LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats (9-7 overall, 1-5 SEC) head to Duluth, Ga. to compete in the 2008 SEC Gymnastics Championship. The meet is set to start at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday March 29 at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center and will be aired on Fox Sports Network (FSN) on April 6 at 4 p.m.
Kentucky closed out its regular season on an eight-meet win streak, bringing in four season highs in the last three meets on floor, bars, vault, and overall. The Cats also swept the competition for titles in the previous two meets at Centenary and Bowling Green State. Also, during the 2008 season a total of 38 team and individual scores ranked in the school record books.
UK ended the regular season in the top 20 on three of four events. The team received its highest season ranking for vault and the balance beam at No. 15 and No. 16, respectively. The Cats are 10th nationally on floor, Kentucky?s best event of 2008. Not only did the team?s efforts receive ranking recognition, three Kentucky gymnasts are in the top 20 on three events. Sophomore Emily Green is No. 15 on vault, sophomore Hillary Ferguson holds No. 15 on floor, and junior Heather Hite is No. 13 on the balance beam. All three athletes hold season high scores of 9.925 in their event.
Kentucky most recently defeated Bowling Green State by more than a four-point margin at 195.400-191.375. Sophomore Hillary Ferguson took two titles, vault and floor. Her incredible floor routines have earned her five titles this season for a total of seven floor top honors. Sophomore Emily Green also took the vault title with Ferguson, sticking a score of 9.850. Green has become the Wildcat leader on vault with a career best of 9.925. The beam title was also awarded to Green, along with UK?s junior Heather Hite. Hite is also the leader on beam, with a season high 9.925 and career high 9.950. Sophomore Emilie Rymer took the last two titles, bars and the all-around. A solid 9.800 gave Rymer the top honor on bars and a 39.225 earned her the all-around. Rymer has continued to be a reliable competitor for the Cats, taking four titles and eight team top honors in the all-around.
?I am excited to have this team compete in SEC championships,? Head Coach Mo Mitchell said. ?It is going to be fun and exciting. I feel that this will be the most competitive SEC championship in history. Albeit we are coming in ranked 20th, we are a team that is peaking at the right time. We feel that this team is one of the best teams that UK has fielded. We are looking forward to having a great meet.?
Kentucky?s best performance at the SEC Championships was in 2001 when the Cats placed fifth with a score of 195.850 in Birmingham, Ala. For complete coverage of Kentucky gymnastics, please visit www.ukathletics.com.
