2008 Woodie Awards
Gym'Backs travel to top-ranked Georgia
Harold McIlvain II
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: Sports
The No. 11 Gym'Backs will look to improve on their season-high 196.425 they posted last week against Auburn when they start a back-to-back road trip starting tomorrow with a meet against No. 1 Georgia.
The Gym'Backs (4-4, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) are peeking at the right time as the team has been improving throughout the year, and last week was a great motivator for the team as they now know they can post a 196 with the chance of improving on that mark against Georgia (7-1, 5-0 SEC), Arkansas co-head coach Mark Cook said.
"This last weekend was a great motivator," Cook said. "It was major goal for us to stay loose and to break the 196 mark in scoring that we have been chasing a little bit. We broke it pretty handily, so we have areas for improvement, which is encouraging because we can see the potential for the score to go even higher. The girls were excited for that, but they are not going to be satisfied with just that."
Although Georgia holds an 11-0 record historically over the Gym'Backs, Cook likes the team's chances of having an opportunity to win, but the team will need to find a balance between both physical and mental aspects of the game, he said.
"We are going to have to stay loose," Cook said. "So much of this sport is mental, too. If you get too excited against a No. 1 team, you are going to have mental errors, so you really need to stay relaxed, keep the level of anxiety down and focus on your technique. I think that is what they are doing, and they are embarrassing helping each other by looking outside the box."
Arkansas nearly beat Georgia in its last meet in Fayetteville, but the Gym Dogs pulled away with a 196.100-196.075 win.
Georgia picked up another win against the Gym'Backs at the SEC Championship last year when it won a 197.175-194.550 contest.
Georgia, who has been ranked No. 1 for seven of the nine weeks this season, is coming off a season-high score of 197.675 last week over Kentucky, where the team set two season-best event totals.
After the Georgia meet, the Gym'Backs will travel to No. 9 UCLA where they will also compete against No. 5 Alabama and Cal State Fullerton.
The Gym'Backs (4-4, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) are peeking at the right time as the team has been improving throughout the year, and last week was a great motivator for the team as they now know they can post a 196 with the chance of improving on that mark against Georgia (7-1, 5-0 SEC), Arkansas co-head coach Mark Cook said.
"This last weekend was a great motivator," Cook said. "It was major goal for us to stay loose and to break the 196 mark in scoring that we have been chasing a little bit. We broke it pretty handily, so we have areas for improvement, which is encouraging because we can see the potential for the score to go even higher. The girls were excited for that, but they are not going to be satisfied with just that."
Although Georgia holds an 11-0 record historically over the Gym'Backs, Cook likes the team's chances of having an opportunity to win, but the team will need to find a balance between both physical and mental aspects of the game, he said.
"We are going to have to stay loose," Cook said. "So much of this sport is mental, too. If you get too excited against a No. 1 team, you are going to have mental errors, so you really need to stay relaxed, keep the level of anxiety down and focus on your technique. I think that is what they are doing, and they are embarrassing helping each other by looking outside the box."
Arkansas nearly beat Georgia in its last meet in Fayetteville, but the Gym Dogs pulled away with a 196.100-196.075 win.
Georgia picked up another win against the Gym'Backs at the SEC Championship last year when it won a 197.175-194.550 contest.
Georgia, who has been ranked No. 1 for seven of the nine weeks this season, is coming off a season-high score of 197.675 last week over Kentucky, where the team set two season-best event totals.
After the Georgia meet, the Gym'Backs will travel to No. 9 UCLA where they will also compete against No. 5 Alabama and Cal State Fullerton.
Be the first to comment on this story