GymDogs Back in Action Friday Hosting LSU

Georgia vs No. 6 LSU

Friday, January 28 | 7:00 p.m. | Stegeman Coliseum | Athens, Ga.  Watch: SEC Network

ATHENS, Ga. --- The University of Georgia gymnastics team will compete against LSU on Friday, January 28 at Stegeman Coliseum with competition scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. The meet will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.

PERFECT 10 FOR RACHEL BAUMANN

Senior Rachel Baumann earned a Perfect 10 on floor against Florida. It marked the first Perfect 10 by a GymDog since Marissa Oakley earned the score on bars at the 2019 Athens Regional.

Georgia’s last three Perfect 10s on floor were all against Florida (Sydney Snead in 2018 and Courtney Kupets in 2009).

COURTNEY KUPETS CARTER EXPECTING BABY No. 4

Head coach Courtney Kupets Carter and her husband Chris are expecting their fourth child in July.  The couple has two daughters, Brooklyn (6) and Savannah (3), and a son Bentley (4).

GYMDOGS IN THE RANKINGS

After two meets, senior Rachel Baumann is tied as the best gymnast in the country on floor. Junior Soraya Hawthorne is ranked 18th.  On vault, senior Megan Roberts is ranked as the sixth best vaulter.

COACHING AGAINST HER FORMER COACH

LSU head coach Jay Clark was an assistant coach at Georgia while Courtney Kupets Carter was a GymDog. Under Clark’s direction, Kupets earned three Perfect 10′s on bars (against Alabama in 2007 and 2009, and in the NCAA Finals in 2009).

FACING COVID CHALLENGES EARLY

The GymDogs had to postpone meets two and three- at Kentucky and home against Iowa- due to COVID protocols within the program. The rescheduled date for Kentucky is February 4 in Lexington, the Iowa meet has yet to be determined.

COMPETING NEW SKILLS

Haley de Jong is competing a round-off, back handspring, back layout 3/1 in the first pass of her floor routine.  She competed this skill prior to coming to Georgia, but this is the first season she is competing it as a GymDog.

STEPPING UP FOR THE TEAM

Prior to this season, senior Abbey Ward had only competed bars twice in her collegiate career.  When she saw the lack of depth on the event, she stepped up and consistently trained the event so that she would be ready to compete for the GymDogs.

HAWTHORNE CONTINUES THE MOONWALK

Junior Soraya Hawthorne assumed the responsibility of taking over the Georgia moonwalk tradition on beam as a sophomore and debuted the move at LSU in 2021. She is the seventh GymDog to perform the moonwalk on the balance beam, following Nikki Childs, Cassidy McComb, Lindsey Cheek, Mary Beth Box, Morgan Reynolds, and Sabrina Vega.

FOLLOW THE GYMDOGS For all the latest on Georgia gymnastics, follow the team on Twitter (@UGAGymnastics), Instagram (ugagymnastics), Facebook (Georgia Gymnastics), and keep checking in to georgiadogs.com.

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