Spring Break
198.200! Gym Dogs pound Florida with highest score in decade (w/ Video)
TYLER ESTEP
Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Sports
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Sixteen scores of 9.9 or better, season-highs on all four events and personal bests galore all equaled a 198.200 for the Gym Dogs, as they posted their highest score in a decade, dismantled Florida (which scored a 196.650), and dismissed any notion that they weren't truly the No. 1 team in the country.
Senior Courtney Kupets, who headlined with a perfect 10.0 on floor exercise, gave her teammates boxing gloves and stressed their new motto of "fight" prior to the meet. And from the moment they showed up with the theme song from "Rocky" playing, they did just that.
"We wanted this for ourselves," said Kupets, who posted a career-best 39.850 in the all-around. "It helps that it was a great team out there tonight, Florida is a fantastic team, and so it did give us a little more juice. But we wanted it as Georgia."
Fueled by sophomore Hilary Mauro's first-ever 9.9 on vault, Georgia went on to count no score lower than a 9.850, shattering the previous nation-best score of 197.525.
"That stick just inspired everybody and it was just like a shot in the arm for everybody on the team that OK, this is our night," coach Suzanne Yoculan said. "Let's savor it, let's enjoy it, let's enjoy the ride. And that's exactly what it was. Gymnastics wasn't hard for them tonight. It was easy for them."
Earlier in the week, Yoculan had expressed doubt that her team was the No. 1 squad in the country. But they proved her wrong Saturday, putting up their biggest score since 1999.
Junior Courtney McCool made her official 2009 debut with a 9.950 on balance beam, but that wasn't even the highlight.
Freshmen Kat Ding and Gina Nuccio posted career-highs of 9.875 and 9.9 on bars. Mauro went on to get another 9.9 on beam, a second career high. Paige Burns booked a personal-best 9.850 on beam. And Marcia Newby, who hadn't gotten higher than a 9.675 on floor this year, tallied yet another 9.925 on the event.
Mauro's 9.875 on floor, yet another personal best, didn't even count toward the Gym Dogs overall score of 49.675 on the apparatus.
"We came out here and we had these boxing gloves ready to fight for everything that we could," Mauro said. "The team was one today. We had such a strong calm confidence and were ready to go. We really put it all together."
The route was on after an injury-plagued Florida competed only five on vault and had to count a fall. But it didn't matter what the Gators were doing.
"We didn't pay attention to Florida today," McCool said. "It didn't even matter who else was out there."
Coming in, consistency was the Gym Dogs' problem, and what made Yoculan doubt their ranking. But even without sophomore Cassidy McComb, who sprained her knee in practice Friday,
Georgia gymnastics was a prime example of sustained excellence on Saturday. Sixteen of the 20 scores that counted toward their final total were 9.9 or higher.
"It was a four-round knockout in four events," Yoculan said. "Our team, I don't think there was a moment where we wavered really. That was gymnastics at it's best tonight."
The four-time defending national champion Gym Dogs are now 10-0, and finished the conference season at a perfect 6-0. A six-pack of SEC wins will be just fine for her team, but Yoculan may have needed a little more than that to forget all the excitement and get to sleep Saturday night.
"I won't sleep for two days. I literally will not sleep for two days," Yoculan said. "I've got to go drink a whole lot of beer tonight and pass out. That's my only chance of sleeping is going to be to pass out."
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