Alabama Gymnastics: Crimson Tide Falls Short of National Title

Alabama Gymnastics battled hard at the Super Six Finals but could not overcome the mistakes and fell short of claiming their seventh National Championship.

This is is it! This is what it’s all about, the National Championship. Alabama Gymnastics began their mission of taking home another national title and it was going to be a tough task.

The Crimson Tide started the night on the Uneven bars with the first three gymnasts delivering high scores. Unfortunately, senior Amanda Jetter fell and the remaining two gymnasts had some minor errors and the Crimson Tide ended the first rotation with a 48.887 team score and in 4th place.

Alabama Gymnastics then headed to the Balance Beam, an event that has really caused some problems over the last month. The Crimson Tide had a shaky start with the first gymnast but the next two gymnasts delivered some energy to the team.

Unfortunately, freshman Maddie Desch and senior Keely McNeer both fell on the Balance Beam. Junior Kiana Winston (aka the Lethal Weapon) rounded out the rotation with a 9.863 to give the team a 48.625 score as they headed into the 1st Bye Rotation of the night.

Alabama head coach Dana Duckworth gathered her team together and told them to shake off the first two rotations as she stated to espn.com.

"“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We need to regain our focus, regain our composure and just compete.”"

After the Bye Rotation, Alabama Gymnastics headed to the Floor Exercise. Freshman Wynter Childers started everything off with a 9.825 and every gymnast built on her score. Sophomore Ariana Guerrera scored a 9.837, senior Katie Bailey added a 9.8625 with senior Aja Sims contributing a 9.875 and junior Kiana Winston finished the event with a 9.925 giving the Crimson Tide a 49.325 score.

Alabama Gymnastics moved to their final event of the night, the Vault. Sophomore Abby Armbrecht, junior Nickie Guerrero and senior Katie Bailey each finished with a 9.850 and the team finished with a score of 49.1625 for the event.

Next: Tide Drives Big Attendance Numbers

The Crimson Tide showed resilience by battling back from the early mistakes in the first two events but the hole was too deep to climb out. Even though Alabama Gymnastics fell short of their goal of a seventh national championship, they have built a solid foundation for next season and will push themselves to continue the tradition that is Alabama Crimson Tide Gymnastics.