The Gym Dogs sent a crystal clear nation to the collegiate gymnastics world Saturday afternoon; that they are truly back amongst the nation’s elite.

With its 197.900-197.875 win over No. 3 UCLA at Stegeman Coliseum, Georgia proved to the nation it can compete, and defeat, anyone at anytime.

Grace Taylor celebrates after scoring a 10.0 on beam. Photo by DOROTHY KOZLOWSKI

“We weren’t lying,” senior Grace Taylor said. “I feel like [Georgia head coach] Jay [Clark] should make an announcement that he wasn’t making it up about how good we are. Hopefully it will come out more often because it’s not afraid of the dark anymore. This team is coming out from under the bed.”

All afternoon long, the No. 5 Gym Dogs (5-4, 3-3 SEC) set season highs —17 total — and their score is good for second in the country, trailing only Oklahoma’s 197.95 set Friday.

The record scoring started on vault as juniors Hilary Mauro (9.9) and Cassidy McComb (9.875) and sophomore Gina Nuccio (9.875) each set season highs and the vault rotation was capped by sophomore Kat Ding’s career high 9.975.

“When I stuck it, I didn’t really know what to do,” Ding said.” Jay told me to count to three, so I just kind of held it, and then celebrated.”

Georgia then moved to the bars and once again was paced by Ding’s 9.9. Senior Marcia Newby and Nuccio each added 9.875. But for all of Georgia’s success, the Bruins (9-3, 6-2 Pacific 10 Conference) were just a little better. After two rotations, UCLA held a .025 edge, the slimmest of margins.

While the meet was far from over, the turning point undoubtedly came on the balance beam. After Mauro fell in the second spot, the Gym Dogs next two competitors were freshmen Noel Couch and Christa Tanella, who had three-combined experiences competing on beam in meets.

And both delivered in the clutch earning, career highs 9.9’s.  Taylor added a third career perfect 10 (second on beam) and senior Courtney McCool rebounded from a fall on uneven bars to add a 9.9.

“They are the heroes and I’m going to give them credit,” Taylor said. “They turned this meet around from disaster. We are believed in them, don’t get me wrong, but they were the heroes.”

“The freshmen had to grow up in a hurry and they did a great job of stepping up to the plate and it was amazing,” Clark added. “They did an amazing job and I felt this team really grew up and learned a lot about themselves tonight and the confidence has to grow from this.”

Not to be outdone, by Taylor’s 10 — “I think I’m a little more mature about them,” she said. “They are all special, but I didn’t cry or dance around after this one.” — UCLA’s Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs added a 10 of her own as the Bruins’ beam score of 49.650 erased Georgia’s 49.55.

Georgia then headed to floor and had its strongest rotation of the season, for any apparatus, of a 49.575. as four Gym Dogs topped 9.9. Mauro rebounded from her fall on beam to set a career high 9.950, McComb tied a career high 9.925 and Taylor added a 9.9. Yet, all the pressure fell once again to McCool.

McCool, who was performing a new final tumbling pass for the first time, needed a 9.925 or better to give the Gym Dogs the win and she did just that.

“We expected them to be good, but we were going to be better,” McCool said. “And that’s what happened. This is the feeling we have wanted for so long because it has been in us all along and by the time we got to the end it was like we were flying out there.”

For the team, this meet was a season in the making. All year they said they are a better team than they showed in competition, and they finally showed it.

“It blows my mind. This is Georgia and this is what we have been waiting for,” Tanella said. “I’ve heard stories of meets like this and we just hadn’t been able to put on together and now we did. This is what we have been waiting for and this is what we we’ve worked for, and have been trying to show. This is Georgia.”

Added McComb: ““It was unbelievable. Words can’t even describe the high we feel right now and the emotions that go with it.”

And the team remained levelheaded post-meet and knows it can’t get too overexcited over a strong performance.

“You have to have confidence whether you win or lose,” Tanella said. “When we lost to Auburn, did that take a toll on our confidence? Maybe a little bit, but it shouldn’t have. We have to try to not let wins or losses affect our confidence because we should always have this high level of confidence.”

But don’t think they aren’t relishing the victory.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Ding said. “It was the most relief I have ever felt after a meet. All we had to do was go out there and do us, and that was no different than what we do in the gym. Our crowd and our fans, they finally got to see that. We had been trying to prove that to them and they finally got to see it. It feels awesome.”