UGA freshman gymnast makes history with perfect 10 — But she's only getting started

Lily Smith is already making history.

She recently became the first freshman in 23 years to score a perfect 10 for Georgia gymnastics, earning the rare feat on bars against Missouri on Jan. 20.

And she did it under the lights of Stegeman Coliseum.

"It was unreal, like I can't even really put it into words," Smith said. "I felt just my whole team cheering for me and just like, the crowd going crazy. It was just an amazing moment and I hope I get to experience it again. I would not think that it would've been me to do it."

She'll be back at home again looking for perfection Friday night at 6:45 when the GymDogs (1-3) host Florida (4-1) and 2023 FIG World Championship gold medalist Leanna Wong.

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Head coach Courtney Kupets Carter wasn't as shocked as her prodigy. In retrospect, she knew it was coming, just not this early in the season.

"It's something I knew she was capable of the whole time, and it was just a matter of time honestly, throughout the year, depending on how things went, when she was going to get it," Kupets Carter said. "When we didn't see it that first week out, I actually didn't expect to see it for a couple more weeks, and so when she did get it, it was just like alright, here we go. ... She got that out of the way, now we can just keep focused.

"But it's going to be something she tries to do every single time, not because she's going for the 10 but because she tries to get her routine the same way every time."

Smith had gotten a perfect 10 score before, but only in club gymnastics. Kupets Carter said it's a rare occurrence for a level 10 club gymnast like Smith, but she pulled it off at Silvia's Gymnastics.

It's always been a dream of the Pennsylvania-native to compete in SEC gymnastics, and now it's finally happening. Her parents fly out for every meet, home or away, to support her endeavor.

"Watching her practice, before she came here, if she didn't have the greatest turn, she wanted to fix it," Kupets Carter said. "That's always a good quality because you're not going to have perfect turns all the time. What're you going to do with the ones that aren't perfect, the ones you don't really like? She just wants to figure it all out and get them right."

Smith's favorite event is bars, where she scored the 10, but Kupets Carter thinks Smith could pull in a 10 from another event too, given her talents and love for floor exercise. The season is only starting and the success of one is sure to drive the success of the rest.

"She has that inner drive to really understand her gymnastics and get it to be the best it can be. ... And my goodness, her technical lines," Kupets Carter said. "You don't see many gymnasts swing the bars and do gymnastics the way Lily does. It's a very unique quality to her that I think makes her stand out and set her apart."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Lily Smith scores perfct 10 in rookie season for UGA GymDogs