No. 6 Alabama Gymnastics Vaulting to New Levels
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The talent on this year's Alabama gymnastics team allows coach Dana Duckworth to do something not many other coaches can: put six 10.0 start values in the vault lineup.
That lineup was on display for the first time against LSU on Feb. 19, and the Crimson Tide scored a season high 49.450 on vault as part of an overall 197.725, the highest vault and overall score for Alabama since 2017.
"We attempted six 10.0 start value vaults which we have never done in school history as far as when the rules have changed," Duckworth said.
That rule change she is referring to is the adjustment in vault scoring made in 2015 to switch the start value of a Yurchenko full from a 10.0 to a 9.95. The Yurchenko full was the most popular vault in collegiate gymnastics at the time, which created a bit of log jam in the scoring, especially when it got down to the end of the season at the national championship.
Because of the rule change, coaches now have to decide if they will compete the more steady but lower scoring full, or if their gymnasts will compete the higher difficulty but higher scoring vaults like a one and half or double.
"If you’re going to do a Yurchenko full, which is a 9.95 start value, you pretty much know you're gonna land your feet," Duckworth said. "Now you’re going to a one and a half, which is a blind landing, and so you are taking a little bit of a risk especially for those that have not had a lot of competitive experience with that vault.”
Last season, Lexi Graber and Shallon Olsen were the only Alabama gymnasts to regularly compete a vault with a 10.0 start value. This season Mati Waligora, Luisa Blanco, Kaylee Quinn and Shania Adams joined Graber and Olsen in the lineup with that level of skill.
Quinn, a transfer from Nebraska, is coming off an ACL surgery and stuck the landing on her Yurchenko one and half against LSU, earning a career high 9.95.
"At the meet when I nailed it, I don't even know how to describe the feeling, it was just out of this world," Quinn said. "I was just so excited and I just couldn't wait to go and celebrate with my teammates because they really have helped me get to that point."
Duckworth said this has been an intentional strategy of the coaching staff to get the team to this level.
"From the very beginning, when an athlete gets to Alabama, if they can do a 10.0 start value vault, we are going to push for that start value because we need that kind of a high level gymnastics to be at the highest level at the end," Duckworth said. "So it has been very strategic in trying to prepare for that from really once they get here."
Graber has been able to watch the vault lineup grow over her four years to get to the point where they are competing at such a high level in her senior season.
"It just says a lot about how this team has just matured over the years and we've learned so much and we've grown," Graber said. "I'm just thankful to be a part of it and you know to be a senior that has the four years of knowledge and the experience to share with the ones coming in."
Even though Duckworth has the ability to put six high-scoring vaults in her lineup that does not mean that she always will.
"We might need to pull back here and there to make wise decisions, but in the gym we're continuing to push for those higher level skills, and just it just means a lot for a program to be able to put yourself in a position that your potential scoring is already .25 higher by having that option," Duckworth said.
For example, since Adams is a freshman and does not have a lot of experience competing the one and a half collegiately, some weeks she will just compete the full, especially if a mistake is made earlier in the lineup.
"When we've made a decision of, 'OK this week we're going to go for six of the 10.0 start value vaults,' and someone has made a mistake, that last vaulter ends up having to really adapt in that moment," Duckworth said. "We say, 'No, we're gonna do a full because we want to be smart.'"
Alabama will need another big performance from the vault lineup this Friday night as it takes on the No. 1 team in the country with a share of the SEC Championship on the line.
The Florida Gators are ranked first in the all-around, have the highest overall score of any team this season and are the highest rated team on all four events.
The Gators have already clinched at least a share of the regular season SEC Championship, but if Alabama defeats Florida on Friday night in Coleman Coliseum, the Tide will split the honors with the Gators.
