Gymnastics team back in gym

Every fall, the Alabama gymnastics team gathers for team bonding exercises and to create a new identity for the team that will compete in the spring.

One of the main goals of this time spent together is to generate a team slogan that will help define the upcoming season.

This year’s slogan, “Stronger We Are Together,” or SWAT, will fuel the Crimson Tide’s upcoming run at a potential third national championship in three years. Alabama has won back-to-back championships, currently with six in school history.

The two-time defending NCAA Champion Alabama gymnastics team holds a No. 1 preseason rank after being ranked second in the preseason poll the last two years.

The Tide will return to the apparatus on Friday, when it travels to Columbia for a meet with Missouri. It will be the Tigers’ inaugural meet in the Southeastern Conference and will be a pink meet, with both teams wearing pink leotards. Alabama is currently undefeated when wearing pink.

Alabama returns seven of its eight All-Americans from last season: seniors Ashley Priess, Marissa Gutierrez and Ashley Sledge; juniors Kim Jacob, Sarah DeMeo and Diandra Milliner and sophomore Kayla Williams. The Tide returns 20 of its 24 routines from last year’s championship team.

“It really doesn’t matter if we’re returning a majority of our routines from a championship team as we did last season, or if we’re going to be counting on half our routines coming from the freshman class as we have at different times, the dynamic is always different,” said head coach Sarah Patterson. “Every year you start fresh; every year it’s a new team, with different chemistry and personality. So we work on that from day one, coming together and discovering that team’s identity.”

Patterson and husband David are entering their 35th season at the helm of one of only four teams to win an NCAA championship (1988, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2011, 2012).

“Winning as consistently as she’s won is tremendous,” UA director of athletics Mal Moore said. “We support Sarah stronger than any coach at the University.”

Every year presents a different set of challenges, and Alabama is aware of the target it will have on its back this season. While success often breeds complacency in most, this team isn’t shying away from the challenge. In fact, they’re embracing it.

“There’s a lot of team ownership this year,” Priess said. “We’re aware of the success we’ve experienced and aware of what it takes to try to do it again. That ownership has created a competitive atmosphere where we have a lot of desire to be successful again. That’s the difference for this team because everybody is willing to do what it takes to be at the top.”

Priess’ impact

Like every talented team, Alabama gymnastics has had to deal with departures over the years. Going into the 2012 season, Alabama had to replace Honda Award winner Kayla Hoffman, and in 2013, Alabama has to replace two-time individual NCAA champion and 12-time All-American Geralen Stack-Eaton.

But Alabama won’t have to replace fifth-year senior Ashley Priess. Priess, only the second fifth-year senior in program history, received a medical redshirt after breaking her right ankle and ripping ligaments from the bone in the Super Six at the 2010 nationals. It sidelined her in 2011, but never took away her fight.

Priess bounced back in 2012, punctuating her comeback by clinching the championship with a 9.95 on the balance beam.

Priess said she began discussing it midway through last season and debated whether her body could handle it, but the team’s championship run last season made it an easy decision.

“After nationals, even though it felt like the fairytale ending for everything I could have hoped for,” she said, “there was something about the experience and the journey with all these girls that made me think I’d be crazy to not want to do that again.”

She will have to be paced to avoid injury early in the season, but her presence gives the Tide another veteran leader. As the season progresses, Priess should re-emerge as an all-around competitor for the Tide. But it isn’t just her skills that have teammates excited.

“I’m thankful that she is back,” Gutierrez said. “She leads in so many different ways and is so good at what she does. I like to observe her. The coaches have this look that lets us know when we need to pick it up and she’ll walk around like ‘hey, get it together.’ So having her leadership on this team is a blessing in itself beyond her gymnastics.”

Tough Schedule

The Tide will face one of the toughest schedules in the nation. All nine of its opponents are ranked in the top-25, including three of the top four, with UCLA at No. 2, Florida at No. 3 and Oklahoma at No. 4. The Gators and Bruins, who finished second and third last season, respectively, in the tightest championship finish in gymnastics history, are separated by a single point in the preseason poll.

“It’s definitely the toughest schedule I’ve experienced during my time here,” Priess said. “Teams are going to bring their best game when they see Alabama. They’re going to make sure they peak on that night. For us, it’s a battle each week of trying to be at our best. Yet, we also have to be smart about timing our peak performance.”

The entire schedule is listed below:

Date Opponent /Event Location Time

Friday, Jan. 11 Missouri Columbia, Mo. 6:30 p.m. CT

Friday, Jan. 18 LSU Tuscaloosa, Ala. 7:30 p.m. CT

Friday, Jan. 25 Kentucky (Power of Pink) Tuscaloosa, Ala. 7:30 p.m. CT

Weekend of Feb. 1 Georgia – Athens, Ga. TBA

Friday, Feb. 8 Florida – Gainesville, Fla. 7 p.m. ET

Friday, Feb. 15 Auburn – Tuscaloosa, Ala. 7:30 p.m. CT

Friday, Feb. 22 Arkansas – Fayetteville, Ark. 7 p.m. CT

Friday, March 1 UCLA – Tuscaloosa, Ala. 7:30 p.m. CT

Friday, March 8 LSU – Baton Rouge, La. 7 p.m. CT

Friday, March 15 Oklahoma – Tuscaloosa, Ala. 7:30 p.m. CT