Hailey Davis interacted with fans after she helped Kentucky beat Temple Friday night. (Larry Vaught Photo)
Hailey Davis not only has been consistent for Kentucky gymnastics this season but she has been consistently good.
The fifth-year senior from New Bern, N.C., scored a 9.925 on floor exercise against Temple Friday night to win the event. She has had the team’s high score on floor six straight meets and in 18 of the last 19 meets.
However, she did have an issue after the competition ended. She was “stressed” about being interviewed by media members about her performance.
Davis had just finished an engaging, winning performance and I wondered how she could do that and then be nervous talking to a few media members.
“I practice every day on the floor, so it’s a little bit less nerve wracking when you get those repetitions in than it is talking like this,” she smiled and said.
But with the way she’s performing, shouldn’t she be used to interviews?
“Maybe one day,” she said.
The performance to end the meet was a lot more fun for her.
“It was great. Coming out in front of our home crowd, it’s always a good time,” she said. “The energy was really high, and all of our lineups did really well, especially on floor. We really set each other up for success.”
Kentucky had a season-best 49.475 score on floor. Delaynee Rodriguez and Isabella Magnelli posted 9.875’s, Jillian Procasky had a 9.850 and both Skylar Killough-Wilhelm, the all-around winner again, and Creslyn Brose both posted a 9.900. All were season-best performances.
“I’m pretty proud of how I’ve been performing on floor and bars,” Davis said. “Obviously, I want to get that 10 (perfect score). That’s a goal we all have and what we practice for.”
Davis has concentrated more on floor and bars this year and that has helped improve her score.
“I haven’t done vault since my sophomore season, but it does allow me to lock in on bars and floor and kind of be able to save my body for the repetitions on those two events,” Davis said.
Davis smiles constantly during her floor program despite the huge number of moves she has to make.
“I don’t know how you couldn’t smile with the rock and roll floor music I have,” she said. “It’s not programmed in (to smile at certain times). I would say that they come naturally, but we always try to present ourselves that way. But no, not really (programmed). They’re very organic.”
Davis had a career-tying score of 9.950 a week earlier on floor to win at No. 1 Oklahoma. She now has four wins this season and seven in her career.
“We’re not coming out here to win individual titles, but it does make me feel good to set up my team with a good score and have something that is usable for potentially later on in the season (to qualify for the NCAA Championship),” she said.
Kentucky will host No. 2 LSU, the defending national champion, this Friday. Davis and teammates wore purple hair ribbons — LSU’s colors — against Temple but there was a reason for that.
“We had a teammate who was teammates with a girl named Kara Welsh (a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater gymnast) who was murdered earlier this year,” Davis said. “So this is in support of her.
“She went to one of the schools in Wisconsin, and their colors were purple so this is to support her. But yeah, next week we’ll have blue ribbons.”
