Meet the Wildcats: Taylor Puryear

LEXINGTON, Ky. – In preparation for the Blue/White Scrimmage on Dec. 13, UKathletics.com presents “Meet the Wildcats,” an opportunity for you to get to know a little more about the 2016 Kentucky Gymnastics team. Today’s Meet the Wildcats features junior Taylor Puryear.

Puryear enters 2016 coming off a season in which she earned her first-ever All-SEC team recognition. She completed on the floor in every meet, winning three event floor titles and led the team in floor on eight different occasions.  She capped the season with a team-high-tying 9.850 on floor at the NCAA Regionals and posted a session-high-tying 9.900 at the SEC Championships, a season-best score on floor.

Here’s a bit more on Taylor:

Quick Facts

Birthplace: Washington DC

Parents: Deborah and Charles Puryear

Major: Early Childhood Education

Nickname(s): Tay, TP

Get to Know Taylor in Competition

The best part of being a UK student-athlete … Meeting new student-athletes

What I like most about Coach Garrison and the staff …. His jokes and sense of humor 

I chose Kentucky because …  The positive atmosphere

I’m most looking forward to our meet with _____ ….. Georgia

I’m most excited for this during the season …. Traveling with the team. 

I started competing in gymnastics when I was ….  6

My biggest influence in gymnastics is …. My parents

I want to improve most on …  Bars

Taylor Outside of Competition

My favorite food is ….  Breakfast food

My favorite place on campus is … CATS

My favorite movie is … The Blind Side

My favorite TV show is …  Friends

If I could compete in another sport outside of gymnastics it would be ….  Volleyball

Most famous person I’ve ever met is …  Dominque Dawes

My dream job is  ….  Speech Language Pathologist

My pre-meet superstition is …  I have to listen to music.

The Wildcats kick off the 2016 season with the Blue/White scrimmage on Sun., Dec. 13 at a time still to be determined. The scrimmage will serve as a preview to the 2016 season, with the season opener Excite Night set for Fri., Jan. 8 against Ball State at 7 p.m. All home meets will be held in Memorial Coliseum. 

For complete news and updates on the Kentucky Gymnastics program, go to UKathletics.com. Breaking news, behind-the-scenes updates and more can be found on Twitter at @UKGymnastics and Facebook at Facebook.com/UKGymnastics.