All the confetti has fallen, already been cleaned up and thrown away at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis. The 2018 NCAA Gymnastics Championships concluded Saturday night, and all 12 teams headed back to their home states, including Alabama.
The Crimson Tide didn’t compete in the final night’s Super Six competition, failing to advance from its Friday afternoon semifinal for the first time since 2007. Alabama finished fifth in the semifinal with a 196.625 final score. That was its fourth-lowest score this season. Alabama’s season high was a 197.525; its low a 195.675.
UCLA won it all with a 198.075 and defeated two-time defending champion Oklahoma. The Bruins trailed by .175 entering the last rotation and UCLA redshirt senior Christine Peng-Peng Lee needed at least a 9.975 on the balance beam to close that gap. She scored a perfect 10.
Final order from Super Six started with UCLA in first, then Oklahoma (198.0375), Florida (197.85), LSU (197.8375), Utah (196.9) and Nebraska (196.8) in order.
This was the last season with the Super Six postseason format. Next year, there will only be four teams competing in the final round.
Alabama’s semifinal score placed it eighth at the NCAA Championships overall.
Quick rehash: That was Alabama’s 36th consecutive NCAA Championships appearance. It missed Super Six for just the third time in 27 years. The Crimson Tide still owns six national titles, good for fourth highest in the nation.
