Why GymDogs’ tri-meet win had a ‘special’ feel given circumstances of lineup change

A small group of reporters waited in the Stegeman Coliseum tunnel for post-meet interviews Friday night. As teams exited the competition floor after a brief award ceremony, Rachel Baumann walked by with a bouquet of flowers tucked under her arm after scoring a career-high 9.950 on balance beam. A wide smile appeared on the sophomore’s face.

In a sense, Baumann came out of Georgia’s tri-meet win over Ball State and Eastern Michigan baffled — in the most over-joyous of ways possible. She used the term “insane” to describe the GymDogs’ performance when briefly mingling with the media. Baumann also joked that she’d hang on to the bouquet she just received in case she didn’t get flowers elsewhere for Valentine’s Day.

“Insane” wasn’t used to describe the final result, a 197.150 that was Georgia’s third-highest score of the season. The GymDogs had some mistakes and have a higher ceiling. But Friday’s meet didn’t unfold as smoothly as any other, and a flurry of unique circumstances gave Georgia a sense of pride to score how it did.

Georgia head coach Courtney Kupets Carter used the metaphor of a turbulent flight to describe things. It’s those moments when on an aircraft 30,000 feet high and everyone holds a collective breath because of persistent bumpiness. Nobody knows what’s next, and Georgia had a similar sensation from the wave of adversity that came its way.

A day prior to the meet, an unfortunate injury occurred during the intrasquad workout. Freshman Amanda Cashman, who had dealt with lower-leg soreness and tightness for a number of weeks, suffered a season-ending Achilles tear on floor exercise. It marked the second time Georgia experienced such a shattering scenario this season, following senior Rachel Dickson in early January.

Achilles tears have become an issue throughout NCAA gymnastics this season, and it’s difficult to fully avoid the potential of that injury.

“It’s about family, stepping up when we need to,” said senior leader Sabrina Vega. “We can cry when needed outside of the gym, but we are ready to rock-and-roll inside the gym.”

Georgia had to regroup with a competition 24 hours later. A few other nagging injuries have made for some quick changes this season, and the lineups had significant new looks as Friday’s festivities began.

▪ Vega (heel) returned to the vault and uneven bars lineups to compete as an all-arounder for the first time since Jan. 10.

▪ Junior Marissa Oakley attempted a bar routine in warmups, but a shoulder injury has been lingering since mandatory practices this fall. Kupets Carter said Oakley began to “compensate her gymnastics,” and therefore didn’t compete as a precaution.

▪ Freshman Soraya Hawthorne debuted on balance beam and competed in three events for the first time as a GymDog. She served as the anchor, replacing Oakley.

▪ Junior Emily Schild returned to the uneven bars lineup for the first time since March 2019. Schild suffered an extensive knee injury, and connected her entire routine as recently as last Tuesday. Kupets Carter didn’t guarantee Schild would return to the competition lineup, but she did so rather quickly due to the injuries to Cashman and Oakley.

▪ Sophomore Sterlyn Austin made her GymDog debut on floor exercise. Austin has been a potential candidate for a lineup spot since the season began, and earned a spot as replacement for sophomore Megan Roberts.

“It’s making our job really fun in the middle of warmups to make changes and things,” said Kupets Carter, presumably using the word “fun” lightly. “We have depth. It’s something two years ago where I’d have to take someone out and have nobody to fill it with. It’s nice to see teammates come back from injuries and on events they’ve never competed.”

At many moments, Georgia powered through. Not everything looked eloquent and clean, but there were plenty of positives to take away. A test of mental strength came the GymDogs’ way, and Vega stepped up to remind those filling in that each gymnast trains on each event throughout the week. Even though it might’ve been a change for some to tweak their competition routine, performing on new apparatuses wasn’t foreign.

Georgia scored at least one 9.900 or higher on each event in the win over two Mid-American Conference foes, but uneven bars didn’t match the team’s recent upswing of momentum on the event. The GymDogs had to count a 9.675 from Schild after Vega “got through” her routine with a 9.525, and the overall output was a 48.875, slightly above its previous team average of 48.833.

After a lower-than-anticipated score, Georgia regrouped and focused on shining in its two strongest events — balance beam and floor exercise — while focusing on the key phrase of “calm confidence.” Georgia rediscovered its mojo and it looked like a normal night on its home floor again.

Three consecutive scores of 9.900 (Haley de Jong), 9.950 (Baumann) and 9.925 (Vega) allowed the GymDogs to score a 49.400 and live up to the norm on balance beam. An arena-erupting floor rotation followed with a 49.500 — a tenth shy of its season-high set vs. Auburn.

“It was a really special moment,” Baumann said. “(The new lineup additions) went out there, hit it and gave exactly what they needed to the team.”

At night’s end, Georgia didn’t soar toward its highest score. It did, however, piece together the best result it could given a heap of unforeseen circumstances.

And that gave the GymDogs plenty of reason to smile through turbulence.

“You land safely,” Kupets Carter said. “And that’s what we did today.”

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Why GymDogs’ tri-meet win had a ‘special’ feel given circumstances of lineup change."