"No Hitting the Brakes Now" for Alabama Gymnastics Heading into SEC Championship

The regular season has come and gone, and now the moment is here that Alabama gymnastics works all year for, the postseason.

And it starts with what junior gymnast Luisa Blanco called her favorite meet of the year: the SEC Championship.

"SECs is a meet like no other," Blanco said. "You have all these amazing schools. The competition this year especially, it's going to be incredible in the sense of everyone is so so talented. So it's really exciting to see how SECs unfolds every year."

The Southeastern Conference has eight different schools that have gymnastics teams. All eight are in the top-25 and four are in the top six, including the Crimson Tide. Those top four teams in the SEC— Florida, LSU, Alabama and Auburn— will all compete in the evening session at the SEC Championships.

Alabama head coach Dana Duckworth said this is the most depth and talent she's ever seen in the conference from top to bottom, and a lot of it is thanks to the "super seniors" who got an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA because of the COVID waiver.

These SEC teams have been going head to head all throughout the regular season, but the SEC meet allows them to all be judged in a neutral setting by the same judges on the same night. This year's meet just so happens to be in Birmingham.

"It is a opportunity for all the teams to be on the same floor with the same set of judges and to be able to go out there and just show the nation who Bama Gymnastics is," Duckworth said. "It’s fast paced. It's going to be competitive, and it just allows these ladies to shine. It's the sweet spot of all the hard work and regular season paying off to start postseason with something so much fun.”

Her team has definitely been having fun lately, and is starting to peak at the right time. Alabama was on a bye the weekend heading into SECs, but the Crimson Tide displayed one of its most impressive regular season weekends the week before in program history.

It started on senior night March 4 against Arkansas in Coleman Coliseum where the Crimson Tide scored a 198.075, its first 198+ score since 2014. Alabama followed it up two days later at Elevate the Stage in Huntsville with a 198.000 that was good enough to get the win over Auburn, Arkansas and Georgia. Competing twice in three days, plus competing on podium in a quad meet at Elevate the Stage was the perfect preparation for postseason.

"They were tired, they were sore and they still proved to themselves they were capable of being at their best," Duckworth said.

But according to Duckworth and the gymnasts, there is still more to give. 198.075 isn't the limit for this team.

"We just have this mindset in the gym all the time of consistency," Blanco said. "We hit those routines in practice all the time. So it just makes sense that we hit our average and our average just happens to be great. And I feel like we're going to be doing that week after week. And I have so much faith in my girls. I trust the coaches. I trust our training, and I feel like that's what's really set us apart this year especially going 198 twice. And we still have more in the tank."

Freshman Lilly Hudson immediately chimed in, "This team has so much to give, so much to give. We’re not done."

The three-time SEC Freshman of the Week has been a long-time Alabama gymnastics commit and fan. She was watching last year when Alabama won the title and looks forward to being able to compete this year.

"Dana [Duckworth] told me today on beam, ‘trust your deposits,’ and I really liked that because we put in a lot," Hudson said. "And so for us to not trust that is, I mean, there's no reason to not trust that. So I think just going out there and putting our best foot forward having fun with it, and that's what's gonna bring a good outcome for us."

Not only is Alabama trying to build on the momentum of the regular season, it also has the opportunity to defend that SEC title from a year ago. However, it's not something they're really choosing to lean in to.

"We’ve guarded ourselves against that," Duckworth said. "It’s kind of like we haven't earned anything this year. What we did last year should give them the confidence that they can, but it starts with a clean slate. And we're going to go in there on Saturday, and we're going to start on floor and we're going to put the best lineups up there and we're going to do the very best they possibly can.”

As the 4-seed at the event, Alabama will follow the same rotation it did last season. The Crimson Tide will begin on floor and end on beam, an area where they have had a lot of success this season.

The rotation order will bring a sense of familiarity, but regardless of the order, Duckworth thinks the preparations and mindset should be the same. She wants her team to start strong, finish strong, and maintain the speed in between.

"This competition rotation that we have starting on the floor this weekend, it mimics what we did last year," Blanco said. "And I don't know, I have a really good feeling. And like I said, we have an amazing beam team, so I have no doubt we'll get the job done.”

The first session of SECs begins at 2:30 with Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas and Missouri. The second session at Legacy Arena in Birmingham features the top-four seeds Florida, LSU, Auburn and Alabama. The meet will be broadcast on SEC Network.

Hudson summed up Alabama's vibe as she wrapped up the student athlete portion of the weekly press conference.

"There’s no hitting the brakes now.”