2008 Woodie Awards
Gym'Backs look to improve with confidence
Harold McIlvain II
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Sports
The No. 11 Arkansas Gym'Backs will travel to the Southeastern Conference championship meet in Duluth, Ga., Saturday at 3 p.m., where the team will look to improve on its fifth-place performance last year, which tied the best finish in program history.
The team is ready to showcase its talent in a high energy atmosphere but will look to top some more SEC opponents this time around, Arkansas co-head coach Rene Cook said.
"We are excited to head down to the championship," she said. "The environment is amazing, and the equipment should be at an Olympic level, which is exciting for the girls. Our main goal is we want to move up in the conference. We want to go out there and hit our routines and be confident."
The Gym'Backs will be better equipped this year with a confidence that has been established throughout the season, but moving up in the league will not be easy as every team is vying to make progress, Cook said.
"It is still going to be tough as everyone wants to beat us," she said. "It is a great conference and you can't slip up and expect to do anything great. But at the same time we have beaten some good teams this year, and we have been fairly consistent. So with that behind us, it gives us a little more confidence heading into this competition than in the past."
Arkansas co-head coach Mark Cook sees the meet as a great opportunity for the Gym'Backs to move up the SEC ladder by knocking off a team that they haven't beaten before.
"If we can do that, it will be a huge accomplishment for us, and it will give us some confidence heading into the regional championship," he said.
Mark Cook said the team can definitely challenge LSU and Alabama at the meet, but will need to also hold off Auburn and Kentucky. It will take a little more to catch Florida and Georgia, he said.
"They will be hard for anyone to catch," Mark Cook said. "But it is just like anything else; if (Florida and Georgia) have a bad day, it is an opportunity for us. The girls have more confidence going into this competition than they ever have before. We have to just follow through with that confidence."
The team traveled to the meet last year with six freshmen that had never performed on a podium before, which has a bouncier feel to it, so the squad will spend more time prior to the meet to gain confidence on surface used at the meet, Mark Cook said.
With Arkansas being away from campus for several days, keeping the team focused is a priority, but this team knows when to focus and when to relax, Rene Cook said.
"It's a pretty busy time as we have practice and the draw on Friday," she said. "The meet [on Saturday] is earlier in the day as it starts at 3 p.m., which makes the day shorter as we need to get to the gym earlier. These (girls) are really good at focusing when they need to focus and relaxing when they need to."
The team is ready to showcase its talent in a high energy atmosphere but will look to top some more SEC opponents this time around, Arkansas co-head coach Rene Cook said.
"We are excited to head down to the championship," she said. "The environment is amazing, and the equipment should be at an Olympic level, which is exciting for the girls. Our main goal is we want to move up in the conference. We want to go out there and hit our routines and be confident."
The Gym'Backs will be better equipped this year with a confidence that has been established throughout the season, but moving up in the league will not be easy as every team is vying to make progress, Cook said.
"It is still going to be tough as everyone wants to beat us," she said. "It is a great conference and you can't slip up and expect to do anything great. But at the same time we have beaten some good teams this year, and we have been fairly consistent. So with that behind us, it gives us a little more confidence heading into this competition than in the past."
Arkansas co-head coach Mark Cook sees the meet as a great opportunity for the Gym'Backs to move up the SEC ladder by knocking off a team that they haven't beaten before.
"If we can do that, it will be a huge accomplishment for us, and it will give us some confidence heading into the regional championship," he said.
Mark Cook said the team can definitely challenge LSU and Alabama at the meet, but will need to also hold off Auburn and Kentucky. It will take a little more to catch Florida and Georgia, he said.
"They will be hard for anyone to catch," Mark Cook said. "But it is just like anything else; if (Florida and Georgia) have a bad day, it is an opportunity for us. The girls have more confidence going into this competition than they ever have before. We have to just follow through with that confidence."
The team traveled to the meet last year with six freshmen that had never performed on a podium before, which has a bouncier feel to it, so the squad will spend more time prior to the meet to gain confidence on surface used at the meet, Mark Cook said.
With Arkansas being away from campus for several days, keeping the team focused is a priority, but this team knows when to focus and when to relax, Rene Cook said.
"It's a pretty busy time as we have practice and the draw on Friday," she said. "The meet [on Saturday] is earlier in the day as it starts at 3 p.m., which makes the day shorter as we need to get to the gym earlier. These (girls) are really good at focusing when they need to focus and relaxing when they need to."
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