A welcomed surprise
While at the SEC Championships less than two weeks ago, Alabama freshman gymnast Wynter Childers applauded proudly as teammate Maddie Desch was named to the SEC-All Freshman team. It wasn’t until on the bus afterward Childers learned she was also awarded the honor.
“It’s cool. I was not expecting it because they didn’t call my name when I was at SECs,” the Spearfish, South Dakota, native said. “They kind of messed it up, and they didn’t name a few people on the list.”
This season, Childers has competed in every meet, beginning at Oklahoma with the balance beam. Eventually, she added in one apparatus at a time and started going all-around. She has done so twice, holding a career best of 39.425. UA coach Dana Duckworth said it’s possible Childers will do all four events at the NCAA Morgantown Regional.
As the only rookie who has gone all-around, Childers didn’t expect to have such an impact role her first year, but she sure wanted to do so.
“I wanted to work as hard I could to help the team get to where we are,” Childers said.
Regional dominance
This weekend marks Alabama’s 36th consecutive appearance at an NCAA Regional. Alabama has advanced to the NCAA Championships 34 times.
Overall, UA holds an NCAA-best 31 regional titles. One of those was won in West Virginia back in 2002, with Alabama going on to win the national championship that year.
The Crimson Tide heads back to West Virginia on Thursday. The meet is on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.
