#1 Georgia Gym Dogs (15-0) at the SEC Championships
Date: March 25, 2006, 6 p.m. CT
Site: Birmingham, Ala.
Arena: BJCC (16,000)

Delayed Television: FSN, Thurs., March 30 at 7 p.m. ET
Live Internet Broadcast: Live audio on georgiadogs.com

Undefeated Gym Dogs Look for 15th SEC Title

Top-ranked Georgia recently completed the sixth undefeated, untied regular season in program history with a record of 15-0. The Gym Dogs were 6-0 against SEC opponents, marking the seventh time in the last 10 years they ended the SEC regular-season schedule with an undefeated record, and no other team in the last decade has done it once.

Four of Georgia¹s wins this season came on the road against teams ranked at least No. 9 in the country. In meets at No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Utah and No. 9 Michigan, the Gym Dogs scored some of their best beam totals of the year in the final rotation with the final outcome still in doubt. Georgia¹s

49.425 on beam at Michigan was the team¹s highest score on that event since the 2004 SEC Championships. Freshman Courtney Kupets and sophomore Katie Heenan have anchored that lineup with scores of no less than a 9.9 since the last week of February.

Courtney Kupets and Heenan are the only two gymnasts ranked among the SEC¹s top 5 on every even including the all-around in this week¹s rankings.

Courtney Kupets has won the all-around in each of Georgia¹s last seven meets and has won at least two individual events in six straight. For the season she has 29 scores of 9.9 or higher, passing Cory Fritzinger (26) for the Georgia freshman record. Her all-around score of 39.8 at Michigan ties for the highest ever by a Gym Dog away from Athens (Agina Simpkins, 1993 NCAA Super Six).

Georgia¹s 14 SEC titles are more than all other teams combined. Five of those championships were won in the state of Alabama, with two coming in Birmingham. Georgia won its first SEC title in 1986, which was Coach Yoculan¹s third year.

The Gym Dogs own or share nine of 10 SEC Championship records. In fact, the last perfect 10s scored by any Georgia gymnast came in the 2004 SEC Championship by Fritzinger (beam) and Marline Stephens (floor).

Georgia¹s Brittany Smith, Kelsey Ericksen, Ashley Kupets, Nikki Childs and Heenan have each earned All-SEC honors during their careers for finishing in the top three in an event at the championships. A year ago Heenan became the first freshman since 2001 to win the SEC all-around competition, and she added the balance beam title with a 9.95 in Georgia¹s last routine of the night.

Results of Georgia¹s Perfect Regular Seasons

Georgia is the only team to finish undefeated and untied for an entire season, winning NCAA titles without a blemish in 1993, 1998 and 1999.

Here¹s what each of Georgia¹s previous five teams did after sweeping the regular-season schedule:

1992 - SEC Champs, 2nd NCAA
1993 - NCAA and SEC Champs
1994 - SEC Champs, 3rd NCAA
1998 - NCAA and SEC Champs
1999 - NCAA and SEC Champs

Dominating the Rankings

This week marks the first time since 1998 that Georgia enters the SEC Championships ranked No. 1 nationally on every apparatus. The Gym Dogs won the conference title that year in Baton Rouge by nearly a full point over Florida, and had an individual gymnast place first on every event.

Georgia¹s team bars score of 49.6 that night remains the championship record.