‘Stone cold’: How Alyssa Perez-Lugones quietly sets tone for GymDogs on floor exercise

Alyssa Perez-Lugones favors the attention. She’s not afraid to say it and has the floor routine to draw thousands of eyes toward her show.

She opens Georgia’s floor rotation with a mixture of choreography and tumbling that still leaves the GymDog sophomore in awe entering the season’s 10th meet. There’s not a part about it that she doesn’t like. She starts to giggle when mentioning the beginning and end, though, for getting to “be pretty sassy” and then hyping up the next person to appear on floor exercise.

Perez-Lugones, after being in and out of the lineup as a freshman, has found her stride. She has embraced the role as the starter of the GymDogs’ signature event. Her scores are a bit lower than her teammates in the middle of the rotation, a historical trend for starters, but she’s been consistent with crisp landings and awe-drawing spunk.

At the end of last Friday’s lull of a meet against Florida, Perez-Lugones served as a highlight with a 9.825 and posted her fifth-consecutive score above 9.800.

“She’s gotten in a rhythm over the last three or four weeks to come straight down on those landings and really sells them. She’s stone cold,” Georgia head coach Courtney Kupets Carter said. “She has passion, hope and enthusiasm for this team. That shows in her performance.”

Perez-Lugones didn’t always have the utmost confidence in herself, however. She began this season with a similar feeling to the end of 2019 — iffy about her production. The controllable factors didn’t meet Perez-Lugones’ standard as a few nagging injuries limited her emergence as a freshman. After the first two meets brought similar results, the all-important floor starter might’ve been a tad deflated.

She mentioned her frustrations of “stepping out” on floor to Kupets Carter, and got some reassurance. A few weeks later, before the Auburn meet, she had a meeting with coaches. Perez-Lugones had a heart-to-heart conversation with assistant Jason Vonk — the vault coach who provides an outpouring of encouragement to each athlete — and his message didn’t have any hesitancy.

“You need to realize that you’re good,” Perez-Lugones recalled Vonk saying.

Bam. Suddenly, the sophomore’s belief skyrocketed. The smile got a bit broader and the celebrations had another level of enthusiasm. Georgia got a rejuvenated version of Perez-Lugones.

Kupets Carter always emphasizes the importance of communication with her athletes. The GymDogs have a number of team meetings and smaller-group sessions to work through the obstacles that arise in a long season — injuries, lineup changes, lack of assurance, and so on. If an athlete chooses to not talk through a situation, the GymDogs’ coach could see it creating unnecessary pressure on the gymnast. Kupets Carter knows perfection isn’t attainable, but she also applauds Perez-Lugones for her desires to perform well for the team.

The proverbial light bulb appeared for Perez-Lugones after the Auburn meet as it began the string of 9.800-or-higher scores with a career-high 9.875 against the Tigers.

“I was able to feed off of them and really grow,” Perez-Lugones said. “I trusted them and that I know what I’m doing based on what they’ve taught me.”

Perez-Lugones handles a unique set of circumstances as starter. The goal is to start a rotation strong and set a bar for the other five gymnasts to follow. Sophomore Rachael Lukacs, who usually competes fifth on floor exercise, commends Perez-Lugones for embracing the responsibility of starter. Lukacs said she “can’t imagine” taking the first spot on floor.

One of the biggest challenges with being starter is the quick turnaround from each event. Perez-Lugones doesn’t compete on any other apparatuses, so there’s a short time to get settled and prepared after the meet has been in full swing for over an hour. There’s a four-minute touch period to gain composure during warm-ups — then it’s go time without hesitancy for Perez-Lugones. Georgia knows it takes a unique mindset to embrace the role, so there’s no consideration of moving her down the lineup.

“She’s pretty much our go-to,” said senior and floor anchor Sabrina Vega. “I don’t have to worry. She gives 100 percent in everything.”

Kupets Carter drew a comparison of Perez-Lugones to one of her former teammates, Abby Stack. She assumed duties of starter on floor exercise during the GymDogs’ championship runs and shared her wisdom with the current team ahead of the alumni meet. Stack never wanted her score to count, but instead for it to serve as a building block for the rest of her teammates. They’re similar in the fact that individual scores aren’t a concern.

And during that same meet, Perez-Lugones scored her career-best (9.875) It ended up being the dropped score as the GymDogs finished with a season-high 49.600 on floor exercise.

“It’s special for an athlete to take hold of letting go of their own goals,” Kupets Carter said. “It’s putting themselves there for the team.”

Perez-Lugones is the do-it-all teammate and contributes in every facet possible — including moving mats in a competitive fashion and being nicknamed the “queen of pit crew.” The lifelong Georgia fan from nearby Duluth wouldn’t want it any other way and wants to see her team succeed.

So, in that same moment where Perez-Lugones draws in a large crowd, it’s not about attention at all.

“This has been super exciting,” Perez-Lugones said. “I’m trying to inspire girls like me and those who come from similar places as me.”

This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 8:26 AM with the headline "‘Stone cold’: How Alyssa Perez-Lugones quietly sets tone for GymDogs on floor exercise."