Gym Dogs Return To Number One Spot In Poll

Senior Tiffany Tolnay

On the strength of the nation's best score on Friday against Alabama, the Gym Dogs regained the No. 1 spot in the GymInfo rankings on Monday. The Gym Dogs were ranked No. 1 in the preseason, stood eighth after one meet, and were fourth after the second and third meets.

January 26, 2009

The Georgia gymnastics team is back on top.

On the strength of the nation’s best score on Friday against Alabama, the Gym Dogs regained the No. 1 spot in the GymInfo rankings on Monday.  Georgia has an average of 196.650 to stand above Utah’s 196.583 and UCLA’s 196.544.

The Gym Dogs were ranked No. 1 in the preseason, stood eighth after one meet, and were fourth after the second and third meets.

“While the No. 1 ranking always feels good, the process at this point of the season is more important to us,” Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan said. “We not only want to perform well in meets, but we want to improve each day in practice. If we can continue on that path, the poll will take care of itself.”

As a team, the Gym Dogs rank No. 2 on bars, No. 4 on beam, No. 5 on vault and No. 6 on floor.

Individually, senior Courtney Kupets is No. 1 nationally in the all-around, bars and floor, No. 7 on beam and No. 16 on vault. Against Alabama, Kupets posted two perfect 10.0s (bars and beam) and registered a career-high all-around score of 39.825. Senior Tiffany Tolnay is fourth in the all-around, fifth on bars and 17th on floor, while junior Grace Taylor is fifth on beam and ninth on bars.

The Gym Dogs (4-0, 2-0 SEC) will return to action on Friday at North Carolina State.

In other Gym Dogs news, the meet with Alabama will be televised by ESPN2 on Sunday, Feb. 8, at 4 p.m.

Source:  GeorgiaDogs.com