Kentucky Gymnastics places seventh at SEC Championships
Kentucky Gymnastics posted a seventh-place finish at this year’s SEC Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, AL.
Beginning the meet as the No. 5 seed in the conference, the seventh place finish was a disappointing end to what was otherwise a historic season for the ‘Cats. Kentucky came in behind Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Missouri, LSU, and Arkansas.
Previously this season, the ‘Cats defeated Missouri, LSU, and Arkansas — with wins over LSU and Arkansas coming on the road. However, UK couldn’t surpass them in the postseason.
The regular-season conference winning Florida Gators took the top spot at this year’s championship.
Kentucky’s final score of 196.350 was a noticeable contrast from their record-breaking program best of 197.650 against Michigan State on Senior Night last week. The first rotation of vault was solid, with Senior Arianna Patterson leading the pack with a score of 9.875, tying her for the eighth-highest vault score of the day.
The ‘Cats would struggle in the championships on bars following a program best of 49.757 against Michigan State, coming in at only a 49.050. Junior Raena Worley led the ‘Cats on bars with a score of 9.900.
The ‘Cats continued to face adversity on beam, struggling to break the 49-point mark and coming in at a 48.875. Kentucky then looked to floor to catapult them to the next level, but neglected to make the podium at the end of competition.
Kentucky’s star All-Arounder Raena Worley was up for the top individual title of the day but fell short, coming in at sixth place. Her strong performance on floor of 9.950 was enough to tie her for second place with Auburn’s Derienne Gobourne and former Olympian Suni Lee, also of Auburn.
Despite a rare disappointing showing from the ‘Cats, there is still NCAA competition to look forward to. Kentucky Gymnastics will look to the NCAA Selection Committee to discover the future of their postseason competition. NCAA Regionals are scheduled to begin on March 30 and run through April 2.
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