The Traveler

After back-to-back road meets, Arkansas gymnastic co-head coach Rene Cook said the team is looking forward to competing at home 7 p.m. Friday against four-time defending national champion No. 2 Georgia.

Cook said the atmosphere at Barnhill Arena has been spectacular and has helped the team improve.

"The biggest thing has been there has been more students," Cook said. "They are vocal and really make a difference. They make the meet electrifying and are not afraid to get involved and call the Hogs. We hope they help us have the energy to beat Georgia."

The noise the home crowd has generated this season has helped the team tremendously, Cook said.

"I think our team feeds off the fans," Cook said. "But I also think conversely the home crowd puts pressure on the opposing team. People are human, and you can't take away that human reaction. And sometimes that negatively affects the away team."

With the home team finishing on floor while the opponent ends on beam, Cook said the fan atmosphere during final rotation makes a huge difference.

"It's a lot of pressure for a team to finish on beam," Cook said. "We exert a lot of positive energy on floor to really get the crowd involved."

And that was the case when the team beat then-No. 1 Florida, as the team had three gymnasts fall in the final rotation.

"You want to represent your school and peers," Cook said. "And when you get to perform and knock off a few teams some don't necessarily think you are going to beat, it's something special."

After scoring the lowest performances of the season in the last two weeks, No. 7 Arkansas (6-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) will look to pick up where it left off in the last home meet - a 196.625-196.525 win over Alabama.

Arkansas is looking forward to the challenges a nine-time national championship program brings.

"We are excited to have that level of competition here again," Cook said. "We want to push them to the last routine in the meet. If we can do that, we will feel pretty satisfied at the end of the night."

Cook said the team has worked even harder preparing this week wanting to fix the little things.

"They want to go out there and say, 'Are you kidding me? We are good.' The motivation and drive has helped them fine-tune everything," Cook said. "They are driven and have reacted well the past two weeks."

Georgia (8-0, 4-0 SEC) enters the meet coming off a 196.975 home performance, picking up wins over Kentucky and Centenary.

"I thought we did well," Georgia head coach Suzanne Yoculan said. "We were a little up and down, but just little bumps and not deep holes. It's a process and we keep putting the pieces of the puzzle together."

Yoculan - who is in her last season as coach after leading the team for 26 years - said the team is starting to get back into a rhythm.

"It's nice to have back-to-back good meets, which we haven't done since early in the season," Yoculan said. "It was nice to get back on track."

Yoculan has led her team to a top-three finish nationally in 19 of the last 20 seasons.

"It says a lot about our program that we have been able to maintain a certain level of excellence for a period spanning three different decades," Yoculan said. "We have won NCAA titles in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and no other program has consistently enjoyed the success we have year in and year out."

The first 300 UA students will receive a free "Rock the Barn" shirt. Admission is free for students with a valid university ID.

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