Junior Cecily Rizo won the all-around and vault titles at Friday’s meet against No. 6 Georgia. (Jeremy Abney/Dig Deep Media)
Junior Cecily Rizo has competed in every meet for Kentucky since arriving on campus but she was eager to have a chance to compete in all four events in the same meet this season.
She got that chance Friday in Memorial Coliseum against No. 6 Georgia and made the most of it. Even though UK lost 197.025-197.275, Rizo won the first all-around title of her career with a career-high total of 39.350.
Rizo started the meet by winning the vault title with a career-high tying 9.90. She added a 9.800 on the uneven bars, 9.80 on the balance beam and 9.825 on floor exercise.
“I had so much fun. Honestly, my goal was just to be calm and confident. I wanted to do big gymnastics and just be aggressive with everything that I did today,” said Rizo. “Honestly, I did that. I’m really proud of myself. That’s one thing that I’ve been working on a lot, and I’m really happy I achieved that.”
She did have to alter her mental approach just a bit since she was in all four events.
“When you’re in every event, instead of just three or something, I feel like you have to change a little bit because if you do one or two events, you get a rest in between,” she said. “But when you’re all-around, you’re constantly locked in and focused the whole time.
“My just staying calm and being just excited to be there and being in the moment was a really big thing for me.”
Junior teammate Delaynee Rodriguez already had won five all-around titles this season but a fall on vault in the first event doomed her chance of winning again.
“I feel like me and Delaynee are both strong competitors, and with our consistency, I feel like we can really help grow this team even more than what we have already done,” Rizo said. “I’m really excited to see in our next meet (what we can do).
“I don’t think anyone should see Delaynee falling as anything bad because that’s not who she is. That’s really random. We’re like, ‘What?’ That never happens (to Rodriguez). So I don’t want anyone to think that’s her.”
Kentucky came into the meet ranked 23rd and is now 1–8-1 overall and 1-5-1 in SEC meet. Kentucky went over 197 points at home for the first time this season, but it was UK’s third score of 197 points or more in the last three weeks.
Freshman Gabby Van Frayen and Rodriguez shared the bars title with scores of 9.875 and All-American Creslyn Brose won the floor title again with a dazzling 9.925.
Van Frayen had won two beams titles previously this year but had a bobble that left her with a team-low 9.675 on beam. She responded with a 9.80 on floor.
“Overall, I was really happy with my bars. It was one of my best bars I’ve done this season,” Van Frayen said. “I was really happy with that. I had a little wobble on beam that wasn’t planned or what I was looking for, but I’m happy how I stayed in the mindset and was able to finish it off really well, and then on floor I was really happy. My last pass was really the best that it has been.”
Despite Rodriguez’s first fall of her collegiate career, Kentucky still scored a 49.175 on vault to keep its streak of scoring 49.100 or higher in every meet this season. Cadence Gormley led off with a career-high 9.800, followed by Rizo’s 9.900. Callie Gardner added a 9.800, Ryan Noonan a 9.850 and Anna Flynn Cashiion a 9.825.
Kentucky scored a 49.200 on the uneven bars, a higher mark than Georgia had. Rizo and Sabrina Nemcek began the rotation with identical scores of 9.800. Van Frayen’s career-high 9.875 was followed by Chesney Bennet’s 9.850. Rodriguez rebounded from her vault to round out the rotation with a 9.875.
The balance beam was a problem for UK earlier in the year but that seems to have been rectified as UK scored a season high 49.375 points and also beat Georgia on this event.
Rizo led off with a career-high 9.825 followed by Brose with a 9.850. Junior Sharon Lee again delivered a 9.900 for the second consecutive meet showing that her early season woes are behind her. Chesney Bennett put up a 9.875 and Rodriguez anchored the rotation by matching her career-high 9.925.
Van Frayen started floor exercise with a 9.800 before Rizo added a 9.825 that was matched by Bennett matched that mark with a 9.825. Rodriguez came through with a 9.900 before Brose ended the meet with her 10th career win on floor with a 9.925 that had fans and teammates clamoring for a perfect 10.
