Jan. 14, 2002

Using a 193.925 to defeat Ohio State in its season-opening meet, the University of Kentucky gymnastics team jumped to No. 13 in the GymInfo national rankings. The score also places UK third in the Central Region.

“This is a great way to begin the season,” Coach Leah Little said. “We still have some things to work on, but we expect to get better and better as the season moves on.”

All six Southeastern Conference schools that field a women’s gymnastics are ranked in the top 22. Georgia leads the conference and the nation at No. 1, followed by No. 6 Alabama, No. 11 Florida, No. 15 LSU and No. 22 Auburn.

In addition to the team ranking, the GymKats are also ranked nationally in all four events. Their highest ranking comes on the floor exercise where they are tied for sixth in the nation with a season-high score of 49.200. They come in at No. 14 on vault (48.725), No. 20 on the uneven bars (48.350) and No. 24 on the balance beam (47.675).

A number of GymKats are also ranked nationally.

For the first two polls of the season, teams and gymnasts are ranked based on a season-high score. For the next four weeks, rankings are determined by the teams’ and gymnasts’ average scores, while regional qualifying scores determine rank for the remainder of the season. Complete national and regional rankings are available at
http://www.troester.com/gym/Default.htm

The GymKats will take their No. 13 ranking into their SEC season opener when they play host to Florida on Friday, Jan. 18. Action is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum.