When the Georgia women’s gymnasts began the season, still basking in the glow of their 2005 NCAA championship, their sights were set on a repeat.

After completing an undefeated regular season, the Bulldogs reached that goal April 21 in Corvallis, Oregon, posting a final score of 197.75 to win the National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

Sophomore Katie Heenan, who improved on last year’s fifth-place performance in the all-around competition by tying for third this year, said the women knew from the beginning they’d be back at the top of the podium at the end of the year.

“It’s a journey — we’ve definitely had to stay the course — but it was definitely at the back of our minds, and it’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “You look at the girls on this team and the talent and what we did all season; there shouldn’t have been a doubt in anybody’s minds. So I congratulate everybody, and I’m so proud to be a part of this team.”

The Georgia team was led by all-around champion Courtney Kupets, a freshman and 2004 Olympic medalist. Kupets, who also shared individual titles in the uneven bars (with Utah’s Kristina Baskett) and balance beam (with LSU’s April Burkholder), said she wasn’t sure where she would fit with the Georgia team that had already won a national championship. She had an advantage over other freshmen because her older sister, Ashley, is a junior on the Bulldogs team.

“I just knew I wanted to be a part of this team, because I knew these girls beforehand and they’re the best girls in the world,” Courtney Kupets said. “Every single one of them is different in their own ways, but contributes the same thing to this team, and you know it’s that passion that drives us to do what we do.”

The title wasn’t always Georgia’s for the taking — runner-up Utah and third-place Alabama kept the Bulldogs looking over their shoulders throughout the competition. Utah finished with a score of 196.800, barely ahead of Alabama. The Crimson Tide scored 196.725. Florida, Nebraska and Iowa State rounded out the top six teams.

Alabama led after the first two events.

Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan said she appreciated the competitive spirit of the meet, and congratulated Alabama and Utah for keeping her team on its toes and not allowing them to take a victory for granted. Georgia didn’t seal its victory until its season-high performance on the final apparatus, the vault.

“So many people said that Georgia would win and that we would have to make a mistake for other people to win, but that’s not really what happened tonight,” she said. “We had to have a peak performance. We had to have our best meet of the season, which we did have. If we had just done our average meet, they were just right on our heels the whole way.”

The Utah gymnasts bounced back quickly from a poor performance on the uneven bars, pushing themselves to the best finish coach Greg Marsden said he could expect.

“With the talent all these teams have, you just have to rock every event if you expect to really challenge,” he said. “I am so proud though, because we took ourselves out of being able to win the championship (with a poor performance in one event), but they didn’t let that deter them. We fought back and were able to get back into the competition and finished up with two strong events. There was never any quit in any of them.”

After a year that saw several competitors tally perfect scores in team competition, not a single gymnast reached perfection during either the team or individual championships in 2006. Courtney Kupets earned the highest score of the meet with a 9.975 on the vault during team competition. Teammate Kelsey Ericksen said the Bulldogs don’t discuss individual scores.

“We don’t talk about scores as a team. We do what we have to do and ignore the scores,” she said. “It’s about confidence and being aggressive and nailing it.”

Team results

1. Georgia, 197.750; 2. Utah, 196.800; 3. Alabama, 196.725; 4. Florida, 196.275; 5. Nebraska, 196.175; 6. Iowa St., 194.725.

Individual results

All-around: 1. Courtney Kupets, Georgia, 39.750; 2. Ashley Miles, Alabama, 39.600; 3. (tie) Katie Heenan, Georgia, and Melanie Banville, Alabama, 39.500; 5. (tie) Tiffany Tolnay, Georgia; Emily Parsons, Nebraska; and Nicolle Ford, Utah, 39.450; 8. Kylie Stone, Nebraska, 39.400; 9. Corey Hartung, Florida, 39.300; 10. Terin Humphrey, Alabama, 39.250; 11. (tie) Laura-Kay Powell, Iowa St., and Nina Kim, Utah, 39.225;  13. Ashley Reed, Florida, 39.200; 14. Kelsey Ericksen, Georgia, 39.175; 15. Ashley Postell, Utah, 38.900; 16. Janet Anson, Iowa State, 38.825; 17. Erin Dethloff, Iowa State, 38.600.

Vault: 1. Ashley Miles, Alabama, 9.9375; 2. Kristina Comforte, UCLA, 9.900; 3. Kate Richardson, UCLA, 9.8313; 4. (tie) Janet Anson, Iowa St., and Emily Parsons, Nebraska, 9.8250; 6. April Burkholder, LSU, 9.8188; 7. Nicolle Ford, Utah, 9.7875; 8. Ashley Postell, Utah, 9.7813; 9. Tiffany Tolnay, Georgia, 9.7750; 10. Gritt Hofmann, Utah, 9.7250.

Uneven parallel bars: 1. (tie) Courtney Kupets, Georgia, and Kristina Baskett, Utah, 9.8500; 3. Ashley Kelly, Arizona St., 9.8375; 4. Katie Heenan, Georgia, 9.800; 5. Ashley Postell, Utah, 9.7875; 6. Nicolle Ford, Utah, 9.7750; 7. Lauren Mickovich, Michigan, 9.7625; 8. April Burkholder, LSU, 9.7500; 9. Tabitha Yim, Stanford, 9.3250; 10. Vanessa Meloche, Nebraska, 9.2375; 11. Stephanie LoPiccolo, Oklahoma, 9.0750.

Balance beam: 1. (tie) Courtney Kupets, Georgia, and April Burkholder, LSU, 9.9125; 3. Tiffany Tolnay, Georgia, 9.8500; 4. Terin Humphrey, Alabama, 9.8250; 5. (tie) Corey Hartung, Florida, and Nikki Childs, Georgia, 9.8125; 7. Ashley Postell, Utah, 9.800; 8. Tatjana Thuener-Rego, Michigan, 9.7625.

Floor exercise: 1. Kate Richardson, UCLA, 9.9500; 2. Courtney Kupets, Georgia, 9.9375; 3. (tie) Ashley Miles, Alabama; Janet Anson, Iowa St.; and Tabitha Yim, Stanford, 9.9125; 6. Emily Parsons, Nebraska, 9.9000; 7. Kelsey Ericksen, Georgia, 9.8500; 8. (tie) Corey Hartung, Florida, and April Burkholder, LSU, 9.8375; 10. Tricia Woo, Nebraska, 9.7500; 11. Savannah Evans, Florida, 9.6625.