Kentucky led top to bottom in session two round one of the Norman regional, narrowly upsetting higher-ranked Alabama 197.475-197.375 as both advance to Saturday’s regional final. Both will compete with the winner and runner-up from session two for one of two berths to nationals.
“Looking at the two teams, I think they feel like they survived and honestly, I feel like we survived,” Kentucky head coach Tim Garrison said of the performance. He saw small mistakes, like steps on landings that weren’t necessary, and some out-of-character mistakes from usually solid Isabella Magnelli.
Still, the upset builds confidence going into Saturday’s meet and adds to the consistency the Wildcats have been building all season.
“Beating Alabama was an amazing feeling for us,” Raena Worley said. “We’re going to have to double that on Saturday, and that makes us want to fight even harder, which is fun.”
Garrison isn’t asking his athletes to do anything they haven’t done all year going into the final. Every gymnast knows individually what she needs to do, whether that’s adding a 9.950 or a 9.850.
“They need something tangible,” he said. “They need something real that they can latch on to, they can latch on to how they’re going to approach their…
