it would have to be solid the rest of the way.
It wasn’t. Hires (9.475) wobbled badly on a landing, and Georgia limped off with another sub-49 score — 48.875 — to fall behind 1.100 behind Michigan’s 148.050.
Georgia still had a long-shot chance heading to vault, which happens to be one of its better events (No. 6 ranking). The Wolverines were a pedestrian 17th on beam, their final rotation. But while the Bulldogs did their part (49.425), Michigan did not. The Wolverines posted an impressive 48.700, the best of the night.
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