No. 9 Kentucky Hosts Ohio State For Senior Night
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 9 Kentucky (6-4, 3-4 SEC) gymnastics team will return to Memorial Coliseum on Friday for senior night against No. 21 Ohio State (10-3). The meet will begin at 7 p.m. with introductions taking place at 6:45 p.m. The meet can be watched live on SEC Network+ and the Watch ESPN app.
Kentucky will honor two seniors – Katie Carlisle and Cori Rechenmacher – after the meet. Both are four year letterwinners for UK.
Scouting the Buckeyes
Ohio State comes into Kentucky riding a five-meet winning streak and are No. 21 in the first Regional Qualifying Score with a 195.840. OSU averages 195.513 and has a high of 196.775, which came against Illinois State and Minnesota in late January. Ohio State’s best team event is the floor, where they are No. 15 on the floor with a floor RQS of 49.175. Ohio State is No. 17 on bars, No. 24 on vault and No. 37 on the beam. Jamie Stone is the best Buckeye on the floor with an RQS of 9.850.
Kentucky in the Team Rankings
The Wildcats are ranked No. 9 in the nation when the first Regional Qualifying score was released by Road to Nationals. Kentucky’s RQS is 196.560, the fourth-best SEC team. LSU, Florida and Alabama sit in front of the Wildcats, while Arkansas is No. 10. UK has an average score of 196.425 and a high of 197.100, which they posted last week at home against Missouri.
Kentucky in the Event Rankings
The Wildcats sit in the top-10 in every apparatus, with its best coming on vault. UK is No. 7 in the nation on the vault with an RQS of 49.170 and an average of 49.131. UK shares the No. 7 spot with California, and only two SEC teams are better than UK. Kentucky is No. 8 on the beam and floor, with RQS’ of 49.255 and 49.245, respectively. The Wildcats are No. 9 on the bars with a 49.145.
Tying the Second-Best Score Ever
In an SEC win over Missouri, UK hit above 197 for just the third time in program history. Kentucky’s score of 197.100 tied the second-highest score in program history and was matched against Auburn last season at home. UK’s highest score is a 197.475 in a home win over Alabama in 2017. The Wildcats’ previous high score this season was a 196.950 at Arkansas. That score still remains tied for the highest score on the road.
Impressive All-Around Night for Hyland
Junior Alex Hyland won the all-around as the only competitor for UK with a 39.575 against Missouri. Her all-around score was the eighth-best all-around score in program history. Only former NCAA National Champion Jenny Hansen and sophomore Mollie Korth have hit that mark or higher. Hyland earned event wins on the vault (9.875), beam (9.875) and floor (9.925) and finished second the bars (9.9).
For complete news and updates on the Kentucky Gymnastics program, go to UKathletics.com. Season tickets can be found on UKathletics.com/Tickets. News and updates on the team can also be found on Twitter at @UKGymnastics and at @UKCoachGarrison and Facebook at Facebook.com/UKGymnastics.
