By most measures the Kentucky gymnastics team produced the best season
in school history last year. The 2014 campaign hasn’t quite lived up to
the promise of the last campaign given that the Wildcats featured no
seniors in 2013, but things have begun looking up of late.This year’s campaign has had its ups and downs, but the majority of the
highs have occurred in the last month. The Wildcats have overcome some
head-scratching early-season performances and righted the ship in recent
weeks, reaching No. 24 in the most recent rankings formula.As
such, Tim Garrison’s team is in prime position to make a nice stretch
run, beginning with Friday’s trip to top-ranked LSU, the regular-season
finale.The trip will be a test for the Wildcats, not just
because they’re heading into one of the most energetic settings in
college gymnastics and taking on the No. 1 team in the country.Kentucky,
9-9 on the season and 2-4 in Southeastern Conference competition, is coming off
back-to-back home meets with scores of 196.000 or higher, which serves
as a sort of threshold for the team towards the latter stages of the
season. Basically the Wildcats target scores more than 196.UK’s
two most recent wins were upsets of ranked teams, but they came inside
Memorial Coliseum. From here on out road trips are in the cards. It goes
LSU this week, the SEC Championships the next and
very likely an NCAA regional shortly thereafter.The
Wildcats struggled early in the season on the road, but
appeared to right the ship on a two-meet weekend in late February. In
fact, both Kentucky and LSU have steadily improved since they last
faced off this season, on February 15 at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort
Worth, Texas. Kentucky posted a 194.850, while LSU notched a then-school-record 197.875.LSU went on to attain the No. 1 ranking in
the ensuing weeks, while for their part the Wildcats began their
current run of strong results from the next week on.At the time,
UK recorded two of its best three scores of the season during the road
trip the week after the first showdown with LSU, a 195.975 at Arkansas
and a 195.2 at Nebraska.The Wildcats returned home the next week
and knocked off No. 11 Auburn with the second-highest home score in
school history, 196.275. To follow that big score on Feb. 28, the Wildcats downed No. 22 California and
Centenary with a 196.150 last Friday for a Senior Night victory.So Kentucky heads to LSU with momentum, and floor exercise has very much been the catalyst for
the team’s positive direction.”On
floor closing out the night (last Friday) I thought we had a great
performance once again,” Garrison said. “It seems we have gotten to the
point where floor is rock-solid. We have the capability to score
49.400-49.600 every week on floor.”The Wildcats are ranked 16h
nationally on floor with a 49.113 average, having scored more than a 49
at all but one meet this season, including a school-record 49.650 to
clinch the win vs. Auburn.Floor exercise has absolutely been a
rock for the Wildcats, which is illustrated by the fact that Garrison
has such lofty expectations for the team on that event.And no
one has been better on floor than senior Audrey Harrison, who  has won
the event four times this season and has emerged as a near-lock to score
over 9.9 on the event in recent weeks.Entering the stretch run,
the Wildcats will rely on Harrrison and the floor-exercise lineup more
broadly to help elevate the team’s performances and keep the momentum
going.