Alabama gymnasts trying to play rude host

By

Posted 6:57AM on Thursday, April 18, 2002

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA - Suzanne Yoculan figures it's all coming together for Alabama. The top-seeded Crimson Tide have all the comforts of home at the NCAA women's gymnastics championships beginning here Thursday. ``It's a great advantage if you have all the other ingredients, and Alabama does,'' said Yoculan, Georgia's coach. ``Alabama knows how to win and they know how to win at home. There won't be pressure for them, it'll be fun. A lot of fun for them and not so much fun for us.'' The Tide also have a healthy Andree' Pickens. Alabama is 2-for-2 as the host team of the NCAA championships, winning it in 1991 and 1996 and 2002? ``They've hosted it three times and won it three times,'' Utah coach Greg Marsden said twice. Patterson corrected his math the second time, but Marsden knows it will be a challenge to contend with the pro-Alabama crowd. ``To be here in front of 10 or 15,000 people and have most of them cheering for you is a great advantage,'' he said. The Tide still must go through two-time defending champion UCLA, with five Olympians and eight former national team members. Not to mention nine-time champion Utah and five-time winner Georgia, which barely survived the regional. Alabama's wildcard is what Yoculan calls ``the Pickens factor.'' Three-time Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Year Andree' Pickens ruptured an Achilles tendon a few days before last year's championship. Now, Pickens is back, winning two events at the regional championships to spark the Tide's 197.90. Yoculan likened it to her team's situation in 1993, when Heather Stepp returned from an injury for her senior season and captured four All-America honors in leading the GymDogs to the title. ``Her personal motivation was a driving force for our team in '93,'' Yoculan said. The top three teams from each of Thursday's two sessions advance to the team finals on Friday. The individual event champions will be crowned Saturday night. Only four teams have claimed NCAA titles, and all four are among the favorites again. Utah has won nine times, Georgia five and UCLA and Alabama three, including each of the two times the Crimson Tide have hosted. Could this be the year another team breaks through? ``I feel like this is one of the most closely contested NCAA championships in a long, long time,'' Alabama coach Sarah Patterson said. ``I don't think you can look around and pick the exact teams that are going to qualify for the Super Six on Friday. ``Parity has come a long way in our sport.'' Maybe not far enough, with Alabama, UCLA (197.425) and Utah (197.10) the only teams to crack 197 at the regionals and four teams failing to reach 196. None of the teams can surpass UCLA's red, white and blue pedigree. Olympian Jamie Dantzscher set a collegiate record with seven consecutive perfect 10s on the floor exercise this year. She also has this year's top all around score (39.90). Field sacrificed some regular season meets to keep her top gymnasts healthy for this point. ``We've made coaching decisions the whole season to keep our girls as healthy as possible,'' she said. ``We lost meets because of that but right now we're glad we did.'' Utah has only eight gymnasts available, but one of them is Theresa Kulikowski, who has won three NCAA titles and finished second twice in the past two years. The always blunt Yoculan, whose team came in second last year, is bemoaning her team's lack of depth and experience. The GymDogs have four All-Americans limited by injuries Cassie Bair, Kinsey Rowe, Chelsa Byrd and Sierra Sapunar. ``We are a walking paradox,'' Yoculan said. ``We really should be crawling or limping. We're a very vulnerable team this year. I don't think it would be an upset for someone to beat Georgia this year.'' But, she added, ``If there's a way, Georgia will find it.''