A flash of crimson flew through the air as freshman Makarri Doggette began her double layout dismount.

With toes pointed and legs glued, the flash ended with a stick, and cheers of “10! 10! 10!” erupted throughout Coleman Coliseum. In just her second collegiate meet, Doggette was mobbed by her teammates and smothered with cheers from the Crimson Tide faithful. 

“I’ve just always dreamed of these moments, and for it to finally come true and just waiting this long for it to happen and have my team by my side, it just makes it all worth it,” Doggette said. “And it just makes me love this sport 10 times more.”

The performance on the uneven bars against Oklahoma on Jan. 17 wasn’t quite perfect enough to earn a 10.0 in the judges’ eyes, but she scored a team-high 9.950. Along with her routine on bars, Doggette scored a 9.900 on beam and a 9.925 on floor against the Sooners. That performance earned her the honor of SEC Specialist of the Week. 

The Ohio native was a four-time USA Junior Olympic National Team Member and won several individual awards as a junior competitor. So while SEC Specialist of the Week is an honor, coach Dana Duckworth said Doggette is finding her joy outside of personal accomplishments.

“When you hear her in the press conference say, ‘I’ve never had more fun doing this sport than doing it with my teammates,’ then the individual accolade was great, but it’s the love she’s having and the joy she’s having doing it with her sisters,” Duckworth said.

In the first meet of the season at Auburn, Doggette competed on three events and anchored bars and floor, which shows that the coaches had confidence in her abilities early on.

“It makes me feel a lot more comfortable with myself and gives me that boost of confidence,” Doggette said. “Knowing that my coaches trust me is the biggest thing for me.”

During Saturday’s second-place showing at the Metroplex Challenge, Duckworth said Alabama had several big mistakes on landings, including Doggette’s floor routine. She scored a season-low 9.675.

“We really gave away about a point on landings, so if there’s anything we need to really focus on this week, it’s how do we get more landing tenths back,” Duckworth said. “But as far as those big mistakes, that’s just out of character and we can work through this.”

Sophomore Emily Gaskins said mistakes are just part of the transition to college as a freshman, as she went through her own last season. 

“I wouldn’t even look at any of their [the freshmen’s] mistakes as flaws; it’s just part of life,” Gaskins said. “It’s just what happened at that moment, and they learn from it. And they come in the gym and they work hard.”

Gaskins said Doggette has been an amazing addition to the team not only as a gymnast but also as a person. Many of the other Crimson Tide gymnasts have offered high praise for Doggette and the entire freshman class throughout this season. 

“They’re just extraordinary, very talented people, and we’re so happy to have them here,” sophomore Jensie Givens said.

After the Auburn meet, where Doggette scored a 9.875 on bars and a 9.850 on beam, Duckworth acknowledged there is still plenty of room to grow for the heralded freshman. 

“She really started off her first collegiate meet with a great start, but I know that there’s more to go,” Duckworth said on Jan. 10.

Luckily for Alabama fans, there are still three and a half more seasons to see what else Doggette can do. The journey continues for Doggette and the seventh-ranked Crimson Tide as they look to correct those big mistakes at No. 6 LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Friday night.