No. 22 Kentucky Faces No. 3 Alabama in Final SEC Road Meet
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 22 Kentucky (1-8-1, 1-4-1 SEC) opens its March slate with its final road contest of the regular season, traveling to Tuscaloosa to face off against No. 3 Alabama (7-4, 3-3 SEC). The meet from Coleman Coliseum will commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, March 6 and will be streamed live on SEC Network +.
Kentucky enters the penultimate month of the 2026 season after a very successful February, scoring at least 196.800 in all four meets. Most recently, the Cats turned in its third 197+ performance in the last four weeks in a defeat against No. 6 Georgia.
After counting at least one miss during its first four meets, Kentucky improved its scoring average by 1.694 points from January to February, averaging 197.069 last month in comparison to 195.375 during the first month of the season. The Wildcats also improved their average scores on all four events from January to February, most notably on the balance beam. The Cats averaged a 49.281 on the event in February after early-season struggles led to a 48.312 average in January.
Delaynee Rodriguez continues to pace the Wildcats this season, ranking No. 8 in the NCAA All-Around standings with a 39.490 National Qualifying Score. Despite taking the first fall of her collegiate career on vault last week, Rodriguez rebounded with an event title on bars—her 14th this season across all events— and a pair of 9.9+ performances on beam and floor. The junior from Las Vegas also ranks in the top 20 nationally on bars and beam.
Creslyn Brose reentered into the top ten of the floor standings this week after completing the required minimum of six meets to obtain an NQS. The two-time floor All-American currently ranks No. 8 with a 9.930 NQS, while her 9.933 average ranks No. 3 nationally. Brose earned her tenth career floor title last week and has scored 9.900 or better in 29 of 32 collegiate floor routines.
Cecily Rizo put together the best meet of her collegiate career last week, winning a pair of event titles and setting three career highs. Rizo, debuting as an all-arounder this season, won her first career all-around title with a career-high 39.350 performance. She began the night with her second career vault title, matching her collegiate best score of 9.900 with a stuck Yurchenko Full. The junior from Coppell, Texas would proceed to score at least 9.800 on all four events for the first time in her career and set a new career-high on beam with a 9.825 showing.
Gabby Van Frayen built upon her already impressive freshman season with her first career bars title last week, scoring the best mark of her collegiate career at 9.875. The win marked the third of her career, joining a pair of beam titles won earlier in February.
The Wildcats will close out the regular season inside Historic Memorial Coliseum next weekend, hosting No. 4 Florida at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 13. The meet will serve as Senior Night, with festivities taking place after competition concludes.
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