No. 3 Alabama Gymnastics Puts Up Second-Highest Season Score in First Podium Meet

This weekend was all about preparing Alabama for what it is going to face this postseason, and the No. 3 Crimson Tide continued to show why it will be a national championship contender.

After competing in an SEC dual meet against LSU on Friday, Alabama once again faced the Tigers in a neutral quad meet on podium Sunday afternoon along with North Carolina and Arizona at the Podium Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Crimson Tide came in second place with a 197.650, the team's second-highest score of the season. LSU won the meet with a 198.200 and UNC (195.950) and Arizona (195.000) came in third and fourth respectively.

However, for the second meet in a row, Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston wasn't very pleased with some of the scores her gymnasts received.

"Back to back competitions here in Baton Rouge–– lots of intense moments and environment that felt very championship-like at times, and I’m really proud of our team for being gritty, for being resilient," Johnston said after the meet. "I said really similar things when we competed at LSU a couple days ago, and I saw it again. I didn’t see any tired energy. I saw them continue to fight, continue to find ways to get better, continue to be unfazed. They had a really great performance tonight, and I think, at times, the scores didn’t reflect that, and that was really frustrating and could’ve been something to really distract them from the mission. But they were unfazed and continued to fight and find ways to put an exclamation mark on their performance."

Alabama came out strong with a 49.500 on the uneven bars highlighted by a 9.975 from freshman Azaraya Ra-Akbar in the anchor spot. Ra-Akbar won the bars title for the meet.

But the Crimson Tide's best event of the night came on the floor exercise in the third rotation. Alabama scored a 49.600, its second-best floor score of the season. Every score Alabama counted was a 9.9 or higher. Senior anchor Gabby Gladieux scored a 9.95 in the anchor spot, but one judge gave her a 10.

9.950 FOR GABBY GLADIEUX!!!! For the third meet this season, all five countable scores go at or above a 9.900!! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/m53YsGx6jk
— Alabama Gymnastics (@BamaGymnastics) March 1, 2026

"I think all six actually, were quite sound and really brought the energy, put landings down in a fierce way," Johnston said of the floor lineup. "A lot of performances I would say were their best performances of the season, and again, I think scores didn’t always reflect that. Those are moments that can be really deflating for an athlete. They absolutely would not tolerate that and just continued to work and put exclamation mark on performances. I thought Gabby Gladieux in that anchor spot: the split was a 9.9 and a 10. It was a 10 in my eyes. I thought that was one of her best routines of her career and excited to see that floor group continue to build as we progress.”

Alabama's worst score of the night came in the second rotation on balance beam. The Tide scored a 49.175, which ties its lowest score of the season on the event. Sunday was Alabama's first time competing on podium this season, but Johnston said she didn't think being on podium is what affected the beam lineup because the gymnasts had a great warmup on the apparatus.

"I think sticks are contagious, and I think as we started off that lineup and couldn’t quite hold on to some landings, we just couldn’t quite create the momentum that we wanted to there on landings," Johnston explained. "Landings being such an opportunity to take deduction was really what killed us there. Those are fixable things. I know this group is hungry to maximize what that performance looks like, and they’re going to work at it this week to be able to make sure they’re able to put those down in more of a confident way.”

The Tide closed with a 49.375 on vault. Graduate Jordyn Paradise earned her third straight vault score of 9.9 or better with a 9.925 in Sunday's quad meet.

Competing twice in one weekend is exactly what Alabama will have to face in the NCAA tournament. Alabama will get one more go at the format before postseason with upcoming meets at home against Kentucky on Friday and at Illinois on March 8.