Gymnast Lilly Hudson has been building a name for herself in the Tuscaloosa community since she started her time at the University in 2022.
Friday night gymnastics meets in Tuscaloosa end with Hudson competing with her well-known “Alabama” floor routine. In her three years competing for the Crimson Tide, her floor routine is something that sticks out and that the home crowd loves.
Hudson said the crowd in Coleman Coliseum means a lot to her when she performs her floor routine.
“It’s really cool to see the crowd just go crazy right when they hear ‘Sweet Home [Alabama]’ and then end with ‘Dixie[land Delight],’” Hudson said. “The energy from the fans is what drives us.”
Hudson’s routine strikes near and dear to the Crimson Tide fans’ hearts with some popular tunes that fans are accustomed to hearing at a Saturday night Alabama football game. Hudson’s routine has a way of bringing the fans in Coleman Coliseum to their feet on a Friday night.
Hudson’s Alabama floor routine has brought her four event titles in her junior season: Arkansas (9.95), Florida (9.925), Auburn (9.925) and the Texas Woman’s quad meet (9.95). Hudson scored a career high of 9.975 on the floor in 2023 against Auburn.
In her sophomore season, Hudson also had a successful year with her floor routine. She earned second on the floor, with a 9.95, at the SEC championships. She also earned one floor exercise title in her sophomore season.
For her rookie season, Hudson competed on the floor 12 times, and scored a 9.9 or better on eight of them.
Hudson excels on every other apparatus as well, with a few perfect 10s, as well as a slew of titles and routines that tied career or season bests.
On the vault, Hudson has scored one perfect 10 in her junior season, against Florida. This was her second career 10, her first one occurring during her sophomore season on the balance beam against LSU.
Gymnastics head coach Ashley Johnston praised Hudson’s 10 on the vault at Florida.
“I just want to emphasize that word ‘breakthrough,’” Johnston said. “We talk a lot about finding our edge, and sometimes you’re going to go a little over, sometimes you’re going to be a little under. I think Lilly is somebody that has experienced that, but because she continues to be brave, to step up and really go for it, she found that edge tonight. She had that breakthrough moment.”
Throughout Hudson’s time building her name and reputation with the Crimson Tide, she has always been able to capture a title; throughout her three seasons, she has earned 10 event titles. She earned five of them from her sophomore year: floor, beam and vault once and all-around twice. The other five are from Hudson’s junior season: vault once and floor four times.
After Hudson took the floor title against Arkansas this season, she talked about how her team helps to build her momentum.
“My team is my rock. They have my back just like I have theirs,” Hudson said. “I committed, I went to floor, and I was like, ‘I’m giving it everything I have for them.’ And I’m really happy with how it turned out for us.”
For Hudson’s career in Coleman Coliseum, so far, she holds a career best of 10 on the vault, 10 on the balance beam, 9.975 on the floor, 9.925 on the uneven bars and 39.575 in the all-around.
As she excelled on the mats and earned titles and new career bests, Hudson collected several awards.
In her 2023 season, Hudson finished No. 16 in the nation on the floor and No. 7 in the SEC. As a rookie, Hudson earned second-team Championship All-America in the all-around at the NCAA championships as well as being named the SEC Freshman of the Week three times.
Along with earning second-team Championship honors and Freshman of the Week, Hudson tied former Alabama gymnast Morgan Dennis for the highest all-around debut score by a Crimson Tide freshman, with a 39.525.
Hudson has already built a name for herself throughout Tuscaloosa and among the fans who come out for a Friday night at Coleman Coliseum. With her senior season still left, she will continue to be a legend in the making.
