Less than 11 months after tearing her Achilles, Gym Dog Courtney Kupets has officially announced her comeback.

Kupets charted the second and third perfect 10s of her career Friday, helping the Gym Dogs handily dispatch rival Alabama, 197.175-196.275.

The senior’s pair of 10s came on uneven bars and balance beam, making her the ninth Georgia gymnast to earn perfection twice in one meet, and the first since Chelsa Byrd did it in 2004.

Her first career 10 came in 2007 – also against the Crimson Tide.

“It was just the team. That’s the only way I could have gotten through this today,” Kupets said. “The building of the scores, and just the confidence that we had going into the meet.”

Kupets’ all-around score of 39.825 was the fourth-best in Georgia gymnastics’ storied history. Her perfect score on balance beam was just the sixth ever by a Gym Dog on the apparatus, and the five-time individual NCAA champion helped kickstart Georgia to its best score in the early season.

All this came after a short and challenging practice week, especially for Kupets.

“As she alluded to, [Thursday] was not a good practice day for her, and that was an understatement,” head coach Suzanne Yoculan said. “There were a lot of tears and her legs hurt and she really struggled on every event. She was just totally exhausted . But once I saw her warm-ups, no, I wasn’t surprised at all. That’s Courtney. She can kickstart herself right back in there.”

“It’s what we live for,” said junior Grace Taylor, the defending NCAA beam champion who charted a personal-best 9.975 on the event Friday. “It’s amazing and it lifts the morale and the spirit of the entire team right away. It’s like electricity in your body right away. You feel it, it doesn’t matter who gets the 10, everybody feels it and you’re just energized and you could do four more rotations tonight just off of those two 10s.”

Kupets has already won SEC Gymnast of the Week both times it’s been awarded this season, and, given Friday’s performance, it’s a pretty safe bet she’ll be looking at a three-peat when the honor is announced today.

But, for Kupets, this season isn’t about her comeback. It’s about her team’s quest for a fifth straight national championship.

“It’s more for the team,” she said. “Yes, I did get two 10s tonight, which is amazing, and I only had one before this so to get two in one night is just incredible and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. But this year is about the team.”

Friday’s win concluded a grueling stretch of three meets in seven days, all against top-10 opponents, and all wins. None sweeter, of course, than that victory over the Crimson Tide.

“There is no team in the history of my career that I would rather beat than Alabama,” Yoculan said.