🏈 Ranking Bama's 17 sports programs for '13-14: # 3 Gymnastics

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For a third consecutive year, AL.com's Alabama beat reporters will rank -- in reverse order -- the Crimson Tide's 17 sports programs (men's and women's track and cross country will be combined) based exclusively on how they fared during the 2013-14 season.

More than just the final record will be considered, but we'll be keeping the focus almost entirely on the recent past.

We're breaking down the bottom four today, where at least one of the teams entered the offseason with some major optimism about the future.

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17. Rowing
Last year's rank: 14th
This year's finish: 11th of 11 teams at the Conference USA Rowing Championships.
Two-sentence season review: Alabama, which is just months away from moving into a new facility, capped the fall with a handful of top-10 finishes at the Head of the Hooch Regatta. Throughout the spring, it picked up victories against St. Mary's, Eastern Michigan, SMU and more, but was only able to pick up nine points at the end-of-season championships.
MVP: Lynsey Marshall (senior) -- Earned All-Conference honors at the Conference USA championships.

16. Soccer
Last year's rank: 12th
This year's record: 6-12, did not qualify for SEC or NCAA Tournament (4-7 SEC, 12th overall)
Two-sentence season review: The Crimson Tide's struggles began in non-conference play, when it was only able to score four goals in its first seven games of the season. Alabama opened SEC play with three wins in its first four games but picked up just one more victory the rest of the way, as star midfielder Merel Van Dongen'sseason-ending leg injury was too much to overcome.
MVP: Pia Rijsdijk (senior) - The Netherlands native led the Crimson Tide with seven goals and four assists.

15. Men's basketball
Last year's rank: 10th
This year's finish: 13-19 (7-11 SEC, T-10th), lost to LSU in second round of SEC tournament. Did not qualify for postseason.
Two-sentence season review: A loaded non-conference schedule only provided a surplus of frustrating close losses against the likes of Xavier, UCLA and Wichita State. The Crimson Tide was at its best near the end of the regular season, but it was too little too late in easily the worst season of the Anthony Grant era.
MVP: Trevor Releford (senior) - Arguably the most irreplaceable in the entire conference, the Crimson Tide point guard put the team on his back through stretches of his final season. He averaged 18.5 points and more than three assists per game.

14. Women's basketball
Last year's rank: 17th
This year's record: 14-16 (7-9 SEC), lost to LSU in second round of SEC tournament.
Two-sentence season review: The Crimson Tide got better and better as the first season of the Kristy Curry era unfolded. The highlights included a massive upset at Kentucky, the program's first-ever win at Vanderbilt and its first victory in 11 years against LSU.
MVP: G Daisha Simmons (junior) - She was second on the team with 13.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while leading the way with more than four assists per contest.

 

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13. Men's tennis
Last year's rank: 9th
This year's finish: 14-15 (4-8 SEC), lost in first round of SEC tournament, did not advance to NCAA tournament.
Two-sentence season review: Alabama never got it rolling in George Husack'ssecond season and ultimately came up short of returning to the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide sent two individuals to NCAAs, as Danill Proskura and Becker O'Shaughnessey qualified for doubles and Proskura qualified for singles.
MVP: Daniil Proskura (senior) - The Crimson Tide co-captain won his second straight SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and landed on the conference's first team. He ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation and advanced to the round of 32.

12. Women's swimming/diving
Last year's rank: 16th
This year's finish: Eighth at the SEC Championships; 39th at NCAA Championships.
Two-sentence season review: Dennis Pursley's second year with the program showed marked improvement in most areas. The Crimson Tide broke program records in nine events, improved its finish at SECs by two places and sent seven swimmers and one diver to NCAAs.
MVP: Kaylin Burchell (junior) - Took third place in the 100 breaststroke at the SEC Championships and capped her season with a seventh-place finish in the same event at the NCAA Championships. She was also a major contributor on a number of relays.

11. Volleyball
Last year's rank: 11th
This year's record: 24-10 (11-7 SEC), eliminated by Oklahoma in first round of NCAA tournament.
Two-sentence season review: The Crimson Tide entered SEC play on an absolute tear, as it won 10 matches in a row to start the season 12-2. The conference season was up and down, but Alabama came away with four more SEC wins than 2012 and seven more than 2011.
MVP: Krystal Rivers (redshirt freshman) - The former Ramsay High School star landed on the SEC's all-conference and all-freshman teams after she appeared in every match and every set and led the way with 421 kills.

10. Women's track/cross country
Last year's rank: 13th
This year's record: Sixth at SEC XC championships; Third at NCAA XC South Regional; 10th at SEC indoors; 19th at NCAA indoors; Eighth at SEC outdoors; 18th at NCAA outdoors
Two-sentence season review: Despite a strong finish at its NCAA South Regional, the Crimson Tide did not receive an at-large berth to the NCAA XC Championships one year after it finished 44th. The team certainly redeemed itself during the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, which culminated with another Remona Burchellindividual title and the team's best finish (sixth) in the 4X100 relay since 1993.
MVP: Remona Burchell (junior) - Collected two individual NCAA Championships in a record-setting season. Her outdoor title in the 100 meters was Alabama's first since 2005 and she became the first Alabama sprinter to win outdoor and indoor titles (60M) in the same season.

 

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9. Men's track/cross country
Last year's rank: 7th
This year's finish: 11th at SEC XC championships; 13th at NCAA XC South Regional; fourth at SEC indoors; sixth at NCAA indoors; Ninth at SEC outdoors; 15th at NCAA outdoors
Two-sentence season review: Alabama took a step backward in cross country but a huge step forward in every other facet of the program during Dan Waters' third season at the helm. Though the Crimson Tide placed lower at both the SECs and NCAA outdoor competitions, it was way better during the indoor season and boasted enough talent to have optimism about the future.
MVP: Hayden Reed (redshirt freshman) - The first-team All-America selection won the Crimson Tide's third discus national championship and was just the second freshman thrower in NCAA history to come out on top.

8. Baseball
Last year's rank: 8th
This year's finish: 37-24 (15-14 SEC); fifth place in the SEC West; eliminated by Kentucky on first day of SEC Tournament; Lost to Kennesaw State in final game of Tallahassee regional.
Two-sentence season review: A slow start in non-conference play was quickly forgotten after Alabama emerged as the talk of the SEC with its hot start to conference play. The second half, though, was a different story, as Alabama's bats went quiet and the pitching simply ran out of gas en route to an eerily familiar finish to the season.
MVP: RHP Spencer Turnbull (junior) - He ultimately came away with more losses than wins, but the Crimson Tide's ace didn't disappoint. Constantly hitting the gun between 92-94 miles per hour, Turnbull, who was second-round selection in the MLB Draft, limited opponents to a .192 batting average and finished with a 2.22 earned run average.

7. Men's swimming/diving
Last year's rank: 15th
This year's record: Fourth of 12 teams at the SEC Championships; 12th at NCAA Championships.
Two-sentence season review: No team made a bigger jump in the rankings, asDennis Pursley's second season at the helm brought significant improvement across the board. The men's team broke 11 program records while improving its SEC standing by two places and its NCAA finish by 27.
MVP: BJ Hornikel (senior) - He ended his Crimson Tide career with a bang, as he broke two individual program records while contributing to three more on relay teams. He earned First Team All-America honors in the 200 and 400 medley relays and the 400 freestyle relay, giving him seven for his career.

6. Women's golf
Last year's rank: 4th
This year's record: Fourth in the SEC women's golf championship, second at NCAA Central Regional, ninth at the NCAA Championships.
Two-sentence season review: The Crimson Tide's fall was highlighted by a first-place finish at the Landfall Tradition. The spring featured a handful of top-10 finishes and the season ended with the program's fifth straight top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships.
MVP: Stephanie Meadow (senior) - The SEC Golfer and Scholar-Athlete of the Year added an NCAA Elite 89 Award to her trophy shelf in her final season with the Crimson Tide. She's quickly adjusted to the professional circuit, too.

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No. 5: Women's tennis

Last year's ranking: 5th
This year's record: 25-5 (12-1 SEC); lost to Georgia in SEC tournament championship; advanced to NCAA quarterfinals, where it was eliminated by North Carolina.
Two-sentence season review: From start to finish of Jenny Mainz's 17th year at the helm, Alabama had one of the nation's best women's tennis teams. It peaked in mid-April when it was ranked No. 3 in the country and, despite exiting from the NCAA tournament in the quarterfinals, ended with a big exclamation point thanks to Maya Jansen's and Erin Routliffe's NCAA doubles national championship.
MVP: Erin Routliffe (freshman) - The Ontario, Canada, native made an immediate impact in singles and doubles competition. Along with the national championship in doubles, she recorded a team-high 29 victories as an individual, was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Year and landed on the SEC's first team.
High point: Routliffe and Jansen absolutely dismantled Georgia's Lauren Herringand Maho Kowase, 6-1, 6-0, to win the program's first individual national championship in dominant fashion.
Low point: The Crimson Tide dropped two of three matches in a February indoor tournament in Charlottesville, Va.
Reasons for optimism: Routliffe and Jansen will be back and both have multiple years of eligibility remaining. Emily Zabor, who won the NCAA Elite 89 for women's tennis, will be a senior. Signee Bennett Dunn (Plantation, Fla.) is considered to be a five-star prospect.
Reasons to worry: Mary Anne Daines, who often faced off against the opponent's top player, won't be back.

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No. 4: Football

Last year's ranking: 1st
This year's record: 11-2 (7-1 SEC); lost to Oklahoma, 45-31, in the Sugar Bowl.
Two-sentence season review: Everything was shaping up for Alabama to run wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the country, as the Crimson Tide got past an early challenge against Texas A&M and served up an authoritative victory over rival LSU to run its record to 9-0. It all unraveled, though, on that night in Auburn, and the hangover carried into the Sugar Bowl, sending Alabama into the offseason with two consecutive losses.
MVP: LB C.J. Mosley (senior) - The inside linebacker was the heart and soul of the Crimson Tide's defense. His value went far beyond the 108 tackles (9 TFLs) he accumulated in his final year with the program.
High point: Alabama scored 21 unanswered points in the second half as it simply wore out LSU, 38-17, on a rocking night at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Low point: First-and-10 at Auburn's 38-yard line with 1 second to play.
Reasons for optimism: It's Alabama, where the cupboard is never bare. The Crimson Tide has arguably the best group of running backs, wide receivers and defensive linemen in the entire SEC. Alabama's defensive coaching staff, after some offseason shuffling, is back to the way it was in 2008.
Reasons to worry: Alabama's quarterback competition remains unsettled with most hopes falling on the shoulders of Florida State transfer Jacob Coker. There's also some uncertainty in the secondary and at kicker.

 

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No. 3: Gymnastics

Last year's ranking: 3rd
This year's record: Finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the nation; won the 2014 SEC Championships in Birmingham; placed first at NCAA Regional in Washington; finished fourth at NCAA Championships.
Two-sentence season review: Alabama did exactly what Sarah Patterson wants from her team, as it showed improvement with each meet in order to "peak" at the right time. That was apparent in at the SEC Championships, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships, though the latter ended in heartbreak when Alabama was forced to count a fall on the balance beam.
MVP: Kim Jacob (senior) - The three-time SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year was one of the Crimson Tide's most consistent gymnasts, as she performed in the all-around through most of the year and won the individual title at the NCAA Championships.
High point: Trailing by .125 heading into the final rotation, Alabama was just spectacular enough on uneven bars to sneak past Florida and win the 2014 SEC Championships in front of a friendly Birmingham crowd.
Low point: Junior Kayla Williams, who was expected to be one of the Crimson Tide's top performers on vault and balance beam, tore her Achilles tendon during warmups before the first meet of the season.
Reasons for optimism: Patterson's juggernaut is well-established and her recruiting continues to bring some of the nation's top gymnasts to Tuscaloosa. Williams will be back and so, too, will a number of gymnasts who performed regularly throughout 2014.
Reasons to worry: Three Crimson Tide seniors -- Jacob, Diandra Milliner andSarah DeMeo -- will be very tough to replace.

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