No. 12 Kentucky Begins Postseason at SEC Championship on Saturday
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The No. 12 Kentucky gymnastics team will compete in the SEC Championship on Saturday, March 18 at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, beginning at 2 p.m. UK earned the No. 5 seed in the championship event, and will be the highest seed in the early session.
The meet will air live on ESPNU, and UK will face off directly against Missouri, Auburn and Arkansas. Bart Conner (play-by-play), Kathy Johnson Clarke (analyst) and Laura Rutledge (reporter) will be on the call. LSU, Florida, Alabama and Georgia will compete in the second session of the night beginning at 6 p.m. ET. The awards ceremony will take place around 8:30 p.m.
SEC Network+ has expanded coverage of the SEC Gymnastics Championships, with live streams of each team, and a quad-box view called “all-around.” The all-around channel allows the view to watch every event at the same time, on one stream. All streaming options, and the television coverage, are available through the WatchESPN App as well as the SEC Network+ channels.
The fifth-seeded Wildcats will begin competition on vault before rotating to bars, beam and floor, in that order.
Fans attending the 2017 SEC Gymnastics Championship will be asked to enter the event with clear bags and should be prepared to arrive early. The SEC strongly encourages fans not to bring any type of bags to the championship, but bags must be clear or otherwise a small clutch bag to be allowed into the event. Bags that are clear plastic, vinyl or PVC and do not exceed 12’’ x 6’’ x 12’’, one-gallon clear plastic freezer bags and small clutch bags no larger than 4.5’’ x 6.5’’ will be allowed.
Last time out, Kentucky posted a 196.925 in the matchup with Missouri to wrap up the regular season. For her performance against the Tigers, freshman Mollie Korth earned her fourth SEC Freshman of the Week award after posting a 39.525. Korth won her sixth all-around title of the season and also won the bars title with a 9.925.
HIGHEST RQS EVER
Kentucky is currently No. 12 in the latest Regional Qualifying Score ranking with a score of 196.750. UK averages a 196.339 and has a high of 197.475. The current RQS of 196.750 is the highest in program history. Qualification for regional competition is based on a team’s and an all-around competitor’s six best regular-season-meet scores, of which three must be away. To obtain the regional qualifying score (RQS), the high score is eliminated and the remaining five scores are averaged. Teams with a “0.0” RQS have not yet competed enough meets to compute an RQS.
ROTATION RANKINGS
Kentucky sits in the top 15 of every rotational ranking. UK’s highest ranking is on the vault at No. 8 with an RQS of 49.245 and an average score of 49.081. On the floor, the Cats are No. 11 at 46.265 and an average of 49.125. On beam, the Cats are No. 11 (t) at 49.245 and the average was 49.145. On bars, the Cats are No. 13 with an RQS of 49.180 and an average of 49.007.
FOUR SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
For her performance against Missouri, Mollie Korth earned her fourth SEC Freshman of the Week award. Korth earned her sixth all-around title of the year against the Tigers with a score of 39.525. On the bars, Korth also took home the crown on bars with a 9.925.
PUTTING UP NUMBERS ON BEAM
Sophomore Alex Hyland has impressed on the beam all season. Hyland is No. 16 in the nation in beam RQS with a of 9.905, and averages an impressive 9.889. She has only hit below a 9.875 once this season, and has posted a score of 9.9 or higher seven times this year.
ALL-AROUND RANKINGS
Three Wildcats – Mollie Korth, Sidney Dukes and Alex Hyland – are in the top 20 of the all-around RQS rankings. Korth is the highest ranked at No. 12 with an RQS of 39.450 and a high of 39.625. Sidney Dukes comes in at No. 16 with an RQS of 39.350 and Alex Hyland is No. 18 at 39.197.
