Alabama Gymnastics Advances to NCAA Regional Finals

A strong finish on the uneven bars catapulted the Crimson Tide to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.

Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

Ashley Johnston said it best: once the postseason starts, it's all about surviving and advancing. 

Her Crimson Tide gymnastics squad did just that Thursday afternoon with a 197.375 for a second place finish in the second round of the Norman Regional to advance to the regional finals Saturday. Kentucky placed first with a 197.475.

"Really proud of the team tonight," Johnston said after the meet. "They had to fight for every single moment, and every single tenth. There were some things that didn't go quite as planned from logistics to warmups to just a few things that were out of our comfort zone. And so they really stepped in, adapted to the changes that needed to happen and fought for it."

Highlighted by the near-perfect routines from two of its seniors, Luisa Blanco and Makarri Doggette, Alabama posted its second best uneven bars score of the season with a 49.525 on the final rotation to secure a spot in the regional finals. 

Blanco tied a career high with a 9.975 on the apparatus. Doggette had a mistake on her vault landing the rotation before, but came back strong with a 9.95 on the uneven bars after not competing on the event at the SEC championship meet. Doggette has the best bars routine on the team, and Alabama will need her moving forward if it wants a shot at advancing to the NCAA Championships. 

Alabama didn't get out to the start that it wanted, but the team bounced back over the final three rotations. It already hadn't been the cleanest rotation for the Crimson Tide on the balance beam, before  Blanco had an uncharacteristic fall to close out the rotation. (It was only the third time in her career that she's fallen on beam.) Alabama did not have to count the fall, but it did force the team to count Lilly Hudson's 9.75. 

But both Hudson and Blanco proved why they're all-Americans on the floor exercise, closing out the Crimson Tide's floor rotation. Floor ended up being Alabama's best event of the day, led by 9.9s from Hudson and Blanco. 

"It's all about how you respond and that's something that we have preached over and over again throughout the season," Johnston said. "No team is gonna go out and have a perfect competition. They are human. There are going to be mistakes, but it's about how do you respond emotionally and physically. 

"And so I can't say enough about how Luisa handled that. Even though she was personally disappointed, she didn't let that affect the energy of the group. And she instead jumped right back into floor and looked at it as an opportunity to come back even stronger."

Freshman Gabby Gladieux won the individual SEC championship on vault two weekends ago, and followed it up with another strong performance in the leadoff spot Thursday. Her stuck landing and 9.9 led Alabama on vault along with another 9.9 from Hudson. 

Alabama will now await the results of the evening session to see which two other teams will join the Crimson Tide and Kentucky in the regional finals Saturday.

"For Saturday, we're going to send it," Johnston said. "We're giving it everything we've got. There's absolutely no option to hold back or be cautious."

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