The Alabama gymnastics team created some March Madness of its own Saturday night, coming from behind to win the Southeastern Conference Championship with a final score of 197.875, over Florida’s 197.7.
No. 4 Alabama trailed No. 1 Florida right up to the end, with the Crimson Tide headed to its lowest-scoring apparatus in the uneven bars. The Gators would finish the meet on the floor exercise, where they are ranked second in the nation.
Alabama posted a school record 49.65 on the uneven bars. Florida bookended its floor routines with a pair of costly errors, with Claire Boyce starting the rotation with a fall and Bridgette Caquatto stepping out of bounds on the last tumbling pass of the meet, sealing Alabama’s comeback victory.
The SEC Championship is Alabama’s first since 2011, which it also won in the BJCC Arena in Birmingham. Senior Diandra Milliner, who was a freshman on that team, said this victory qualifies as one of the highlights of her career.
“I’d always thought of my freshman year SECs as my best memory from all the years here, because we had so much fun,” Milliner said. “Everybody’s been saying I redeemed myself on floor because freshman year I forgot my floor routine in all the excitement. I’m just so happy that we won tonight.”
Milliner posted a 9.95 on her floor routine Saturday night, overcoming a foot injury sustained earlier in the match to claim the SEC Co-Championship in that discipline. Milliner was also name the vault co-champion with a score of 9.975.
Her teammate, junior Kaitlyn Clark, won the uneven bars championship with the last routine of the meet, posting a 9.975.
Milliner said Clark’s routine was something the junior has been working towards.
“She got a 10 last week on beam, and she’s always said she wanted a 10 on bars,” Milliner said. “I knew she could do it, and she got pretty dang close. I am so proud of her.”
To Clark, finally posting that score was a relief.
“That was the best bar routine I’ve ever competed,” Clark said. “I was just really relieved. The three years that we put into that bar routine finally came together at that moment and it was really excited.”
Even though the team was trailing until the last routine of the meet, the Crimson Tide didn’t panic.
“We’ve been picturing this at practice and going through what it would be like,” Milliner said. “I think that we weren’t really surprised, but it was definitely an awesome feeling that we won.”
Just before the final rotation, Alabama coach Sarah Patterson reassured her team, which she said was never intimidated by Florida.
“I just told them I wanted them to be aggressive,” Patterson said. “I didn’t want them to back off. We were going for every tenth of a point that we could, and they did a great job. That’s the best bar performance we’ve had this year.”
Clark said Patterson’s coaching went a long way towards helping her secure her championship.
“Just before I stepped up, [Patterson] was like ‘Fight for every tenth. Really go for those handstands. We have nothing to lose.’ That’s really what I did. Just tried to do everything I’ve done in practice and it worked out.”
Alabama will travel to the NCAA Regionals on April 5 to compete for a chance at advance the NCAA Championships. If it qualifies, the Crimson Tide will return to the BJCC Arena for a run at a third national championship in four years, the same arena it just won inside.
“I can’t even explain how great it feel just to be able to come in freshman year, here in this same arena, and finish it off senior year,” senior Kim Jacob said. “It’s sad to leave, but it’s a great way to go out.”
