University of Georgia Athletics
Gymdogs Eager for Home Opener Monday
January 14, 2017 | Gymnastics
Meet Information
No. 15 Georgia (1-1, 1-1) vs. No. 23 NC State (1-2)
Monday, Jan. 16 | 2 p.m. ET | Stegeman Coliseum
Watch: SEC Network + (Kevin Copp - Play By Play, Cat Hires - Analyst)
Stream: http://es.pn/2iAGY0Q
Live Stats: http://gado.gs/6tj
Tickets: http://gado.gs/gymtix
ATHENS, Ga. — Coming off a Friday night road victory at Auburn, the Georgia Gymdogs begin a string of four-consecutive home meets with a Monday afternoon tilt against the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Georgia owns a 39-0 all-time mark against NC State, including a 19-0 record inside of Stegeman Coliseum. The meet will be Georgia's first in the Classic City after opening the year with two conference road meets.
"It's going to be great to keep that energy and that momentum going," said Georgia gymnastics head coach Danna Durante. "It's awesome to be able to compete again on Monday. We're so excited to be able to get in front of our fans and perform for them."
The Gymdogs posted their best meet-to-meet improvement since 1988 after boosting their first-meet score by 3.2 points in their win at Auburn. Georgia claimed event titles in three events as well as the all-around title in the conference win, and the team looks to keep its momentum as it begins its home slate.
After the meet will be the first G.R.O.W. session of the season, where Vivi Babalis, Ashlyn Broussard, Gigi Marino and Natalie Vaculik will lead an interactive program about trust and the role it plays in their gymnastics and lives outside of the gym. To sign up for the first G.R.O.W. session, email GROW@SPORTS.UGA.EDU.
The matchup with NC State is the first of two home meets of this week as Georgia will host Arkansas on Friday at 7 p.m.
Gymdogs Bounce Back
After a rough go in the first meet of the season at LSU, Georgia claimed a 196.8-196.075 victory over No. 13 Auburn on Friday. The improvement from the first to second meet of the year (3.2 points) was the biggest jump from one meet to the next since 1988.
Georgia took event titles in three events as well as the all-around title in the meet, with Sydney Snead (9.875) and Lauren Johnson (9.875) sharing the vault title, Snead (9.9) taking the bars title and Rachel Schick (9.9) claiming the highest score on beam. Snead also had the best all-around score with a 39.45.
The Gymdogs started off the meet with four-consecutive career-high scores on bars and never looked back as Georgia outscored Auburn on three of four events and improved on their meet-one score in all four rotations.
Historic Night in Road Win
The Gymdogs started their second meet with their foot on the gas pedal, running off four-consecutive career-best scores on bars to start the meet. Georgia totaled 11 career-high scores in its road victory against Auburn as the Gymdogs took a comfortable victory over the Tigers. The team's improvement of 3.2 points was its highest meet-to-meet jump since the 1988 season, when UGA saw an improvement of 4.95 early in the year.
Super Syd
It didn't take long for Sydney Snead to make an impact in collegiate gymnastics, as she won an event title on bars in her first-ever meet as a Gymdog (at Michigan, Jan. 9, 2016).
The sophomore leads this year's team with three event titles in the early running, all won in the meet at Auburn. Snead won the vault, bars and all-around crowns in the team's second meet of the season after posting a 9.875, 9.9 and 39.450, respectively.
Gold Habits Spark Change
After the disappointing start to 2017, senior Morgan Reynolds spoke up about the need for the team to trust itself and all of its preparation that led into the season. The Athens, Ga. native had addressed the team in the fall and spoke about the need to develop good habits of strong performance, or "gold habits," as she called them. The team wore grey t-shirts with the phrase "Gold Habits" adorned on the front prior to their big road win at Auburn. Reynolds borrowed a quote from billionaire businessman Warren Buffet to drive her point across: "Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."
Fan Attendance Record
Among notable achievements in 2016, the Gymdog fans came out in record numbers for the team's six home meets in the regular season. Georgia averaged 10,055 fans for regular season home meets, a figure that represents 98-percent capacity of Stegeman Coliseum. When factoring in the crowd at the NCAA regional hosted by the Gymdogs, the 2016 fan attendance ranked seventh in the program's history with a staggering average of 9,212, a number the team hopes to build upon further in 2017.
G.R.O.W. Info
One of head coach Danna Durante's main messages to this year's team has been to find and own their voices. In turn, Durante and the team decided to use the team's platform to be a positive influence on young boys and girls. For four of the six home meets this year, four Gymdogs will share a message that has to do with one of the team's core values with a group of youth. The motive is to assist the next generation in finding themselves and being confident in who they are, as well as sharing tips on how to reach their potential and goals.
