Great gut check moment by gymnasts Lexie Priessman & Sarah Finnegan

Two special moments occurred back to back in the gymnastics meet last night. After getting off to a nice lead in the first rotation and midway through the second it began to dissipate when Ruby Harrold fell on bars and Kennedi Edney had an unexpected glitch in her bars routine resulting in two very low scores. Suddenly the outcome of the meet was in jeopardy and a potential second straight undefeated conference season and undisputed SEC title hung in the balance. With a stunned huge home crowd and a national TV audience looking on Lexie Priessman delivered a 9.95 and Sarah Finnegan followed with a 9.975. With no margin for error they provided two nearly flawless bar routines. Suddenly the listing Tiger ship was righted and the meet was essentially over.

Those two routines firmly established Lexie and Sarah in the leadership roles for this team. Leaders can inspire by their words but sometimes they have to lead by example. Bugs, Sydney and Shae left big voids in leadership and last night the torches were passed. Myia Hambrick's quiet eloquence and poise and the injured McKenna Kelly's spirit and enthusiasm have been the guiding lights for the team thus far. They have now been joined by two more upperclass gymnasts and they will continue to shepherd the young and talented gymnasts as they continue to grow and develop. When the nagging injuries are healed and the lineups solidified this team will gain consistency and again challenge for that elusive national championship. There will be some more bumps along the way, but make no mistake those final two bars routines by Lexie and Sarah may prove to be the biggest moments of the year for this team.