BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 3 Alabama gymnastics team (7-4) closed its busy weekend with a second-place finish at the P&G Podium Challenge Sunday afternoon at the Raising Cane’s River Center. No. 2 LSU scored a 198.200, followed by the Crimson Tide’s second-highest road score of the season with a 197.650. No. 17 North Carolina came in third with a 195.950, as Arizona rounded out the group with a 195.000.

National bars leader Chloe LaCoursiere (9.925) continued her dominant run on the apparatus, scoring 9.925 for the ninth straight meet. Azaraya Ra-Akbar’s career-high-tying 9.975 stole the event and ended as the highest score across the quad meet. Gabby Gladieux won the all-around, posting a 39.575, while Noella Marshall tied her career high on vault with a 9.875 and Kylee Kvamme (9.925) went 9.925-or-higher on beam for the third straight week.

“Back-to-back competitions here in Baton Rouge – lots of intense moments and environment that felt very championship-like at times, and I’m really proud of our team for being gritty and being resilient. I said really similar things when we competed at LSU a couple days ago, and I saw it again. I didn’t see any tired energy. I saw them continue to fight, continue to find ways to get better and continue to be unfazed. They had a great performance tonight, and I think, at times, the scores didn’t reflect that, and that was really frustrating and could’ve been something to really distract them from the mission. But they were unfazed and continued to fight and find ways to put an exclamation mark on their performance. Another great step in the right direction as we prepare for another doubleheader next weekend.”

Team Stats

• Alabama upped its second-highest road score of the season to a 197.650
• Azaraya Ra-Akbar captured the uneven bars title (9.975), while Gabby Gladieux won the all-around (39.575)
• Noella Marshall tied her career high on vault with a 9.875
• As the national bars leader, LaCoursiere’s 9.925 on the uneven bars extended her run of nine straight meets scoring at least a 9.925 on the apparatus
• For the third meet this season, the Tide saw all five countable scores on floor end as a 9.900-or-higher mark

How it Happened

Uneven Bars

Balance Beam

• The Tide posted a 49.175
• Kylee Kvamme (9.925) posted her third straight score of at least a 9.925 on the apparatus

Floor Exercise

• With its 49.600 rotation score, Alabama posted at least a 49.500 for the sixth consecutive meet
• The score is also the highest for UA on the event since Jan. 30 (Oregon State) when it posted a 49.675
• For the third meet of the season, the Tide saw all five countable scores go 9.900 or higher

Vault

• The Tide closed with a 49.375
• Noella Marshall tied her career high of a 9.875, while Jordyn Paradise highlighted the rotation with a 9.925 – her third straight week going 9.900 or higher on the event

Up Next

• Alabama will return home Friday, March 6, against the Kentucky Wildcats for its Be the Change meet
• The contest will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT and will stream live on SEC Network+