Alabama Gymnastics Sends Out Seniors in Style with 198, Quad Meet Win

Behind two perfect 10s from Luisa Blanco, the Crimson Tide put together one of its best meets of the season to win on Senior Night.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Emotions ran high inside Coleman Coliseum, but Alabama reined them all in to put up one of its best performance of the season.

The Crimson Tide scored a 198 for its second-highest total of the year in a quad meet win over Minnesota (197.400), Illinois (196.075) and Talladega College (191) Friday night.

"Tonight was a great way to cap off the home season, to really just see it all play out," Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston said after the meet. "The team put so many pieces together... Overall, this was definitely just a great memory to store and move forward as we keep going through season."

On a night all about the seniors in their final home meet, fifth-year Luisa Blanco got the meet off to a great start with the first perfect 10 on vault of her career and ended the evening with her first perfect 10 on the floor exercise. Blanco finished with a career high 39.850 in the all-around. 

In the last home meet at Coleman, Alabama set a program record on floor and two weeks later almost tied that score with a 49.725 in the quad meet.

Alabama was able to put up such a big score even while struggling on its best event, putting up a 49.250 on the uneven bars for its second-worst score of the season on the apparatus.

The Crimson Tide bounced back from the struggle on bars with its best beam rotation of the season, highlighted by a 9.95 by Lilly Hudson on the way to a team total of 49.525. 

This was the second time this season Alabama reached the 198 marker. The Crimson Tide wraps up the regular season next week at No. 1 Oklahoma. 

How it happened...

Final scores:

1. Alabama- 198.00

2. Minnesota- 197.400

3. Illinois- 196.075

4. Talladega- 191.000

Rotation 4- (Alabama floor, Minnesota vault, Illinois bars, Talladega beam)

Alabama floor lineup:

1. Mati Waligora- Great routine from Waligora to open the rotation- 9.9

2. Ella Burgess- Another strong routine that should be a big score for the Crimson Tide- 9.9

3. Cam Machado- She didn't quite enough momentum going into her second tumbling pass and nearly fell on the landing. Alabama will likely want to drop this score- 9.75

4. Lilly Hudson- Powerful floor routine from Hudson with minimal deductions. Her Alabama-themed floor music gets the Coleman Crowd to its feet- 9.95

5. Luisa Blanco- Absolutely stunning routine and fitting ending to her career in Coleman. Another 10 for Blanco- 10.0 (career high)

Luisa Blanco scores her second 10 of the night on her Senior Day pic.twitter.com/USQzlmq2Jb

— Katie Windham (@katiewindham_) March 9, 2024

6. Gabby Gladieux- High-flying routine from Gladieux to cap the rotation. Should be another big score- 9.975

Alabama floor total: 49.725

Score after Rotation 3

1. Alabama- 148.275

2. Minnesota- 148.125

3. Illinois- 146.950

4. Talladega- 143.700

Rotation 3 scores:

Illinois, vault- 48.900

Talladega, bars- 47.100

Alabama, beam- 49.525

Minnesota, floor- 49.325

Rotation 3- (Alabama beam, Minnesota floor, Illinois vault, Talladega bars)

Alabama beam lineup:

1. Lilly Hudson- Great routine by Hudson to start off the rotation- 9.95 (season high)

2. Mati Waligora- Slight wobble on her connections series and then another big balance check. She also had to take a small step forward on her landing- 9.625

3. Ella Burgess- Balance check on her front walkover, but an otherwise beautiful routine capped by a stuck dismount- 9.875

4. Gabby Gladieux- A really strong routine from Gladieux. Definitely the best beam routine I've ever seen from her. This might be a 10- 9.95 (new career high)

5. Shania Adams- She had to take a step back on her dismount, but it was an otherwise really beautiful routine- 9.85

6. Luisa Blanco- As always, a gorgeous beam routine from Blanco. She did have to slide her feet together on the dismount- 9.9

Alabama beam total: 49.525

*Highest team beam score of the season.  

Score after Rotation 2

1. Minnesota- 98.800

2. Alabama- 98.750

3. Illinois- 98.050

4. Talladega- 96.450

• The Gophers move into first place at the halfway point after a really strong beam rotation. 

Rotation 2 scores:

Talladega, vault- 48.400

Alabama, bars- 49.250

Minnesota, beam- 49.475

Illinois, floor- 48.975

Rotation 2- (Alabama bars, Minnesota beam, Illinois floor, Talladega vault)

Alabama bars lineup:

1. Gabby Gladieux- Not the cleanest routine, but a solid start to the rotation for Alabama. My view was blocked, but it looked like she finished the routine with a stuck landing- 9.8

2. Lilly Hudson- She was a little loose on one of her handstands, but stuck the landing on her dismount- 9.875

3. Chloe LaCoursiere- She nearly falls on her dismount and has to take multiple steps forward. It had been a really clean routine prior to the dismount, but this will likely be a score Alabama wants to drop- 9.625

*Alabama needs these last three gymnasts to hit their routines in order to put up a solid bars team score. 

4. Shania Adams- Beautiful routine from Adams, but she has to take a step back on her landing. Not the bars rotation Alabama was looking for- 9.725

5. Luisa Blanco- Alabama needs a big routine, and Blanco delivers. I didn't spot any major deductions- 9.95

6. Cameron Machado- Strong routine from Machado in the anchor spot- 9.9

Alabama bars total: 49.250

*Ties the second-lowest bars score of the year. Pretty much eliminates any chance Alabama had of scoring a 198 tonight. 

EXH: Natalia Pawlak

• Alabama has the third-ranked bars squad in the country, but this is probably the lineup that misses Doggette the most. 

Score after Rotation 1:

1. Alabama- 49.500

2. Minnesota- 49.325

3. Illinois- 49.025

4. Talladega- 48.050

Rotation 1 scores:

Alabama, vault: 49.500

Minnesota, bars: 49.325

Illinois, beam: 49.025

Talladega, floor: 48.050

Rotation 1- (Alabama vault, Minnesota uneven bars, Illinois balance beam, Talladega floor exercise)

Alabama vault lineup:

1. Jamison Sears- She sticks her Yurchenko full. Should be a great score to start off the vault rotation for Alabama- 9.925

2. Corinne Bunagan- Huge distance on her Yurchenko 1.5, and she nearly sticks the landing. Should be another good score for Alabama- 9.875

3. Chloe LaCoursiere- Yurchenko 1.5, but she had to take a step forward on her landing- 9.725

4. Lilly Hudson- Big hop forward on the landing of her Yurchenko 1.5- 9.8

5. Gabby Gladieux- Huge Yurchenko full from Gladieux. She took a bounce in place for the landing- 9.9

6. Luisa Blanco- Wow! She sticks the landing on her Yurchenko 1.5. This could be a 10- 10 

• First perfect 10 on vault of her career for Blanco. 

Team vault score: 49.500 

*Alabama's best vault rotation of the year

Exhibition: Shania Adams

• Even though she is out for the rest of the season, fifth-year Makarri  Doggette is cheering on her team. 
• With these being a quad meet, all four events will be going on simultaneously. So, Alabama will be finished with their first rotation a lot earlier than the other teams. 

Pre-meet

• The 2014 SEC Championship team, the last coached by Sarah and David Patterson, was recognized before the meet. 

Pre-meet notes

Courtesy of Alabama Athletics

FRIDAY’S MEET

• Friday's contest marks the third quad meet for the Crimson Tide as the team prepares for the postseason format
• Alabama is led by head coach Ashley Johnston, in her second season at UA, while Jenny Hansen is in her 10th year at the helm of the Minnesota Gophers
• Nadalie Walsh is in her seventh season leading Illinois, while Talladega College is led by Aja Sims-Fletcher, who is in her first season at the helm of the Tornadoes

ALL ROADS LEAD BACK TO T-TOWN

• Opponents Illinois, Minnesota and Talladega College all have ties to the Alabama gymnastics program
• UA head coach Ashley Johnston began her collegiate coaching career as an assistant coach at Illinois during the 2018 season
• Current UA assistant coach Justin Spring was a member of the 2006 Illinois men’s gymnastics team that earned runner-up finishes at both the NCAA and Big Ten Championships
• Spring was a 13-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion (2006) while competing with the Fighting Illini before serving as the head coach of the men’s team for 12 seasons
• Minnesota’s assistant coach Geralen Stank-Eaton, alongside Johnston, was part of back-to-back championship teams in 2011 and 2012 at Alabama
• Stank-Eaton was a two-time individual national champion in balance beam and floor exercise and ended her time as a UA gymnast with 12 total All-America honors
• Talladega College head coach Aja Sims-Fletcher helped lead the Tide to back-to-back SEC Championship titles in 2013 and 2014, as well as four consecutive NCAA super six finishes
• Sims-Fletcher became the second HBCU gymnastics coach in the nation after getting hired by Talladega College in Feb. 2023

THE TIDE IN THE RANKINGS

• Alabama ranks third, nationally, on the uneven bars, while simultaneously posting top-six rankings on all four events within the SEC (No. 1 – UB; No. 4 – VT; No. 5 – BB; No. 6 – FX)
• Individually, Blanco sits at No. 11 nationally on vault, while also holding top-20 rankings in the all-around (No. 13), the uneven bars (No. 17) and the balance beam (No. 20)
• Junior Lilly Hudson enters Friday with a top-20 national ranking on the floor exercise (9.925 NQS)