UA Grable SEC Gymnast of the week

Grable Earns SEC Honor For No. 1 Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – After setting a school record with an all-around score of 39.725 to lead the Arkansas gymnastics team to a school-record 197.225 team score last week, sophomore All-American Katherine Grable has been named Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Week for the second time this year.
Arkansas beat No. 25 LSU on Friday, 197.225-196.325, in front of a school-record crowd of 5,537 in Barnhill Arena. Grable’s performance helped the Razorbacks jump from No. 3 in the GymInfo national rankings to their first No. 1 ranking this week.
Grable’s all-around total included a 9.95 on vault, 9.90 on bars, 9.925 on beam and 9.95 on floor.
The 5-0 sophomore from Oshkosh, Wis., won vault, beam, floor and all-around titles, tying teammate Jaime Pisani for floor honors.
“Kat was a rock,” co-head coach Mark Cook says. “I thought her vault was perfect. Her bars, beam and floor were all solid and very well executed.”
Grable’s 9.95 on floor also ties Pisani for the school record, her 9.95 on vault ties for second-best, her 9.925 on beam ties for fifth-best and the 9.90 on bars ties for ninth-best.
“She was phenomenal,” co-head coach René Cook says. “That was one of the best individual performances I’ve ever witnessed. She was nervous and excited before the meet, so it was interesting to see how she would deal with that.”
Grable, a first-team All-American on floor and a second-teamer on vault last year, won nine individual event titles last year. She already has eight this year.
The first Arkansas freshman to earn first-team All-American honors last year, Grable is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around, tied for No. 2 on beam, No. 3 on floor and No. 12 on vault.
Grable was earlier named SEC Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 9 after helping the Razorbacks open the season by winning the five-team Cancun Classic over four other teams ranked in the top 25. Grable won all-around and beam titles in that meet.
Arkansas’ six wins this year are all over teams ranked in the top 25 – No. 12 LSU, No. 17 Auburn, No. 19 Arizona, No. 23 Kentucky, No. 25 LSU and No. 25 Iowa.
Grable now joins Pisani and former All-American Casey Jo Magee as the only Razorbacks to earn multiple SEC Gymnast of the Week honors. Magee was recognized twice in both 2009 and 2010, and Pisani twice in 2011.
For more information regarding Razorback gymnastics or University of Arkansas athletics, please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.