March 15, 2005
Well, this was a very fun weekend to say the least. It all started as we left Hearnes at about 1:00 p.m., on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Feeling back at home as our comfortable spoiled selves, we loaded our "Rock Star Bus" in usual fashion. I have to admit, it was nice to have the luxurious bus back after our fun-filled trip to OU, even though we are incredibly spoiled!!!
I don't know if anyone knows what our "Rock Star Bus" is like, but it consists of three rooms. The front room is where all the coaches usually hang out with girls poking in and out on occasion. It has a large TV with DVD and VCR and a kitchen area. The middle room has a bedding area with 12 beds, and about half have their own private mini TV with DVD. The back room has a horseshoe-shaped leather couch with another large TV with DVD and VCR. Needless to say, we are indeed lucky.
Well, to make this trip even more enjoyable, Kelley and I brought a Nintendo with us to play on a private TV - very, very exciting!!! No, we didn't beat Mario Brothers, but we certainly had fun trying. Everyone else watched movies, studied and of course slept. We arrived in a town just outside of Fayetteville around 6:30 p.m. We checked in to our hotel and had about an hour to unpack and get situated before going out to dinner. We ate at Chili's and our service was awesome, as they had all of our meals waiting for us as we arrived. I had a steak with broccoli and mashed potatoes and it was delicious!! After dinner, we journeyed back to our hotel and had our usual team meeting about the meet the next day. Then it was a few hours of fun until it was off to bed. Some people went swimming and in the hot tub, but I just lounged around talking and doing the girl thing.
The next morning we had to get up earlier than usual to get ready because this meet started at 2:00 p.m., instead of our normal seven o'clock. I got up around 8:15 a.m., because I have to do Bunny's hair for every meet so I needed to get my hair done and my make-up on before I did her hair. We went down to eat breakfast at our hotel, which, I might add was very good. I had a muffin, a banana, French toast, and some milk. After breakfast, I finished Bunny's hair and moved on to curling Julie Abaray's hair. We had to leave before I could finish so I did the rest of it on the bus (our bus has outlets for plugs).
When we arrived at the meet it was set up very nicely. I felt an unusual chill of nerves as I entered the arena because this meet was one in which I was anxiously waiting all season. You see, it was at Arkansas my freshman year, that I tore my ACL, among other things, and I had some unfinished business to take care of. The most nerve-racking part - we started on bars. This was my chance to fight out that demon that has challenged my college career and overcome my fears and prove myself to my team, my coaches and of course, to me. I was not going to let this dark cloud hanging over my head for so long ruin such an important opportunity for our team.
Warm ups went well, a little rocky. There was a little bit of difficulty for some to adjust to the equipment, but in the end everyone found their rhythm. As we marched off the arena floor to our locker room to prepare for the meet, you could feel the tension in the air. Everyone knew the importance of this meet. We all had to be at our best.
The meet started out strong on bars. The first two routines were hits, and then Kelley took a short landing on her dismount. She was adding her double layout back into her routine after competing a double tuck for a few weeks to protect her heel. After that, the pressure was on the rest of us to compete well. Alisha pulled out a hit and fought through some skills as did Sarah. Then it was my turn. The stakes were high and I was nervous. Not only did I have to make my routine, but I had to overcome this demon I had carried with me for so long. I was doing my routine without my tkachev because if someone falls before me in the lineup, then we take it out to guarantee a solid performance. It ended well, and I was successful as I landed my dismount safely and saluted the judges. I was very emotional and we were all excited. Then Erin did a very good routine in her exhibition and it was off to vault, and we were in the lead.
Vault went very well as we all made very nice landings. Alisha and Whitney both did extra special vaults to earn 9.9 + scores. Going into floor, we were still holding a strong lead. Floor was an important event for us because it's one of our strongest. We needed to capitalize here in order to carry our score into beam. Julie Abaray started us off strong and it carried over into everyone's routines. Kelley was back in floor line-up after a few weeks off because of her heel. She did a nice routine. Alisha finished off strong and Sarah had a solid exhibition to set us up well for the last event.
Most teams that end on beam tend to get tense and uptight. But I think that it's a strong place for us to finish. I have the highest confidence in our beam team and once again, they pulled it out. We had one fall from Ash, but she finished strong and the rest of the beamers had her back. Bunny had an exceptionally good routine and scored a 9.925. Nikki was our beam exhibition this week and she did a decent routine to finish out our awesome performance.
We were as successful as we had hoped to be and we scored a 196.05 to beat #15 Arkansas and record our highest away score of the season. This score was even more important than most because we needed a big away score to move us up in the rankings for regionals.
After the meet, we boarded the bus and ate Quizno's which we had ordered before we left. It was a fast trip home and we returned to Columbia around 10:00 p.m. This weekend was a blast and it felt really good to put such a strong performance under our belt, especially at an away meet.
Our next meet is against SEMO and Air Force here in Columbia this Sunday, March 20 at 2:00 p.m. It's our senior meet and the last time that Alisha and Rachael will ever perform in the Hearnes Center. Come out and see us, and help us bid farewell to two seniors who have helped change our program!
See you there!!!
Jodie