Kentucky Gymnastics Thrives in Renovated Memorial Coliseum on Friday

The Kentucky gymnastics team finally got its chance to compete in Historic Memorial Coliseum on Friday night. And the Cats christened the renovated facility with a performance fitting of the sparkling arena.

No. 8 Kentucky topped third-ranked Alabama 197.300-196.100, earning a big Southeastern Conference victory early in the season. Led by stellar performances from sophomore Delaynee Rodriguez and fifth-year Isabella Magnelli, the Cats were consistent all night long in dismantling the Tide.

While the victory was impressive and important, the Cats only wanted to talk about the arena and the atmosphere following the meet.

“It was absolutely amazing. BBN really showed out tonight,” Magnelli said. “This place was packed and it was so loud. The energy was amazing. Memorial feels like home. Just to be able to be back, it just makes me happy and makes me emotional in a good way.”

Magnelli and the upperclassmen on the UK roster told the younger gymnasts what Memorial would be like in a competition setting.

“Even if it was renovated, I knew that it was going to accelerate even more than it has in the past,” Magnelli said. “But we told the sophomores and the freshmen, you think Rupp (Arena) was fun to compete it, Memorial is even more fun. It’s more intimate, the fans are closer and we’re really able to interact with one another. And it showed today.”

Kentucky head coach Tim Garrison gave the crowd a lot of credit on Friday.

“This is an incredible environment,” Garrison said. “Coming in tonight, having this incredible crowd that was loud from start to finish, was definitely a helping hand to the team, we definitely fed off of that atmosphere. This place is gorgeous. It’s a one of a kind experience. I liked the energy, top to bottom, in the room. I think the environment created a pretty sizable advantage for us.”

Rodriguez got to experience Memorial for the first time, and she enjoyed her first time competing in the venerable facility.

“It is so awesome,” Rodriguez said. “This is personally my first time ever competing in Memorial and the energy was so up and we were so excited. It was so much fun.”

In fact, Rodriguez shared the all-around title with Alabama’s Lilly Hudson on Friday. The sophomore was excited by her performance.

“It’s such a great feeling,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just so much fun. It’s seriously like no other feeling and it’s amazing. I’m so excited.”

Kentucky took the lead in the first rotation, using a strong performance on vault to take the lead. From there, the Cats never looked back. Garrison liked how his team took control of the meet early.

“Top to bottom performance from our team,” Garrison said. “Incredible start on vault and I didn’t feel like we had a weak spot tonight.”

It was a solid performance in front of a raucous crowd in a beautiful, renovated facility. All in all, Friday was a very good night for the Kentucky gymnastics program.