2008 Woodie Awards
Gym Dogs' odds great for NCAA Regional meet
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Sports
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The Northeast Regional at Penn State University will be the most competitive of the six Regionals, but only because of the battle for second place between No. 12 Auburn and No. 13 Denver.
The Gym Dogs won't have to make hotel reservations for the National Championship, but they already have punched their figurative ticket to the finals because the competition is simply lacking.
In their history, the Gym Dogs have never gone to a Regional Championship without finishing in the top two, and when Yoculan has to count the number of miscues the team would have to make just to make this year's event competitive, that shows the team is in good shape.
Simply said, there are not enough teams that can compete on the same level as the No. 1 Gym Dogs. The odds are worse than a No. 16 seed beating a No. 1 in the NCAA Basketball Tournament - it's closer to national champion Kansas losing to a high school JV team.
No other team in the regional has scored nearly as high as Georgia's average of 197.125 this season, nor have they come within a point-and-a-half of the Gym Dogs.
That margin in gymnastics is roughly equivalent to a team being favored by about 40 in football. Losses like that just don't happen. Given how the season has progressed to this point, the team taking the opportunity to relax is not a bad thing.
Returning every athlete that participated in last year's Championship season, the Gym Dogs have had a tough time putting themselves in position to capture their fourth consecutive title.
A 16-2 record and the No. 1 ranking in the nation may not scream "drama," but five weeks ago, junior Courtney Kupets was lost for the season to a torn Achilles tendon.
Take away top competitors Ashley Postell from Utah or Amanda Castillo from Florida, and those teams become mediocre. However, the Gym Dogs without Kupets are simply brought back to the pack of teams capable of winning a title.
But the team is still light years ahead of the likes of Auburn and Denver. The Tigers finished fifth out of the seven teams at SECs, 1.25 points behind the Gym Dogs. That was after the Gym Dogs 1.65-point blowout on the plains in February.
Head coach Suzanne Yoculan will not allow her team to take its competition lightly, but the Gym Dogs can afford to be well below average on Saturday.
It may be a bad vacation spot, but the Gym Dogs can enjoy a relaxing weekend in Pennsylvania and save the drama for Stegeman in two weeks.
- Kevin Copp is a sportswriter for The Red & Black.
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