DULUTH, Ga. ? One of the nation?s most competitive conferences showed up to compete in the 2008 SEC Gymnastics Championship. With a record breaking attendance record of 9,022, the No. 1 Georgia Gym Dogs came up with the win, posting a score of 197.350. The No. 20 Wildcats came in seventh with a total of 194.025, the team?s best total at the SEC Championship since 2004.
The defending champions, No. 3 Florida, and No. 6 Alabama tied for second with a mark of 197.325. No. 5 LSU took fourth at 196.500 followed by No. 13 Auburn at 196.100, and No. 11 Arkansas at 194.650.
Kentucky?s best event of the night was the balance beam with a score of 48.850. Junior Heather Hite, who is also ranked 13th nationally on the event, took team top honors with a 9.850. There was five-way tied for first on beam with the mark of 9.9. Three scores came from Alabama (Morgan Dennis, Ricki Lebegern, and Casey Overton), one from Florida (Amanda Castillo), and one from Georgia (Grace Taylor).
Another five-way tie was taken on the vault with a 9.950. Katie Heenan of Georgia, Dennis and Lebegern of Alabama, Susan Jackson of LSU, and Ashley Reed of Florida all took top honors. Kentucky hit a 48.525 on the event, making it the team?s second best on the night. Sophomores Hillary Ferguson and Emily Green took team top honors with 9.750?s.
Three individuals tied for first on bars, two from the winning team, Georgia. Tiffany Tolnay and Taylor of UGA hit 9.950?s along with Florida?s Melanie Sinclair. Sophomore Emilie Rymer of Kentucky took team top honors with a 9.775 on bars.
Kentucky?s most difficult event of the night was the floor exercise. Although ranked 10th nationally, the Wildcats posted a 48.150 on the event. Hite and freshman Madison Snowden of UK each hit their events with 9.825?s. However, a three-way tie for first with a score of 9.950, was held by Florida?s Castillo, Alabama?s Dennis, and LSU?s Ashleigh Clare-Kearney.
Taking the all-around title was Ashleigh Clare-Kearney with an astonishing total of 39.600. Tying for second place was Alabama?s Dennis and Georgia?s Heenan at 39.575. Of Kentucky, Rymer took team top honors with 38.875.
Also announced during the night were SEC Athlete of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, and SEC Coach of the Year. Winning SEC Athlete were Auburn?s Lindsey Puckett and LSU?s Clare-Kearney. Cassidy McComb of Georgia was named SEC Freshman of the Year. A three-way tie for SEC Coach of the year was announced between Arkansas?s Mark and Rene Cook, Auburn?s Jeff Thompson, and Georgia?s Suzanne Yoculan.
Despite having some mistakes throughout the evening, Kentucky takes with them the experience of the SEC competition and continues to look towards the NCAA Regional and the National competitions.
The next stop for the Wildcats will be regionals. The location will be determined later in the week after final rankings are released. Only the top 18 schools in the nation will be seeded. Possible locations for the Cats are LSU, Penn State, University of Minnesota, University of Minneapolis, University of Florida, and Oregon State University. For complete coverage of Kentucky gymnastics, visit www.ukathletics.com.
