For Katie Heenan, this was the sweetest walk of all.

With her teammates in tow, the Georgia senior led the rest of the Gym Dogs on a victory march around Stegeman Coliseum, the national championship trophy high aloft her head for all to see.

She had every right to feel proud.

Friday's title marked the fourth straight crown for Georgia's gymnastics team, the ninth overall championship in the program's illustrious history.

"I love this place," said Heenan, who struggled to find the words. "The four seniors; when we came in here we didn't know what to expect. It's been so exciting. It's been an amazing ride. Tonight, it's just the culmination of all those years. I'm glad we left no doubt in anyone's mind that we should have won."

The outcome was never seriously in question, as Georgia finished with a 197.45 to outdistance Utah (197.125) and Stanford (196.75). Florida (196.70) was fourth, followed by LSU (196.35) and Alabama (196.125, which finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

"It's like I said before, it's because of girls like this; that's why you coach," head coach Suzanne Yoculan said. "They deserved to win the national championship because of the type of girls that they are, their commitment to one another and to this program."

Georgia started fast, posting a 49.4 on the floor before the Gym Dogs cruised through their events on vault and bars before closing out on the beam.

As long as Georgia suffered no falls, the title was theirs to celebrate.

The Gym Dogs were rock-solid, as Heenan and former Olympian Courtney McCool recorded respective scores of 9.95 and 9.9 to bring the predominately Georgia crowd to its collective feat.

With a bye on their final rotation, all the Gym Dogs had to do to officially celebrate was to wait for Utah to wrap up its portion of the competition on the bars.

The Utes went into the final event needing a 49.65 to tie Georgia for the lead. Not quite. Utah scored a 49.35, enabling the Gym Dogs to secure the title once again.

"Each year has been so different," said Heenan. "The togetherness that these girls - this senior class has had - has been amazing. We tried to guide the team, and I really think that's one of the reasons why we've been so successful."

Georgia served notice early on that this was going to be its night.

Opening on floor, the Gym Dogs used a pair of 9.9s by Cassidy McComb and Tiffany Tolnay, followed by a 9.95 from Heenan for a 49.45, putting the early pressure on their five competitors.

The Gym Dogs stumbled a bit during the vault, scoring a 49.225 despite a pair of 9.9s from McComb and Heenan.

Following a bye, bars was next and the Gym Dogs responded with a 49.375, highlighted by a 9.925 by McCool and a 9.9 by McComb.

Up next, the balance beam:

"We practiced this scenario," Yoculan said. "We have a team that is very natural on the balance beam and can handle that. We went out on the beam with total confidence. They looked at me and said 'We got it, don't worry.'"

Although there was a wobble here and a bobble there, the Gym Dogs kept their poise, suffered no falls, tallied a 49.375 on the event and went into the final bye knowing the title was theirs.

"We were focusing on our team the whole time," senior Nikki Childs said. "We knew we had done our job. Really, we thought we had a pretty good lead."

Georgia's victory was made even more amazing that the Gym Dogs did it without their best gymnast – Courtney Kupets – who missed the last quarter of the season with a ruptured Achilles.

According to associate head coach Jay Clark, it was akin to the Chicago Bulls losing Michael Jordan as Kupets was the defending two-time NCAA all-around champion.

"We might have got down for a minute, but it wasn't much more than that," Heenan said. "This was a very experienced team. Even though we lost on of our best, we felt like we still had the ability to get it done."

NOTES: Gym Dogs Marcia Newby (vault), Katie Heenan (vault, bars, beam), Tiffany Tolnay (bars, beam, floor), Nikki Childs (bars), Grace Taylor (bars, beam), Courtney McCool (floor) and Cassidy McComb (floor) will compete for national titles during the individual portion of the completion tonight.