Ryan Noonan (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky only has one win so far this season, but coach Tim Garrison’s team broke into the top 25 last week and moved up to 24th this week when the National Qualifying Scores (NQS) were released for the first time.
Kentucky (1-7, 1-3 SEC) will try to continue its momentum and consistency tonight at No. 7 Arkansas (5-4, 2-2 SEC). The meet will be streamed live on SEC Network +.
Junior Cecily Rizo has competed in every meet since she joined the team for the 2024 season and she likes the improvement the team is making. Kentucky had scored over 196 in three straight meets, including a 197.325 at No. 12 Auburn and 196.825 against No. 7 Missouri last week.
“There is definitely way more to come,” Rizo said. “Obviously, that was not the start that we wanted to get this season, and we didn’t we definitely did not want to stay there at all because this was not who Kentucky Gymnastics has been. This is not where we want to be.
“We all know that we were so much better than what we have performed in those first few meets, and we wanted to show that. We’re in the running to go to nationals. Don’t any of you count us out. All of us have been pushing in the gym to be that top team.”
The Cats have been led by juniors Delaynee Rodriguez and Creslyn Brose. Against Missouri, Rodriguez claimed her fifth all-around title this season 39.500 total. She is ranked as the No. 4 all-around performer in the NCAA with a 39.455 NQS.
Rodriguez also had wins on the uneven bars and floor exercise against Missouri with career high scores of 9.950. Rodriguez has 11 event wins this season and has set career high marks on all four events and the all-around.
Rodriguez has scored at least 9.800 in 106 of 124 career routines.
Brose missed meets due to a concussion but has won floor exercise in the last three meets and many felt she deserved the second perfect score of 10 against Missouri when she got a 9.950 to claim the event win. Brose has the third-highest floor average in the country at 9.938. The two-time All-American has eight career titles on floor. She has scored at least 9.900 in 27 of 30 career floor exercises.
Sophomore Chesney Bennett and freshman Gabby Van Frayen matched their career best score of 9.900 share win on balance beam. It was Bennett’s first collegiate event win, and second straight week Van Frayen claimed a title.
Freshman Sabrina Nemchek has made the most of her recent chances scoring a 9.900 on uneven bars at Auburn in her UK debut. She followed that with a 9.925 against Missouri last week. Sophomore Ryan Noonan had her first 9.900s at UK on both vault and bars the last two meets.
After competing at Arkansas tonight, Kentucky returns home to host No. 6 Georgia on Feb. 26, goes to No. 3 Alabama on March 6 and ends regular season competition hosting No. 4 Florida on March 13. That’s four straight weeks against teams ranked seventh or higher nationally.
“It’s always that good competition but there’s so much fire under us even though their rankings are higher than us. We’re just as good as them,” Van Freyan said. “Watch us get an upset. I’m not used to competing week by week, but I actually love it. At first, I was a little nervous. I thought I might get tired.
“But I think that we just keep building and building and we just get on this roll and we’ll keep going and make it to the top.”
