Creslyn Brose (Vicky Graff Photo)
Two-time All-American Creslyn Brose had a minor setback going into the season as a concussion that forced her to miss Kentucky’s first two gymnastics matches this season before she was cleared to compete at No. 4 LSU on Jan. 23.
Since her return, Brose has won three floor exercise titles in five meets going into tonight’s home match with No. 6 Georgia and now has nine career wins on her favorite event.
Brose has scored 9.9 or higher, including one perfect 10 last season, in 28 of her 31 career floor routines. She has had at least a 9.9 in every meet this season. She has the third-highest floor scoring average in the country at 9.935.
Brose put in a productive offseason to make herself stronger while “competing” with teammates and other UK athletes in the weight room.
“Honestly, we all have a very huge competitive side to us. When it’s not in competition, it kind of transfers over into summer trying to hit max numbers in the weight room,” Brose said. “We have a point system so you can win the summer lift.”
Brose said there’s no doubt she is significantly stronger than she was a year ago.
“You’ll lose a little bit (of strength) here and there because you’re working a little bit different muscles during the season. But that strength stays and you feel a difference,” Brose said. “Freshman year before I came in, we didn’t do that summer lift . I noticed a huge difference from freshman year to sophomore year because I had one summer under my belt. Then this last summer we were doing so much in the weight room that you knew you were getting stronger and it felt good.”
Kentucky (1-7-1, 1-3-1 SEC) is coming off a tie at Arkansas where it reached 197 points for the second time this season. Coach Tim Garrison’s team has had its three best scores of the season in the last three meets. Kentucky had a season high 197.325 point in a win at No. 12 Auburn and then had a 197.125 to tie Arkansas.
Junior Delaynee Rodriguez has been UK’s anchor this season with 13 event wins already. She has won the all-around competition in six of seven meets and anks sixth in the NCAA with an all-around national qualifying score (NQS) of 39.490. She has not scored below 39.400 in the all-around this season.
Rodriguez has set or matched career highs on all four events and the all-around, and has scored above 9.800 in 26 of 28 routines this season — and the other two scores were both 9.775.
Kentucky’s roster has been scoring consistently higher the last three meets with as Chesney Bennett on beam, Anna Flynn Cashion on vault, Callie Gardner on floor, Sharon Lee on beam, Sabrina Nemcek on bars, Ryan Noonan on vault and bars, Cecily Rizo on vault and Gabby Van Frayen on beam have all posted a 9.90 score.
Kentucky currently ranks 13th nationally on vault with a 49.170 NQS and 15th on floor with an NQS of 49.245. The Cats recently broke into the top 20 on bars with an NQS of 49.065, good enough for 19th.
Kentucky’s biggest improvement has been on beam where the team had to count falls in the first four meets this season. Kentucky is back into the top 25 on the event in the last three weeks with two scores of 49.200 and a season-high score of 49.350 at Arkansas last week.
Tonight’s meet at Memorial Coliseum starts at 6 and will be shown on the SEC Network with Alex Perlman and Anastasia Webb on the call.
Tonight is also Pajama Night with fans encouraged to wear their best Kentucky pajamas. Limited Kentucky Gymnastics pajama pants will be given aways. Poms, posters, and 10.0 cards presented by UK Healthcare will be available for fans at the door.
Fans are also asked to bring new stuffed animals to donate to Golisano Children’s at UK.
