Creslyn Brose, right, delivered another winning performance with her floor exercise Friday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky gymnastics did not have a team with a big margin for error and certainly did not in the NCAA Lexington Regional second round Friday night competing against No. 1 Oklahoma, 17 seed Ohio State and Rutgers.
Oklahoma scored 197.875 to win the regional as expected while Kentucky had four major mistakes and finished fourth with 196.175 points. Ohio State edged Rutgers 196.550-196.300 to also advance to the Super Regional Sunday at Memorial Coliseum. No. 8 Missouri and No. 9 Arkansas were the two teams to advance to Sunday’s Regional Final from Session I earlier Friday.
Junior All-American Creslyn Brose secured the regional championship on floor exercise for the second starting year with a 9.925 score. Brose has scored a 9.900 in all 10 floor routines this season and has scored at least a 9.900 in 33 of 36 career floor routines. She will advance to the NCAA Championships as an individual competitor.
Kentucky coach Tim Garrison said it “obviously” was not the way Kentucky wanted to finish the season.
“We wanted to represent ourselves and our program better, especially on our home floor, anywhere, but especially on our home floor. It’s tough,” a disappointed Garrison said. “I told the team after we finished that there’s not one thing I can tell you right now to make you feel better, but what I can tell you is the fact that we can’t let tonight define the entire season.
“That’s the that’s the biggest takeaway that they’re going to find that they’re gonna have to understand. I told them, they will realize it. It’ll take a little bit of time.”
Garrison did not have a senior competing in the regional and watched his team go from 39th in the country after the second week of the season to the 16th seed in the NCAA Championships.
“That, in my mind, was a season where they could have very easily just decided to pack it in. Not to be as driven in the gym, to be as driven outside of the gym, which is almost, I would say, equally as important,” the coach said. “But they didn’t. They stayed up. They kept working. They did not get down on themselves or their teammates. Kept lifting each other up and kept achieving till tonight.”
Kentucky started with a 49.250 on uneven bars. Junior Cecily Rizo led off with a 9.750 before freshman Sabrina Nemcek began a string of four sticks in a row. Nemcek hit a 9.900, good for a top five regional finish in her postseason debut. Gabby Van Frayen, Chesney Bennett and Ryan Noonan all scored 9.850 before Delaynee Rodriguez anchored with a 9.800.
“Obviously I thought we started really well on bars and had some momentum going. I thought the first couple of beam routines were solid. Not 9.9’s but they were solid, and they would have carried us,” Garrison said.
However, junior Sharon Lee and sophomore Chesney Bennett suffered consecutive falls on beam after Rizo and Brose both hit 9.800. Van Frayen added another 9.80 and Rodriguez finished the rotation with 9.900 to earn a third-place individual finish. However, the damage was done to UK’s team score.
Kentucky came back with a 49.323 on floor even though Callie Gardne took a hard fall. Bennett scored a 9.850 after her fall on beam, Rodriguez hit 9.900 and Brose anchored with a dynamic 9.925.
On vault, Rodriguez fell for only the second time in her three-year career to miss qualifying in the all-around for the NCAA Championship in Fort Worth, Texas.
