Georgia gymnastics continues its quest for the team’s first national championship in more than 15 years this week with its trip to Tempe, Arizona, for the NCAA regional second round.
The GymDogs are riding the momentum of a fifth-place finish at the SEC meet, where a score of 197.450 marked the school’s highest total at the conference meet since 2004 and the meet’s highest first-session score ever.
“It shows people that the GymDogs are back,” co-head coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi said following the SEC meet. “And they need to take us seriously. We’re here to go.”
The first session — which includes sixth-seeded UGA, 11th-seeded Michigan State, Brigham Young and Southern Utah — is 4 p.m. EDT on Thursday, and the second session — which features third-seeded Florida, No. 14 seed California, Penn State and host Arizona State — is at 10 p.m. The top two teams in each session compete in the finals Saturday at 8 p.m. All sessions will be televised on ESPN+.
The GymDogs tout strong history as the program with the most national championships in the sport, including a run of five straight from 2005-2009 under the leadership of legendary coach Suzanne Yoculan.
This year’s team has added to the program’s history book, surpassing the 197.000 mark in 11 meets this season — the first time the team earned 197.000 in nine or more contests.
“I feel like we have this confidence that we didn’t really have in the past,” seniorJa’ Free Scott said of this year’s team. “We don’t want to be the underdogs anymore. We want to be undeniable.”
The GymDogs’ strongest performance of the season came March 8 with a total of 198.075 at the Elevate the State quad meet. This was only the sixth time Georgia has topped the 198.000 milestone in a regular season and it was the first group to do so since 2009.
The GymDogs will aim for another big score in Tempe to earn them a spot in the national championship meet. It would be the first time since 2019 that Georgia gymnastics has advanced that far.
Georgia will look to newcomer CaMarah Williams, an early enrollee who commands the spotlight as the team leader in 9.900 or higher performances (19) and third-most points contributed of all Georgia gymnasts.
“They told me the first day I got here,” Williams said of when she found she was going to be in the lineup. “My first practice day, they told me I was going to be (competing in) all four events for (GymDog) Debut, and ever since then I’ve been just working my best events and that’s what got me this far to be in every lineup for every competition.”
Williams was only 17 in her first collegiate meet but that did not hinder her impressive season highs of 9.950 on vault and 9.975 on both the balance beam and floor. Her many near-perfect performances resulted in 11 event titles between the three apparatuses and the third-most points contributed by any GymDog in the regular season.
“I didn’t even know that I could have this much fun in my sport,” Williams said of her time in collegiate gymnastics thus far. “I’m glad that it brought that side out of me.”
Williams’ joy is most evident in her floor exercise routine, which she choreographed herself.
The beam rotation will be particularly important this year given the events of last year’s regional performance when the GymDogs were forced to count a fall on the event.
The veteran Scott holds the anchor position of the beam rotation, just as she did last year when, despite the errors before her, she scored a 9.900. Scott has competed in the most routines of any GymDog this season across bars, vault and beam, but her beam routine is the highlight of the rotation. Scott adds a fan-favorite moonwalk to an already technically difficult routine.
“At this point it’s, you either make it or you miss it,” Scott said of competing on the balance beam. “And that’s why I love being the anchor spot, because I don’t get nervous if a teammate falls in front of me. And (being in the anchor spot) almost gives me confidence because it’s knowing that I have my team’s back.”
When Williams was asked what to pay attention to this postseason, her answer was simple.
“Look out for our floor rotation,” Williams said. “There’s a reason why we were No. 1 for, like, five straight weeks.”
Williams, Autumn Reingold and Kelise Woolford were recently named to the All-SEC Freshman teams. Three gymnasts is the most of any SEC program this year. Nine Georgia gymnasts received All-SEC honors.
Noticeably absent from the lineup is All-American junior Lily Smith, who injured her foot during warmups before a meet in February. Smith told SEC Network during the SEC meet that, if the Bulldogs make the national championship, she may be able to return on bars.
Before Smith’s injury, she consistently recorded scores above 9.900 on beam, bars and floor — including a perfect 10 and eight floor titles.
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