The Alabama gymnastics team will send its seniors out on the biggest stage of all when it competes for the program’s seventh national championship this weekend in Birmingham.
The meet this weekend marks the end of the road for the team’s seniors, a group Alabama coach Sarah Patterson said is one of the most outstanding she’s coached in her illustrious career. Along with NCAA vault champion Diandra Milliner and all-around competitor Sarah DeMeo, the Crimson Tide will bid goodbye to Kim Jacob, one of Alabama’s most accomplished athletes both in and out of the gym.
“We’ve had a lot of great athletes and people in our program, but if I had to pick someone for their personal values, their academics and their leadership and competitiveness, I always tell everyone if I could just recruit all Kim Jacobs, we’d win every year,” Patterson said. “She is the best of the best in all areas. I just think she’s probably one of the most remarkable overall team players that I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach, and I’ve had some great ones. Any time I’m writing a letter of recommendation for an NCAA scholarship or anything of that nature, it always comes back to me that she’s one of the best of the best.”
Jacob is a newly inducted member of XXXI, a seven-time All-American, a three-time Scholastic All-American and the only athlete ever to be named SEC Gymnastics Scholar Athlete of the Year for three consecutive years. Patterson said athletes like Jacob and the other seniors motivate her and husband David Patterson to continue to compete at a high level in the 36th year of their careers.
“To me, it’s them. That’s the reason you get up and do it,” Patterson said. “I love winning, I love my championship rings, but for David and I, it’s always been about helping these ladies become successful in life after gymnastics.”
On the floor, Jacob has career-high scores of 9.925 on vault and uneven parallel bars, 9.95 on balance beam and floor exercise and 39.625 in all-around competition. The senior won 12 event titles in 2014, including a balance beam title at regionals for the second year running.
Though rapidly approaching, the idea that her career is ending hasn’t really sunk in yet, Jacob said.
“I’ve been counting down the days, sitting in class going, ‘Oh my goodness, I only have five practices left.’ It really hasn’t set in,” Jacob said. “I really don’t know what to think about it, doing gymnastics for so long, but I just want to finish it the best I can possibly do and have no regrets at the end.”
Milliner agreed with her classmate and said she’s trying not to think about the end.
“I think it’ll set in more once I’m finally done,” Milliner said. “I’m trying to stay focused on what we still have to do, but I’ll definitely be sad when it’s over.”
Even Milliner, at the end of four years together, said she’s impressed by Jacob.
“Me and Kim are really close,” Milliner said. “She’s a great leader on the team, and I look up to her in a lot of the stuff that she does. She’s a great example for everybody who follows us in this program.”
In fact, Jacob’s impact on the program might extend far beyond her performance on the floor or even her academic achievement. To Patterson, role models like Milliner and Jacob are vital if the Crimson Tide wants to continue its historic success, and while the seniors will leave the team, they’ll be far from forgotten.
“I think it’s hard every year when you’re sending a group of seniors off,” Patterson said. “I think the really neat thing about this team is when you look at the senior class, and you look at this freshman class, they kind of mirror each other. It’s kind of a larger class, you’ve got some really talented competitors, you’ve got some people who are in backup roles. We couldn’t have won in 2011 and 2012 without this senior class, and we couldn’t win without this freshman class. And while they’re bookends, and one class is departing, I look at that freshman class, and I’m like, ‘You just had the best role models that anyone could possibly, so now you be our leaders for the next four years.’”
To junior Kaitlyn Clark, there’s not an athlete on the team who can’t learn from Jacob.
“She’s definitely just a great role model all around, not even just in gymnastics,” Clark said. “I’ve had a couple of classes with her. She’s just a great student and a great role model for other students on the team as well, and definitely for our freshmen.”
The weekend also offers Patterson a chance at yet another landmark in her career, after having become the fastest gymnastics coach to 1,000 wins with a victory in the Seattle Regional. If the team wins at the NCAA Championships this weekend, Patterson would have more championships than any coach in Alabama athletics history, passing legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.
“I think what that says is, it’s a compliment to the student-athletes that David and I have been able to coach over the last thirty-something years. They’re the ones that were invested,” Patterson said. “I was 22 when I started. I was 26 when we went to our first NCAA Championship. I don’t think I had this in my picture.
“I’m grateful to the University because, first of all, not many coaches can stay in one place, one community for their entire career … To win in multiple decades, I think that says a lot. A lot of coaches, I think they enjoy getting to the top. I think staying at the top is harder.”
Winning the seventh championship will be an uphill climb for the Crimson Tide, with Alabama’s semifinal meet featuring the defending national champion Florida, perennial contenders Utah and UCLA, and a Nebraska team that has beaten the Crimson Tide once already this season.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough competition,” Jacob said. “The top 12 teams in the nation will be there, and we’re all just going to go out there and do our best, and the best teams on the night will make it to Super Six.”
Alabama has faced Florida twice already this season, narrowly coming out on top each time. Most recently, the Crimson Tide came from behind to beat its conference rival on the final rotation in the conference championship.
“I think it’s a great matchup,” Jacob said. “Competing against Florida again, they’re one of our biggest competitors, so it’s going to be an intense competition, but I think we’re ready for it. We’re excited to go out there and get to compete against them again.”
To Patterson, this weekend’s championship offers yet another opportunity to place her team on the right side of history.
“Out of the six teams competing on Friday night, four have won national championships, and only three can advance. There’s quite a lot of history there.” Patterson said. “I think it will be probably the most competitive preliminary in the history of NCAA Gymnastics.”
Alabama’s semifinal will begin at the BJCC Arena at 7 p.m. Friday night in Birmingham. Alabama starts the meet on a bye rotation. If the Crimson Tide places in the top three Friday, it will compete for a national championship on Saturday at 6 p.m.
