Georgia 197.675, Kentucky 194.8

Since I spent the day in the Classic City at the 188th anniversary festivities for the Phi Kappa Literary Society, I'll be getting to today's (quite forgettable) baseball game tomorrow. For now, my focus will be on the Gym Dogs' win over Kentucky in Stegeman Coliseum.

The home gymnasts began the afternoon with a solid rotation in the vault. Courtney Kupets, Marcia Newby, and Lauren Sessler all earned 9.85s, but Tiffany Tolnay (9.9), Cassidy McComb (9.925), and Katie Heenan (9.95) all exceeded that mark to give the Red and Black a cumulative 49.475 score. The Wildcats, however, struggled with form problems and concluded with a Colleen Williams fall, posting a 47.975 on the parallel bars.

Georgia extended its advantage in the second rotation, where only one Gym Dog received a score below 9.875. Stellar bar routines by McComb (9.9), Tolnay (9.925), and Kupets (9.975) combined to earn the host squad a 49.55 tally which surpassed the 49.025 put up by Kentucky in the vault.

The visitors gained ground minutely in the third rotation, in which Hilary Ferguson's 9.925 in the floor exercise led to a combined 49.175 tally for Kentucky. Thanks to wobbles by McComb and Nikki Childs, a rough dismount by Tolnay, and a near-fall by Grace Taylor on the balance beam, though, Georgia earned only a 49.1, despite being bolstered by Courtney McCool's 9.925 mark.

The Gym Dogs found their form again in the floor exercise during the fourth rotation. Taylor's 9.85 turned out to be the Red and Black's lowest score of the meet's final stanza, as Suzanne Yoculan's squad posted a 9.875 from Heenan, 9.9s from Tolnay and Abby Stack, a 9.925 from McComb, and a 9.95 from McCool. The wobble-prone Wildcats, who were wounded by Kristen O'Shields's fall from the beam, notched only a 48.625 to give the home team its final victory margin.

The 197.675 score earned by the Gym Dogs was the team's highest cumulative mark of the 2008 season, giving them their 61st straight win over the Wildcats (who have never beaten Georgia in gymnastics) and cementing the Red and Black's claim to the No. 1 ranking.

In other athletics news on the distaff side, the fourth-ranked Georgia women's tennis team completed a comeback in Atlanta to defeat No. 1 Georgia Tech in what was a good day for the Red and Black ladies.

Go 'Dawgs!