What Alabama gymnastics has to do to get back to NCAA Championships

Mikey DiLullo, The Tuscaloosa News
·2 min read
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Alabama gymnastics travels to Norman, Oklahoma, on Thursday to kick compete in its NCAA regional. The Crimson Tide is the No. 8 seed in the country and will take on No. 9 Kentucky, Illinois, and Iowa in the first session of the regional. The second session will feature top-ranked Oklahoma, No. 16 Ohio State, Arkansas and the winner between North Carolina State and Ball State.

Feb 24, 2023; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston talks to Alabama gymnast Gabby Gladieux before she competes on the balance beam at Coleman Coliseum during the meet against LSU.
Feb 24, 2023; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston talks to Alabama gymnast Gabby Gladieux before she competes on the balance beam at Coleman Coliseum during the meet against LSU.

"This team has proved time and time again that they know how to step up in big moments," said Alabama coach Ashley Johnston. "I believe that showed last week in our preparation for SEC. This is another meet we've had circled."

More:Alabama gymnastics No. 8 seed in NCAA Norman Regional, Auburn No. 12 in Los Angeles

The top two teams in each session advance to the regional final. The top two teams in each of the four regional finals advance to the national championship event April 13-15 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The Crimson Tide has made 36 NCAA championship appearances in program history, but hasn't made it out of the semifinals since 2017.

Here's what Alabama has to do to advance:

Keep up the hot streak

The Crimson Tide most recently took home second place at the SEC championship event and did so after entering the meet as the fourth seed. Prior to that, Alabama had scored at least a 197 in six of the final seven regular-season meets, with three of those six being a 197.5 or higher. The Crimson Tide may need a 197 to advance out of the first round, and will likely need another to make it out of the regional final.

Continue quad-meet success

Alabama has competed in two quad meets so far this season, taking home two second places. But those second-place efforts were the Crimson Tide's two highest scores of the season: a 198 in the Metroplex Challenge and a 197.925 in the SEC Championship.

With the rest of the season being quad meets, Alabama needs to keep up the high totals it scored early in the season.

Figure out Kentucky

The Crimson Tide and the Wildcats will meet for the third time this season in this regional after splitting their first two meetings. Kentucky got a win in the regular season and Alabama returned the favor in the SEC Championship. It's entirely possible that whichever comes out on top between these two teams could claim a spot in the national championship.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What Alabama gymnastics has to do to return to NCAA Championships