The meet didn’t end the way Alabama wanted it to, with its second consecutive home loss of the season. No. 1 Oklahoma came through and stayed true to its top-ranking, taking down No. 5 Alabama 197.725-197.5 on senior night.
“As far as our performance, I thought our ladies did some awesome stuff between doing really well on vault, and to me, it was kind of like we ignored the bar performance because we went over to balance beam and we did our job,” Alabama coach Dana Duckworth said. “I love that we tried a couple new dismounts and just trying to figure out what is the best to be the very best for SECs and going into the post season.”
Alabama led after the first rotation, scoring a 49.45 on vault. The Crimson Tide was led by all-around winner Lauren Beers with a 9.95. After a couple mishaps on the uneven bars, Alabama scored a 49.1 which is the lowest the team has scored since it faced Kentucky at the end of January.
The Crimson Tide put up a season-high 49.525 on the beam where the team is ranked third nationally. Senior Kayla Williams scored a 9.95 with both judges in disagreement.
For one Alabama senior, however, the night became unexpectedly memorable when she added another ring to her collection, an engagement ring.
“I’m not quite sure where our emotions are right now,” Duckworth said. “We may have not gotten a W, but we got an engagement from two national champions.”
When Williams saw her longtime boyfriend, former Alabama wide receiver and national champion and NFC champion Kevin Norwood, she thought he was just presenting flowers to event winners.
After the team took its usual picture with Norwood as it does with every presenter, Williams stuck around. On the podium, he talked to her for a few minutes before getting on one knee and proposing to her.
She said yes.
“Great, amazing, I mean, I’m about to get married to the best girl in the world, and I don’t know, I’m just ecstatic right now,” Norwood said. “I don’t know. Words can’t explain.”
Norwood had some help with his proposal. Duckworth said she was one of four people who knew of the proposal. He came to her, asking if he could do this. They came up with a plan so they could focus on the seniors first.
“We were able to stage it, and she had no clue and so it was beautiful,” Duckworth said. “Her family could be here. Kevin’s family could be here, and it really made the evening magical, and just goes to show that dreams do come true.”
WIlliams and Norwood are no strangers to rings. Between the two of them, they have four national championship and two SEC championship rings. Some rings are more special than others. To Norwood, this is different.
“No, all this right here is great,” Norwood said, referencing the national championship ring he wore. “It really is. It’s an accomplishment of all the things I’ve done, but with me and her, that’s something different. That’s very personal to both of us, and that’s something that we’re going to keep to our hearts too.”
