Kentucky Gymnastics Team Close to Bigger Goals
The Kentucky gymnastics team posted its second-highest score of the season on Friday night, registering a 196.600 in a meet against No. 2 Florida at Memorial Coliseum. Despite the big number, the Cats were not satisfied with their performance.
Head coach Tim Garrison explained why after the meet.
“I thought we struggled tonight, we never got into a groove,” Garrison said. “Every vault landing had steps. Although we swung well on bars, we didn’t finish strong. So we left a lot of tenths (of points) out there. We really never got into a groove and comfortable, I thought.”
The Cats, ranked 12th in the nation, fell to the Gators 197.800-196.600 on Friday. The Cats knew they weren’t far from having a much higher score, according to junior Ella Warren.
When asked what the Cats could do better, Warren didn’t hesitate. “Shaping and landings,” she said. “And I think we can do it.”
Freshman Raena Worley saw a couple of other items that could use some tweaking.
“Definitely landings,” Worley said. “If we stick our landings and critique the little things, we’ll be good.”
Garrison knows that his team has much more to give.
“We were good enough to get a 196.600, the second-highest score of the season, it’s not the level we want to be competing at, even at this point,” Garrison said. “We want to compete at a higher level.”
Garrison knows what it’s going to take for his team to make the strides he hopes to see.
“To be able to cross that threshold and be a great team, we’re going to have to be better,” Garrison said. “And that’s all going to happen over in the Nutter Fieldhouse (in practice). I think they try hard. There’s not a kid on my team that doesn’t put in the effort. But they don’t always succeed.”
Worley agrees that hard work is the key to improvement.
“The hard work and pushing in the gym,” she said when asked how the team can improve. “Tim is so motivating in the gym and then the team just works together to make sure everything gets done. Basically, just pushing to be the best we can be.”
Warren also knows that the team can reach a higher threshold.
“We definitely want to get above a 197 multiple times this season,” she said. “That’s our goal moving forward.”
Both Warren and Worley competed in all four rotations on Friday night, and both have become big contributors to the Cats’ cause. Garrison is thankful to have them both on the team.
“To have Ella, in her junior season, she has surpassed expectations,” Garrison said. “So impressed with her. I don’t know how many positives I can say about her. To step into that role as a junior, very impressive.”
Worley has been better than advertised, according to her head coach.
“Raena, coming in as a freshman, competing in all-around the last four meets in a row, that’s what we need,” Garrison said. “She came in and she’s been everything we thought we were getting and more.”
The freshman thinks that she and her teammates have big things, and big numbers, ahead of them.
“If we had to have a ceiling, 198 probably,” Worley said. “If we stick our landings, have the energy, critique the little things, this team has no limits, we can do so many things.”
That will start with the hard work the head coach is asking for after Friday’s meet. And when that hard work pays off, Kentucky fans will get to see just how good this team can be.
