Coming off a Southeastern Conference championship, the Alabama gymnastics team didn’t have much of a spring break. After the team heard it would be traveling to Seattle, Wash., this weekend for NCAA Regionals, the gymnasts got to work preparing for the six-team meet that will send the top two teams to the NCAA Championship.
In yet another parallel from the past several seasons of Alabama gymnastics, the Crimson Tide will be the top seed at the Seattle Regional in Alaska Airlines Arena for the second time in three seasons. The gymnasts hope to replicate the results of the earlier season and earn another national championship.
“We’re excited,” senior Sarah DeMeo said. “This is deja vu from two years ago. It brings good vibes and good feelings to the whole team. We talk about it, and we don’t talk about it because we don’t want to jinx it.”
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Though not as stern a test as the conference meet when Alabama faced two of the top three ranked teams in the nation, the competition at the regional will be stiff. Alabama will compete against a number of ranked teams, including No. 9 Nebraska, which defeated Alabama 196.250 to 196.05 earlier this season.
“There’s some big–name teams,” DeMeo said. “Washington, and Nebraska is doing very well this year. Boise State also. It’ll be a great competition. The top two advance, and we’re excited to see who that will be.”
If Alabama intends to compete for a national title, the team’s freshmen will need to continue to contribute. Freshman Katie Bailey posted a career-high 39.425 all-around score at the SECs, and freshmen Aja Sims and Amanda Jetter scored 9.95 and 9.9 respectively on uneven bars to help Alabama clinch its comeback championship win.
DeMeo said the team isn’t concerned about inexperience.
“SECs was a good environment for them to get ready for NCAAs. Now, at regionals, practicing those bye rotations will really be good practice for them,” DeMeo said. “They’re great. They’re out there acting like they’re veterans. We’re not worried about them at all.”
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Alabama saw passionate support at the conference meet in Birmingham, but fans should not anticipate a drop in performance with the team traveling across the country.
“I think every meet that we’ve competed so far prepares you for the bigger meets that we’re going to go on to,” Bailey said. “Just getting in the atmosphere was really nice, but this time we’re not going to have our crowd behind us. I think that’s going to be a little bit of a downer for us, but we’re going to make our own energy and have a lot of fun.”
Alabama will also be looking forward to DeMeo’s return to full competition. DeMeo, who is one of the Crimson Tide’s top all-around competitors, has been slowly recovering from a concussion suffered at practice in February.
“I feel great,” DeMeo said. “It took a lot longer than I expected to recover from that. The coaches were really good just easing me back into it. I really respect that because a lot of coaches would just shove you back in if you’re an all-arounder, and they took it slow. I needed it and didn’t really realize it. Now I’m training all four events, and I’m ready to contribute wherever they need me.”
Alabama will take the floor Saturday at 6 p.m.
(See also “Milliner vital leader for Alabama gymnastics team“)
