UA gymnastics
Senior Braie Speed (above) will help lead the No. 11 Arkansas gymnastics team into the SEC Championships today at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis.
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 11 Arkansas Razorbacks will try to ride the momentum of a school-record performance last week into their first top-three finish at the SEC championships today.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville is the topranked team in the 2 p.m. session at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis and will face No. 16 Auburn, No. 18 Georgia and No. 21 Missouri. The night session will feature the league’s heavy hitters in No. 2 LSU, No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Alabama and No. 9 Kentucky.
Arkansas (5-10-1) posted a program-best 197.3 in a trimeet victory at Barnhill Arena last week and would like to cement its status as a No. 2 seed in the upcoming NCAA regionals. The Razorbacks could do that with another big score.
“Our team is really excited for SECs,” Arkansas assistant coach Jaime Armbrust said. “It’s a fun meet with a lot of energy, and I think coming off the momentum from senior night last weekend will really help us have a great meet.”
The Razorbacks posted their best finish at the SECs in 2011, Armbrust’s junior season at Arkansas, with a third-place showing and a 195.8 score.
Arkansas has prepped itself for the distractions of a fourteam competition by participating in a pair of quad meets and last week’s tri meet. The Razorbacks also have competed on the kind of raised podium they’ll see at today’s meet at the Mardi Gras Invitational in St. Charles, Mo., on Feb. 16.
“It really helps a lot, especially our last two meets being quad and tri meets,” Armbrust said. “It helps the flow and energy within our team. It helps you stay on pace.”
Armbrust said the earlier podium meet, in which Arkansas had two major mistakes on the floor and had to count a 9.525 on the vault, can serve as motivation.
“We had some errors in that meet, and we’re really looking to attack those and be more prepared for the meet this weekend,” she said. “We know the adjustments we need to make.”
The Razorbacks will be led by seniors Amanda Wellick and Braie Speed, and all-arounders in sophomore Jessica Yamzon and freshman Sarah Shaffer. Speed is the reigning SEC specialist of the week, and Shaffer pulled down SEC freshman of the week honors after scoring a season-best 39.5, including a 9.95 on the floor exercise, last week.
“I’m so proud of Braie,” Armbrust said. “I think this is well-deserved and wellearned. She’s been so consistent and outstanding on vault and bars this season.
“And Sarah Shaffer, getting her back in the beam lineup really helped our confidence going into SECs this weekend.”