Best Floor Rotation in Nation Propels No. 3 Alabama to Dominant Win Over Oregon State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— No team in the country has put together a better floor rotation than Alabama did during Friday night's win over Oregon State inside Coleman Coliseum.

Behind a season high (and nation's best) 49.675 on the floor exercise, No. 3 Alabama beat No. 22 Oregon State 197.450-195.825.

Five of the Crimson Tide's six floor routines scored a 9.925 or higher capped by back-to-backs 9.95s from Jamison Sears and Gabby Gladieux in the final two routines of the night. It marked the third straight week that at least one judge gave Gladieux a 10 on floor.

"I think we still have a lot of potential," Gladieux said after the meet. "There's still a lot of areas for us to grow, but I think what makes Jamison and I's job so easy is the trust we have in the first half ot he lineup. They set us up perfectly tonight. There was really no pressure on our end. We just went in, had fun and did our job."

In her routine of the season, senior Rachel Rybicki scored a 9.925 in the third spot after Chloe LaCoursiere and Azaraya Ra-Akbar started the rotation with the same score. Alabama's depth on floor gives the Tide the potential to consistently be one of the highest-scoring teams in the nation on the apparatus.

Alabama continued its strong work on the uneven bars with its second-highest bars score of the season with a 49.475. Junior Chloe LaCoursiere came into the meet as the top-rated bars worker in the country and recorded her fourth straight score of the season higher than a 9.925 on the event with a 9.95 Friday night against Oregon State.

The vault and balance beam routines are both ones Alabama will want to leave in the past. There weren't any major mistakes, but the rotations resulted in the Crimson Tide's two lowest rotation scores of the season through four meets with a 49.125 on vault and 49.175 on the balance beam. Alabama did not stick any landings on vault, but head coach Ashley Johnston was still pleased with what her team learned on the event.

"I'm actually really excited about on through four on that lineup," Johnston said of the vault rotation. "I thought Jasmine, Jordyn, Jamison and Gabby all had their best vaults tonight and just continuing to find what it is that helps them settle in to landings is going to be everything. I think because they all did, really a great job, I think Kylee and Aza, they like, really tried to go for the stick. And they over-tried on the stick, but they did big vaults."

LaCoursiere's beam routine lead to extended conversations between the judges and between the Alabama coaches and the judges. One of the judges gave LaCoursiere's routine a starting value of 9.8 while the other gave it a 10.0 starting value. Her final score ended up being a 9.725 on the event, and head coach Ashley Johnston spent the entire transition period between the third and fourth rotation conferring with the head judge.

Johnston said it was the longest inquiry of her career. LaCoursiere's connection series was questioned by one of the judges. The Alabama coaches originally did a routine inquiry with a video, which they lost. Then, they did a video review at the end of the competition and ultimately won the inquiry process to get LaCoursiere the proper start value.

"It was a long-fought battle," Johnston said. "Very thankful for Ross Thompson who is ultra prepared for all situations, and he had his book of every single rule that has ever existed, so we were armed and ready to bring all the information forward to ultimately make the right decision."

Despite not having its best meet on vault and beam, the meet was never in doubt for the Crimson Tide. Alabama held a sizable lead over Oregon State after each rotation and continued to build on the lead. The Beavers only scored above a 49 on one event: balance beam.

Alabama has now started the season with four straight scores in the 197 range and will likely stay in the top-five nationally after this meet.

Up next for the Crimson Tide is a road meet against the defending national champion and the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners next Friday.

"Depth is really going to be the determiner of how far we go, and so having the seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th person who is pushing everybody in the lineup, continuing to find their edge, is going to be a really important focus point for us right now," Johnston said. "I think we did a good job of that tonight, but that's absolutely a priority as we go into this next month because we've got a gauntlet of a season coming up."

Final team scores in Alabama vs. Oregon State meet- Jan. 30, 2026 | UA Athletics

Alabama gymnastics event scores vs. Oregon State- Jan. 30, 2026 | UA Athletics

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