Alexis Gross, Kayla Hartley Named Captains for 2014-15 Season
July 18, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. – LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky gymnastics senior Kayla Hartley and redshirt junior Alexis Gross have been named team captains for the 2014-15 season, head coach Tim Garrison announced Thursday.
“Kayla and Alexis will both be great leaders this season,” Garrison said. “They are both very experienced and have been through it all in their careers at UK. Both in and out of the gym, Kayla and Alexis will provide a balanced leadership team. They each will bring a different style of leadership, and the team will benefit from that.”
Hartley, from Versailles, Ky., is a two-time All-SEC honoree, while Gross, a Pasadena, Md., native, was named to the All-SEC squad in 2013. Both Hartley and Gross have been Wildcats for the duration of Garrison’s tenure, who is entering his fourth season in Lexington.
Hartley was one of the most consistent gymnasts for UK last season, competing on floor, uneven bars and vault. As a redshirt junior, she helped the Wildcats post a school-record floor score of 49.650 with a 9.925 along with a meet-high 9.900 on bars in UK’s upset win over No. 11 Auburn on Feb. 28. Hartley led the team on individual events 10 times in 2014 and has notched 10 event titles in her career.
While Gross was sidelined with an injury last season, she had a breakout campaign in 2013. She was the SEC Specialist of the Week after she helped UK to a program-record team score of 196.775 at Penn State with a beam score of 9.950, the third-highest on the apparatus in team history. She earned All-SEC honors after a 9.825 on uneven bars at the SEC Championships.
The Wildcats are coming off a record-breaking 2014 season, highlighted by a program record NCAA Regional score and a return to the NCAA Championships. As UK posted its school-record 195.925 at regionals, senior Audrey Harrison won the beam title and became the first UK gymnast to advance to the NCAA Championships since 2010. Kentucky also notched a school-best 49.650 on floor in an upset win over No. 11 Auburn in the regular season.
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