NEW ORLEANS – Alabama used its best meet of the season to lock up third place at the 2019 Southeastern Conference Gymnastics Championships in New Orleans, La., Saturday, marking the 21st year in a row that the Crimson Tide has finished in the top three at the SEC Championships.

"We talked about it all week, we were on a business trip here in New Orleans, we had a job to do," UA head coach Dana Duckworth said. "Our objectives for this trip was to have our best performance of the season so far and we accomplished that. We also wanted to be so competitive that we would challenge those in the evening session. That's really what we wanted to accomplish."

Taking third also maintained Alabama's status as the only team in SEC history to never finish outside the top four at the championships.

Seeded fifth coming into the weekend, the Tide dominated the first session, scoring a season-best 197.350 to better its nearest competitor in that session by nearly a point. LSU won the title with a 197.900 and Florida was second with a 197.750 out of the second session. Following the Tide, Georgia was fourth with a 197.000, followed by Arkansas (196.475), Auburn (196.375), Kentucky (196.225) and Missouri (195.900).

"The ladies had a great performance, making it count, making everyone watch and gaining the confidence to know they're just as good as anybody else in the country in the process," Duckworth said.

After a strong start on the vault and uneven bars, Alabama took control on the balance beam, scoring a season-best 49.450 fueled by a career-best 9.950 from sophomore Lexi Graber and a 9.925 from freshman Shallon Olsen .

The Tide then closed things out with a 49.475 on the floor exercise, just .025 off its season-best mark. Junior Maddie Desch got the rotation off to a strong start with a 9.900, matching her season-best score. Senior Abby Armbrecht scored a 9.900 in the fourth position before Graber and senior Ariana Guerra closed things out with matching 9.925s.

Graber also led the Tide on the vault, scoring a 9.900 in the anchor spot, while she and junior Shea Mahoney scored matching 9.875s to pace the Tide on the uneven bars.

Graber won the SEC balance beam title on the way to totaling a career-best 39.650 to finish second in the all-around.

With the postseason now underway, Alabama will wait until Monday's NCAA Selection Show to discover which of four regionals it will be seeded into.

For all the latest information on Alabama gymnastics, follow BamaGymnastics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and head coach Dana Duckworth on Twitter and Instagram at @UACoachDana.