TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On an night already heightened by the emotions of Power of Pink, things got a little more challenging in warmups for Alabama gymnastics. Fifth-year Makarri Doggette suffered a lower extremity injury during the touch warmups prior to the first rotation of the night on vault and was unable to return for the meet when she was scheduled to appear in two lineups and perform an exhibition floor routine. Doggette returned to the floor to cheer on her teammates before the Crimson Tide started the third rotation on the balance beam. Without her in the lineups, but with her support, No. 10 Alabama put up its best score of the season and third highest in program history with a 198.075 to beat No. 18 Georgia (196.975) on Friday night inside Coleman Coliseum. Fellow fifth-year Luisa Blanco said Doggette is like a sister to her after rooming together for the last four years. Seeing Doggette come back out on the floor served as an inspiration for the team to push through the final two rotations, including a program best on a floor in the final rotation with a 49.750. “She’s one of the strongest people I know,” Blanco said. “It was really hard to see her go down, but she’s strong in her heart, she’s strong in her mind. She was out there in a scooter and a boot. If that doesn’t tell you about her character, I don’t know what will. I think just seeing her strength and knowing that she would do anything, even be in a scooter and a boot for this team, it just gives you so much strength to go out there and put on a show for her. She’s incredible. I can’t speak enough good things about Makarri.” Doggette has been a mainstay in the Alabama bars lineup the last five years while contributing on the other three events at various points throughout her career. This season, she was averaging a 9.89 on bars. Shania Adams stepped up in her place on Friday and scored a 9.95. Overall, Alabama tied its highest bars score of the season with a 49.600.
This was Alabama’s second meet this week after previously setting a season high in the quad meet win on Monday. Crimson Tide head coach Ashley Johnston said Doggette is one of the leaders of this team and rallied her teammates in the middle of a challenging week to encourage the team on handling the hard. Little did she know what was going to come on Friday night. In any sport, seeing a teammate get injured can be discouraging for the rest of the team. Instead, it served as a rallying point for the Crimson Tide along with the encouragement the team drew rom the large crowd and breast cancer survivors. “I was really proud of how the team came together, and they competed for her,” Johnston said after the meet. “They brought it together. They took initiative to make sure that they didn’t function out of fear or something else. They took the initiative to come together and reset. What were they going to focus on? How were they going to keep working? And how were they going to make sure they competed for Makarri and make her proud? It was really cool to have Makarri come back in, cheer on the team and was all in and invested in everything that she could do for the rest of the night as well.”
Doggette and sophomore Gabby Gladieux have a special relationship after competing at the Nastia Cup in 2019. It was overall a special night for Gladieux who opened the evening walking out on the floor with her mother, who is a breast cancer survivor, and then putting the exclamation point on the meet, tying her career high with a 9.975 in the anchor spot on floor. “It makes this meet a little bigger in my heart and hits close to home with my family,” Gladieux said. “I’m just so proud of my team. We really competed start to finish. I couldn’t be more proud.”
