University of Georgia Athletics
Gymdogs Ready for SEC Championship
March 15, 2017 | Gymnastics
Meet Information
SEC Championship
Session I Teams: No. 12 Kentucky (10-4-1, 3-4), No. 14 Missouri (10-7, 3-4), No. 21 Auburn (1-10, 0-7), No. 26 Arkansas (4-7, 2-5)
Session II Teams: No. 2 LSU (13-1, 7-0), No. 4 Florida (8-2, 5-2), No. 6 Alabama (7-4, 4-3), No. 8 Georgia (7-6, 4-3)
Saturday, March 18 | Session I - 2 p.m.; Session II - 6 p.m. | Jacksonville, Fla.
Watch: SEC Network (Bart Conner - PBP, Kathy Johnson Clarke - Analyst, Laura Rutledge - Reporter)
Stream: Click Here
Live Stats: Provided by the SEC, Link Available on Saturday
ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia gymnastics team is set to compete in the second session of the SEC Championship on Saturday in Jacksonville.
The eighth-ranked Gymdogs will face stiff competition, as all three opponents are ranked in the top six heading into postseason competition. The meet will be the last chance for all teams to improve their RQS marks prior to NCAA regional seeding. The NCAA Selection Show will be streamed live on the NCAA's website on Monday (March 20) at 4 p.m.
Georgia enters the championship meet riding high after posting its best two scores of the season over the last two weeks with a 197.325 against sixth-ranked Alabama and a 197.250 in a win against No. 5 Utah. Over the last four weeks, Georgia gymnasts have combined to set 21 season-best scores.
All-time, Georgia leads the SEC with 16 team titles and 101 event championships. The Gymdogs last won the conference championship in 2008 before going on to win their fourth-consecutive NCAA title.
Competition in session II will begin at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.
For live updates from Jacksonville, follow the team's social media accounts on Twitter (@UGAGymnastics), Instagram (ugagymnastics), Facebook (Georgia Gymnastics) and Snapchat (UGAGymdogs) and check in to georgiadogs.com for the full recap.
Gymdogs Top Utah on Senior Night
Georgia scored its best win of the season on Saturday, topping No. 5 Utah by a 197.250-196.650 score in front of 9,412 fans on Senior Night at Stegeman Coliseum.
The Gymdogs' win was highlighted by a tremendous floor rotation that included three 9.9s and two 9.95s, with a drop score of 9.875. The 49.600 on floor was the best score for any event this season for Georgia.
The Gymdogs won event titles on vault, bars and floor, with seniors Morgan Reynolds and Lauren Johnson splitting the vault title (9.9), sophomore Hayley Sanders and freshman Rachel Dickson sharing the bars crown (9.9), and Dickson and junior Gigi Marino tying for the best score on floor (9.95).
The Gymdogs claimed their best vault score of the season in the meet with a 49.375, adding to the strong performance. With the win, Georgia closed the season with a 5-1 record inside Stegeman Coliseum, the lone loss coming when UGA claimed its best score of the season with a 197.325.
Gigi On That Beat
Junior Gigi Marino is on a historic tear for the Gymdogs on floor with four consecutive 9.95s. With her latest performance against Utah that earned a perfect 10 from one judge, Marino became the first Gymdog since Courtney Kupets in 2009 to hit four-straight 9.95s on any event.
Nationally, Marino is also in exclusive company. While she is ranked No. 9 in the nation for floor and boasts a RQS north of 9.9, Marino is one of only three gymnasts who carry a streak of at least four consecutive 9.95s on floor into the postseason. The only others are LSU's Ashleigh Gnat and Oklahoma's AJ Jackson.
Additionally, Marino has won three consecutive floor event titles against three of the nation's top six teams: at Oklahoma and home against Alabama and Utah.
Marino quietly produced great numbers on floor in 2016, posting the 10th-best season all-time at UGA in the event. Marino's total of 157.975 points was second-best on the team, trailing only All-American Mary Beth Box and her 158.2125.
Marino's career numbers are equally impressive, if not more so. In fact, if the Scottsdale, Ariz. native can maintain her career routine average on floor entering this season (9.8365) and can compete in 32 more meets (would need 17 in 2018), she will finish as Georgia's all-time leading scorer on floor for a career.
The Scottsdale, Ariz. native has done her part to make history so far this season, averaging 9.8875 per routine on floor, including five 9.95 scores this season and four in a row.
UGA Back In Session II
Since the SEC moved its gymnastics championship format to a two-session event in 2013, the teams in session two have finished ahead of the teams in session one without fail.
This year, the evening session will feature four of the country's top eight teams - No. 2 LSU, No. 4 Florida, No. 6 Alabama and No. 8 Georgia.
The Gymdogs, who spent the last two years in the afternoon session, will make their return to the evening session on Saturday in Jacksonville. The meet promises to offer arguably the most competitive field that can be seen until the Super Six.
Gymdog Depth Is Evident
Head coach Danna Durante has glowed about the team's depth from 1 to 6 in the lineup. The numbers so far this season back that up.
Nine different Gymdogs have won event titles so far this season: Rachel Dickson (8), Lauren Johnson (2), Gigi Marino (4), Morgan Reynolds (3), Rachel Schick (4), Sydney Snead (9), Natalie Vaculik (1) and Sabrina Vega (2).
Despite not yet winning an event title this season, senior Ashlyn Broussard has also led Georgia on beam this season, giving UGA 10 different event-best scorers for the team.
By contrast, only seven Gymdogs won event titles a year ago. The most gymnasts to claim event crowns in a year under head coach Danna Durante's direction at UGA was 10 in 2013, her first season at the helm in Athens.
Gymdogs Peaking Entering Postseason
The Gymdogs have stepped their game up at the right time, producing their best two road scores and best two overall scores over the last four weeks of the season.
Georgia scored a 196.975 at the Mardi Gras Invitational on Feb. 17 in St. Charles, Missouri prior to a 196.925 at Oklahoma against the nation's top-ranked team.
When the team returned to Stegeman Coliseum, they posted their best two scores of the season against stiff competition, a 197.325 against historic rival Alabama and a 197.250 in an upset win over Utah.
SEC Honors Watch
The Gymdogs boast one gymnast with a SEC event championship, Lauren Johnson, who won the vault championship in 2014.
In total, six Gymdogs have earned All-SEC honors in their careers. Johnson was named to the All-SEC and Freshman All-SEC teams in 2014, Rachel Schick has earned All-SEC accolades in each of the last two seasons,Gigi Marino was a first-team and freshman team selection in 2015, and Natalie Vaculik and Sydney Snead earned Freshman All-SEC honors in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Super Syd
After missing the Missouri and Kentucky meets (Jan. 27 and Feb. 3), Sydney Snead has returned to the competition lineup on fire.
The sophomore from Raleigh, N.C. has posted five scores of 9.9 or better in five weeks, including two 9.95s on vault, two 9.9s on bars and a 9.9 on floor.
Snead leads the Gymdogs with nine event titles on the year despite competing in only 10 of 12 meets this year. She also matched her career highs of 9.95 on vault and 9.9 in UGA's regular-season SEC finale against Alabama.
Snead, who began competing floor again against Alabama after missing five meets in that lineup, has scored a 9.875 and 9.9 in a strong return to Georgia's best event.
Snead is currently ranked 10th in the country on vault, and 31st on bars. While her floor average of 9.8292 would place her in the 40s, she does not have enough competitions under her belt (until the SEC Championship) to register in the RQS rankings.
Dickson Does It All
Rachel Dickson became the first freshman Gymdog to compete all-around since current undergraduate coach Brittany Rogers showcased her skills in 2013. In her all-around debut, she posted then-career highs in all four events and in the all-around for a 39.525 overall score. Dickson has not relinquished her spot in any lineup since, and she has claimed an impressive eight event titles, second-most on the team, while posting career highs of 9.9 on vault, 9.95 on bars, 9.925 on beam, 9.95 on floor and 39.55 for all-around.
The Canton, Michigan native has been a steady contributor on all four events, claiming all-around scores of 39.525, 38.8, 39.375, 39.55, 39.35, 39.475 and 39.325.
Dickson is part of a strong freshman class in NCAA gymnastics that accounts for seven of the top 13 all-arounders nationally. Other newcomers in the top 13 include Maggie Nichols (Oklahoma), MyKayla Skinner (Utah), Madison Kocian (UCLA), Maddy Karr (Denver), Amelia Hundley (Florida) and Molly Korth (Kentucky)
Babalis Hits Her Stride
Junior Vivi Babalis has overcome a rocky start to the season on beam, hitting seven-straight routines as the season heads to its final stages.
She has reached a new level on beam of late, hitting a 9.9, 9.875, 9.875, 9.9 and 9.85 over the last five weeks, respectively, in the event.
Babalis has been a fan favorite all year for her floor routine that featured a chalk drop and a "jazz hands" dance move that she borrowed from football player Sony Michel. Her chalk drop has since been ruled an excessive use of chalk by the NCAA and would result in a deduction.
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."
Gymdogs A Box Office Draw
Georgia had its seventh-highest attendance for a season a year ago, averaging 9,212 fans per home meet. Over the regular season, the Gymdogs brought in an average of 10,055 fans per meet, the highest number in program history.
In six home meets this season, Georgia totaled 56,715 fans for an average of 9,452 per meet, good for better than 90-percent capacity of Stegeman Coliseum and fourth-best attendance mark in the nation.
In fact, Georgia's average gymnastics attendance is fifth-best among all women's winter sports, behind three gymnastics teams and the South Carolina women's basketball team.
Freshmen Contributing
Freshmen Rachel Dickson and Sabrina Vega have both found themselves consistently in the competition lineups for the Gymdogs this year.
The duo has been praised by head coach Danna Durante for their focused approach to practice and for pushing everyone else on the team to step up and make themselves better as well.
Dickson has stepped up in her new all-around role which began in the Missouri meet when Sydney Snead was pulled as a precaution for a back condition. The Canton, Mich. native posted a 39.525 in her first-ever all-around, setting new career highs in every event against Mizzou. She followed with a solid meet against Kentucky in which she claimed the bars all-around title (9.9), shared with Natalie Vaculik. More recently, Dickson won SEC Gymnast of the Week two weeks ago after a career-best 39.55 all-around total that also included career bests on bars (9.95) and beam (9.925) at the Mardi Gras Invitational. Most recently she hit a 39.325 in the all-around against Utah with event titles on bars and floor.
Vega, who missed the Missouri meet due to illness, returned to the lineup against Kentucky and claimed a 9.825 on beam and 9.9 on floor to win her second-career event title. The Carmel, N.Y. native now has two event titles in her young career, both taken on floor over Georgia's four-meet homestand. Vega put together her most complete meet yet with a 9.875 on floor and a 9.9 in the leadoff spot for the Gymdogs on beam at Oklahoma and has kept her hot streak on beam going with another 9.875 against Alabama and 9.9 against Utah.
Jordyn Pedersen, who has yet to crack the competition lineup, exhibitioned in Norman on floor. The Canadian has been on the edge of cracking a competition lineup for several weeks and has exhibitioned both floor and bars in recent weeks as she prepares to step in the lineups wherever needed.
