The Gym Dogs had one of the longest trips in the NCAA regional gymnastics field as they had to travel all the way to Berkeley for their competition.
They made the trip worth it Saturday night as Georgia won the regional with a 197.025 score to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships April 17-19 in Fort Worth, Texas. It was the fifth straight year the Gym Dogs have qualified.
Other teams that advanced from their regionals were LSU (197.175) and Nebraska (196.95) from the Ames, Iowa regional, Florida (197.475) and Stanford (197.0) from the Morgantown, W. Va. regional, Oklahoma (197.625) and Oregon State (196.75) from the Norman, Okla. regional, UCLA (197.5) and Michigan (197.0) from the Columbus, Ohio regional and Alabama (197.575) and Auburn (196.9) from the Auburn, Ala. regional.
“Everybody has been doubting what we are doing because we have been up and down, but did what we needed to do,” Georgia coach Danna Durante said. “We didn’t let them talk to the media the last two weeks so they could focus on what they needed to do and they did. We told them they needed to get strong.”
The Gym Dogs were Saturday, dominating the meet from start to finish to win their first regional title in two years.
Utah escaped a big effort by Cal to also qualify, scoring 196.575 while Cal was third with a 196.0. Boise State was fourth (195.375), followed by Utah State (195.15) and BYU (194.15).
“As a staff we have worked hard to make them believe in the work we’ve been doing and they’ve done that,” Durante said. “This was a big meet for us and I’m really happy with how it went.”
The Gym Dogs opened with a huge rotation on the uneven bars, scoring 49.325 with Chelsea Davis and Brittany Rogers leading the way with 9.9s.
Georgia’s opening was notable since Utah, the top-ranked team in the country on bars, struggled with two big breaks and scored just 49.075, opening the door for the Georgia to take the lead.
Georgia wasn’t immune to troubles on the balance beam, with Morgan Reynolds (9.625) and Kiera Brown (9.15) having breaks, but it still scored a 48.95 to lead at the halfway mark with a 98.275.
The stunner at that point was Utah, whose only loss thus far was to the Gym Dogs. Utah had trouble on both the balance beam and bars to post just 97.7 at the break and trail second-place Cal (98.15).
With Utah in a battle to just make the NCAA field, the competition belonged to Georgia. The Gym Dogs posted a 49.35 on the floor and took a comfortable margin to vault where all they had to do was hit to win the title.
Georgia finished with a 49.4 on the vault, then watched as Cal couldn’t come up with the upset and knock out the Utes.
Georgia’s showing was one of its most complete efforts this season.
Two weeks ago at the SEC Championships, Georgia was on pace to break the 197 mark but two falls on balance beam did them in, leaving them with a 196.0 to finish fifth.
Key for the win Durante said were some lineup changes that included putting Sarah Persinger into the floor lineup. She scored a 9.875.
“She stepped up and said, ‘Coach, I’ve got this,’ ” Durante said. “That is what we needed tonight from people and we got that.”
Georgia finished fifth at the NCAA Championships last season. The last time the Gym Dogs won the national title was in 2009, the fifth in a row for the program.
