Alabama
No. 8 Alabama gymnastics opens 2024 season with victory at Super 16 quad meet
The No. 8 Alabama gymnastics team got their season off to an ideal start in Las Vegas by winning a quad-meet over No. 5 UCLA, No. 7 California and No. 17 Auburn at the Mean Girls Super 16 Championships. The Crimson Tide were the only team of the four to crack a team score of 197, finishing with a 197.125. Cal finished second with a 196.850, Auburn third with a 196.600, and UCLA fourth with a 196.550.
Alabama competed out of the traditional order, starting with the floor exercise, typically the final event, before moving into the vault, bars and beam. The double-rivalry matchups between UCLA-Cal and Alabama-Auburn, as well as the high rankings of each team, made this fourth and final session of the Super 16 one of the most anticipated collegiate gymnastics events of the early season.
More: Alabama gymnastics: 5 things to know about the Tide’s 2024 season
Here are three takeaways from the Crimson Tide’s first meet of the season:
Opening with floor routine was by design
Opening the night with an event typically reserved for the finale was an interesting way to start the 2024 campaign for Alabama. According to coach Ashley Johnston, though, starting with the floor routine was an integral part of the team’s strategy.
“We selected to start on the floor because it has been one of our really strong events, not just tumbling-wise, but we’ve been working hard on the performance,” Johnston said after the meet. “We felt like that was going to be a really good place to start strong and just settle into the groove of competing again.”
The team certainly seemed settled following a team score of 49.250 on the floor, and they carried that momentum through the rest of the night.
Blanco and Gladieux provide immediate star power
Senior Luisa Blanco and sophomore Gabby Gladieux started the 2024 season right where they left off in 2023. Both All-SEC performers last year provided the Tide with a much-needed spark in all four apparatus.
Gladieux scored a meet and career-high 9.975 as the floor anchor, setting the tone early in the night with a score that would not be topped, not just on the floor but in any other area. Blanco, meanwhile, clinched the victory for the Tide with an exemplary beam routine that earned a 9.875. She also tied for the meet-high on the uneven bars with a 9.900.
Both finished in the top five for all-around individual scoring. Blanco tied with UCLA’s Selena Harris for second overall with a 39.550, while Gladieux tied for fourth with Auburn’s Olivia Hollingsworth with a 39.450.
Encouraging debuts for two freshmen
First-year competitors Jamison Sears and Chloe LaCoursiere both made their Crimson Tide debuts in Las Vegas. The two freshmen provided a key spark to the Alabama lineup.
Sears scored a 9.850 as the leadoff vaulter, while LaCoursiere scored a 9.900 from the same lineup position on bars. LaCoursiere also performed on the vault, but an out-of-bounds landing knocked her score down to 9.775. Live stream commentators Jordan Chiles, a Team USA gymnast, and DD Breaux, longtime LSU gymnastics coach, agreed that she likely would have scored a 9.900 or above without the deduction.
LaCoursiere was also granted the opportunity for exhibition performances on floor and beam, scoring 9.850 and 9.575, respectively, on those. Each team had an exhibition performer for each event, but none of these scores counted towards the event scoring.
What’s next for Alabama gymnastics?
The Crimson Tide will travel back home to host No. 12 Missouri on Friday, Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. CT.
Alabama softball dominated all the way in its win to advance to its first SEC Tournament championship in five years.
The No. 2-seeded Crimson Tide (49-6) didn’t trail once in its 9-1 run-rule win over No. 3 seed Florida (48-10) on Friday, May 8. Alabama first opened tournament play with a 7-1 win over No. 7 Arkansas (42-11, 15-10) on Thursday.
Here are our three biggest takeaways from the Crimson Tide’s win over the Gators.
Alabama softball offense is starting to click at the right time
Alabama did not have to wait until the middle innings to find its offense this time.
Freshman Ambrey Taylor opened the scoring with a leadoff solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. It was Taylor’s 11th home run of the season and her second in as many days after also going deep against Arkansas in the quarterfinals.
Alabama continued to build from there. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the second, Ana Roman singled to right field to bring in another run. Marlie Giles followed with a two-run single, pushing Alabama ahead 4-0 before the inning ended.
Jena Young doubled to drive in two more runs, with one coming across on a fielding error, at the bottom of the third. Alexis Pupillo followed with an RBI single to stretch Alabama’s lead to 6-1 by the end of the inning.
Pupillo shot an RBI-double off the wall and Audrey Vandagriff doubled to score another, extending Alabama’s lead to 8-1, threatening run-rule territory with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, securing the run rule with an RBI single by Taylor.
After needing a later-than-preferred power surge to pull away from Arkansas, Alabama’s lineup looked more comfortable early against Florida. The Crimson Tide finished with nine runs on 13 hits.
Vic Moten handles early pressure in first SEC Tournament appearance
Vic Moten’s first SEC Tournament appearance did not start easily, but the freshman pitcher kept Florida from taking advantage of the new kid on the block.
Moten walked two batters in the first inning but answered by striking out three straight Gators to keep the game scoreless heading into the bottom half.
Her pitch count climbed quickly. Moten threw more than 30 pitches in each of the first two innings and more than 20 in the third, reaching 87 pitches after just three. But after battling through traffic early, she settled in with a seven-pitch 1-2-3 fourth inning.
Alabama’s lead gave Moten margin for error, but Florida’s offense still had enough firepower to threaten a comeback. Moten ended the complete-game effort striking out four and one run on three hits with seven walks. Not bad for the freshman’s first postseason appearance.
Alabama moves one win away from SEC Tournament history
Alabama’s win over Florida moved the Crimson Tide one step closer to separating itself in SEC Softball Tournament history.
Both No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Florida entered Friday tied with six SEC Softball Tournament championships apiece. With the semifinal win, Alabama will now have a chance to become the first program in conference history to win a seventh SEC Tournament title.
The Crimson Tide had won only two of its last seven meetings against the Gators entering Friday, including a loss to Florida in the 2024 Women’s College World Series. This was the first postseason meeting between the two programs since then.
Alabama had not reached the SEC Tournament championship game since 2021, when it won the tournament title.
When does Alabama softball play again?
After beating No. 7 Arkansas and No. 3 Florida on back-to-back days, the Crimson Tide will face the winner of No. 4 Texas vs. No. 9 Georgia in the SEC Softball Tournament championship game at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, May 9.
Amelia Hurley covers high school and college sports for The Tuscaloosa News and USA TODAY Network. You can find her on X at ameliahurley_ or reach her at ahurley@usatodayco.com.
Does that animal have rabies? Here are signs and symptoms to look for
Rabies is an infectious disease that affects the central nervous system in mammals. Here’s what to look for in pets.
The Republic
State health officials are urging people to keep their pets vaccinated for rabies after a fox in Elmore County and a raccoon in Lee County tested positive for the virus.
On May 1, the raccoon was spotted acting strangely near Auburn, and the fox emerged from a wooded area and attacked a person in Tallassee, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. The person has sought medical treatment.
“Rabies is not seasonal, and we continue to see cases year-round, but late spring is a time when activity peaks, particularly in wildlife,” said Dr. Dee Jones, state veterinarian for the ADPH, “The primary risk of rabies from wildlife is our pets, and keeping them up to date on rabies vaccine is critical.”
Alabama state law requires that dogs, cats and ferrets 12 weeks of age and older be current with rabies vaccination. In addition to vaccination, area residents are advised to take the following precautions to avoid possible exposure to rabies:
- Do not leave uneaten pet food or scraps near your residence.
- Do not allow pets to run loose; confine them within a fenced-in area or with a leash.
- Do not illegally feed or keep wildlife as pets.
- Do not go near wildlife or domestic animals that are acting in a strange or unusual manner.
- Caution children not to go near any stray or wild animal, regardless of its behavior.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com. To support his work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) says Alabama is on the cusp of delivering a sixth Republican congressional seat, and with it, potentially the U.S. House majority itself.
“Getting one seat in November, this November, we don’t have to wait two years, could decide the majority for the Republicans,” Aderholt said today on “The Rightside” in partnership with Yellowhammer News, hosted by Allison Sinclair and Amie Beth Shaver.
“So that’s very appealing,” he added.
Aderholt predicted a return to the congressional map drawn and approved by the Alabama Legislature in 2023, before the federal courts stepped in and forced a redraw.
If the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the injunction barring Alabama from altering its congressional map before 2030, the state would go back to the one approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor that year.
The 2023 map essentially creates six Republican districts and one Democratic district.
The Alabama Legislature passed both chambers’ redistricting bills Wednesday as the special session continues in Montgomery.
Aderholt referenced the “Livingston map,” the Legislature’s 2023-approved plan in namesake of State Sen. Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro), arguing it was consistent with the Supreme Court’s recent direction that race cannot be the predominant factor in drawing district lines.
“It would not put a second minority district, per se, but it would give opportunities for everybody in the state of Alabama to have equal opportunity to be elected to Congress, whether they’re black or whether white,” Aderholt said.
Some have called for state lawmakers to a map that would make all seven districts Republican-leaning, but Aderholt explained the issues with going down that route.
“There are some proposals out there to try to do a what is called a true 7-0 map where there’s no chance that a Democrat could be elected in any of the congressional districts…and there is some down there that are afraid that if you do away with that one, in addition to doing away with the new district that was drawn where Shomari Figures is that, that would be an overreach, and the court would put everything on hold, and we couldn’t do we couldn’t even get the additional seat until the court order, a different court order came through, and who knows when that would be.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
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