Courtney Kupets won the all-around title at the SEC Championships Saturday, but the big story was Georgia's team loss to Alabama.
Pac-10: UCLA over Oregon State, 196.725-196.55. Stanford third, 196.525. Washington fourth. A big letdown for Stanford, which lost what had to be an embarrassing meet to San Jose State earlier this season. They’ll still probably qualify to Nationals, but the Super Six dream is looking a bit more tenuous at this point. All-around: Carly Janiga, Stanford.
Big 12: Oklahoma, 196.125, over Nebraska, 196.075. Classy, but likely not Super Six-worthy scores. All-around: Sarah Shire, Missouri.
Big 10: Michigan broke the 197 mark with a 197.075 over no. 16 Illinois (196.750) and No. 13 Penn State (196.50). All-around: Carmelina Carabajal, Minnesota.
And the big surprise:
SEC: Alabama over Georgia, 197.300-196.925. Gasp! It was one thing when Utah took down Georgia during its first meet of the 2007-08 season at home in Provo. It’s another to get beaten in the postseason. All-around (no surprise there): Courtney Kupets, Georgia.
What happened: Georgia’s first two competitors — sophomores Hillary Mauro and Cassidy McComb – fell off beam during the first rotation. Bama freshman Ashley Priess fell on beam herself, but that probably only cost Bama a tenth or two, since the Tide did not have to record a fall.
What this means: When everybody hits, Georgia’s still at the top of the heap by a pretty big margin by gymnastics standards. But they’ve shown some falliability in team competition — if they count a fall and everybody else hits, they probably won’t win.
Could this be the year Bama takes back the NCAA title? Or UCLA or Utah? Or someone other than Georgia?
Further reading: The Tennessean has a strong, punchy article about the SEC upset, including some stuff about why the heck this championship was held in Tennessee in the first place.
