SEC Gymnastics

Congrats to the Georgia "Gym Dogs" and SEC Gymnastics!! 4 of the 6 teams in the 2008 NCAA Gymnastics "Super Six" were SEC teams. Georia won it all for the 4th straight year! Florida, LSU and Alabama respectively finished 4th, 5th and 6th. (Utah and Stanford finished 2d and 3d).

Georgia's victory is especially impressive since they did it without last year's NCAA Gymnastics "All-Around" Champ -- Courtney Kupets. You can read more about what happened at Georgia “Gym Dogs” 2008 Championship.

Southeastern Conference Gymnastics means Women’s Gymnastics. The conference does not compete in Men’s Gymnastics. This is not unusual. 64 NCAA Division I schools compete in Women's Gymnastics. Only 17 compete in Men's. Surely this has something to do with Federal Title IX requirements, but that is another story for another web page. See Baseball and Title IX if interested.

So, which conference is the best college Gymnastics conference (again, referring only to Women’s Gymnastics)?

The answer?

The Southeastern Conference (SEC)!!

SEC gymnastics teams have won the Women’s Gymnastics NCAA Division I national championship for 8 of the past 13 years.

Georgia took six of those championships – including the past four years!! Alabama took the other two.

Besides the 4 SEC gymnastics teams discussed above (that finished in the top 6), 3 others finished ranked in the top 20 in the final 2008 College Gymnastics poll (see individual teams below).

By the way, only 7 SEC schools have gymnastics teams. So, all seven finished ranked in the top 20 nationally. All seven are again ranked in the 2009 Preseason Top-25 Poll. Amazing!! Yes, the SEC is dominant in the world of women's gymnastics.

Finally, the SEC leads all conferences in NCAA all-time individual titles with 67 (through 2008).

I want to take special note of the SEC’s FAN domination in college gymnastics. All 7 SEC schools that have gymnastics teams rank in the top 12 nationally in average attendance. 4 of the top 5 schools in attendance at gymnastics events (in 2007) were SEC schools. As we always say – it all starts with the incredible SEC Sports FANS!!

Thanks to ukathletics.com for the photos above. All rights are reserved for these photos.

Check out these New Articles about Shannon Miller and the 1996 U.S Women's Gymnastics Olympic Team: Best All-Time American Gymnastics Team and Best All-Time American Gymnast

How do we rank the rest of the major gymnastics conferences?

2. PAC-10 5 schools ranked in the top 20 at the end of 2008. Stanford finished 3rd. UCLA has been a dominant gymnastics power at times. In the past 12 years, UCLA won the National Championship 5 times. However, they have not won since 2004 and no other PAC-10 school has ever won it all.

3. Big 12 3 teams finished '08 ranked in the top 20. No one from the Big 12 has ever won the Gymnastics national championship.

4. Mountain West The Mountain West makes its first appearance on secsportsfan.com for the sport of Gymnastics. The University of Utah Utes is the reason. Utah has historically been a powerhouse in Gymnastics. They won the National Championship 9 times from 1982 – 1995. They finished 2008 ranked 2d only to The Georgia Lady Bulldogs. However, Utah has not won a National Championship in the past 13 years. And, one team does not a conference make.

5. Big Ten Finished 2008 with two teams ranked in the top 20 (Michigan at #4). However, 3 others were ranked 22-25. None have ever won the National Championship.

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We rank the 2009 SEC Gymnastics teams as follows (click on team name to go to its individual team page):

1. Georgia “Gym Dogs” -- Easy choice. So many superlatives with this team. Simply put, they are clearly, right now, the best college Gymnastics team in the country. No, the world. They have gone undefeated 4 times; won the SEC Championship 15 times, including 3 of the past 4 years; won the National Championship for the 9th time in 2008 (4th year in a row). Georgia is the only team in the nation to qualify for the “Super 6” every year since that format began in 1993. The "Gym Dogs" are ranked #1 in the nation in the 2009 Woman's NCAA Preseason Gymnastics Poll.

2. Alabama Crimson Tide -- The Tide is one of only 4 teams to have ever won a Gymnastics National Championship. The Tide have won it four times. They finished sixth in the 2008 NCAA Gymnastics championship. Historically, the Lady Tide Gymnastics team has finished in the top 4 nationally 21 times. No one else has that many top 4 finishes. Alabama is ranked 6th in the 2009 preseason polls.

3. Florida Gators -- Beat out Georgia for the 2007 SEC Gymnastics title and came in third in the NCAA's. The Lady Gators made it to 19 straight Championships before 2000 (only Utah can also say that). Last year, UF finished 4th nationally. The Lady Gators are ranked 3rd nationally in the 2009 college gymnastics poll.

4. LSU Tigers -- LSU Tigers Finished 5th in the 2008 NCAA's. Made it to the NCAA Championships for the 20th time in the history of its program. Susan Jackson won the 2008 NCAA National Title Vault. The Tigers gymnastics team is ranked 7th nationally in 2009 preseason polls.

5. Arkansas Razorbacks -- The Lady Backs ended 2008 ranked 11th nationally and are currently ranked 12th.

6. Auburn Tigers -- Auburn finished 2008 ranked 13th nationally; currently the Lady Tigers are ranked 15th.

7. Kentucky Wildcats -- Nearly every year UK has the worst SEC record in the conference. Yet, they still, manage to be ranked nationally. Right now they are ranked 25th. Obviously a testament to the strength of SEC Gymnastics.

Tennessee, South Carolina, Vandy, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State do not have gymnastics teams.

OK – I know you are dying to know which conference is the best in Men’s gymnastics. The answer – the Big 12. Why? Because the Oklahoma Sooners Men’s gymnastics team has won the NCAA Div. I national championship in 2005, 2006; and 2008 and 5 of the past 7 years.

SEC GYMNASTICS!!
SEC GYMNASTICS!!

UK gymnastics floor routine

UK gymnastics floor routine. Thanks to ukathletics for the photo .

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Florida did not tie Utah for second at NCAA's. Utah took second and Florida took third.

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