April 8, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

2009 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS SELECTIONS ANNOUNCED

INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA announced on Monday the teams and individuals who will compete for the 2009 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships. The championships, hosted by University of Nebraska, Lincoln, will be held at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, April 16-18.

The women's gymnastics championships consist of 12 teams and 12 all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and individual event specialists. The top two teams and top two all-around competitors from each regional received automatic berths to the national championships. In addition, the event winners at the regional championships advance to the national championships (in their specific event) if they were not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.

The process for determining rotation pairings for day one of the team competition is based on a National Qualifying Score (NQS) calculated by adding the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) to the score achieved at regional competition. Once the NQS is calculated, teams are ranked from 1 to 12. Teams 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 were placed in Group A; and teams 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11 placed in Group B.

The top three teams from each session will advance to the Super Six competition Friday, April 17 at 6 p.m. The finals will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis on CBS on Saturday, May 9, at 1 p.m. CDT. The top four individuals from each session in each event (plus ties) from the preliminary team and all-around competition will compete in the individual-event competition Saturday, April 18 at 6 p.m.

Championships Central:
http://www.huskers.com//fls/100/ncaa2009gym/welcome.htm

Rotation Order:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-gym/ncaa-w-gym-body.html

Media/Video Streaming:
http://www.huskers.com//fls/100/ncaa2009gym/media.htm

Team qualifiers and individual qualifiers for the 2009 women's gymnatics championships are as follows:

TEAM COMPETITION
Team                               Region                    RQS             NQS
Session 1 (1 p.m. CDT)
Georgia                            Southeast                197.700       394.955
LSU                                  Central                    196.875       393.635
Florida                              North Central           196.775       393.490
Oklahoma                         Northeast                196.600        393.065
Stanford                          South Central         196.200       393.025
Penn State                        Southeast                195.800        392.040
Session 2 (7 p.m. CDT)
Utah                                 West                       197.675       394.865
Alabama                           Northeast                197.000       393.925
Oregon State                   Central                   196.800      393.320
UCLA                                North Central         196.625      393.205
Arkansas                          South Central           196.300        392.740
Illinois                              West                        196.700       392.715

INDIVIDUAL EVENT QUALIFIERS
Bars:                                        Region                     Regional Score
Becky Bernard, Michigan            South Central            9.900

Floor:
Taylor Seaman, N.C. State          Southeast                 9.950
Kylee Botterman, Michigan          South Central            9.900
Sarah Tomczyk, Arizona          South Central          9.900

OREGON STATE, STANFORD, UCLA ADVANCE TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Wildcat junior Sarah Tomczyk places first on floor, also wins trip to Lincoln, Neb.

Four of the seven Pac-10 women's gymnastics teams will be represented at the upcoming NCAA Championships. Oregon State, Stanford, and UCLA each advance to the championships courtesy of second-place showings at their respective regional contests. Arizona's Sarah Tomczyk earned qualification for the national meet by winning the floor exercise at the South Central Regional. Behind her impressive 9.9 on the event, the Gymcats picked up a 49.225 team total and matched their second-highest tally of the season.

The No. 8 Oregon State Beavers finished second at the NCAA Central Regional to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the fourth straight season. Mandi Rodriguez won the individual title on the floor exercise (9.925) and tied for first on the vault. Her 9.950 on vault marks the second consecutive time Rodriguez has hit her personal record, originally established at the Pac-10 Championships. After a difficult start on bars to open the meet, three consecutive stuck dismounts by Rodriguez, Jami Lanz, and Laura-Ann Chong eased the pressure with scores of 9.775, 9.85, and 9.9, respectively. Halfway through the contest, the Beavers took the floor exercise trailing LSU by .450. Leslie Mak (9.85), Lanz (9.9), and Rodriguez anchored the lineup with strong tumbling. Oregon State moved onto the vault to finish the meet seeking to secure second place, and they did just that thanks to career-high efforts by Stephanie McGregor (9.85), Becky Colvin (9.90) and, for a share of the event win, Rodriguez (9.95).

Stanford, the No. 4-ranked team in the country, had some rough moments that put added pressure on the team late in an already pressured-packed NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday night. But the Cardinal did enough to finish second in the six-team event, scoring 196.2 points, behind Arkansas's 196.3. Michigan was third with 195.7. Carly Janiga followed up her Pac-10 Championships title by scoring 39.45 points to edge runner-up Casey Jo Magee of Arkansas (39.40) for her first regional all-around championship. Stanford also got first regional titles from Nicole Ourada, who tied for first on vault with Arkansas's Michelle Stout (each 9.875), and Allyse Ishino, who tied Michigan's Becky Bernard (each 9.9) on the uneven bars. Several Stanford gymnasts were unsung heros. Blair Ryland stepped into the floor exercise as a replacement
for Kelly Fee (ill) and scored a 9.8. Also, Tenaya West, in her first competition in 10 weeks because of injury, scored a 9.8 on the floor. Stanford has reached the Super Six each of the past two years, tying a school-best third place in 2008, and is advancing to the NCAA Championships for the 10th time in school history.

UCLA qualified to the NCAA Championships for the 25th time after placing second at the NCAA North Central Regional in Iowa City, IA. The Bruins were a close second to first-place Florida, scoring 196.625 to the Gators' 196.775. The Bruins rebounded from a slow start, scoring 49.425s on their last two events, floor and vault. The Bruins stood in third place at the halfway point but rallied with huge scores on their best two events to claim second place by just .150. Vanessa Zamarripa posted the Bruins' best all-around total, placing third with a 39.4. Anna Li won the uneven bars title for the third straight year, scoring 9.9. Each Bruin in the floor exercise lineup scored equal to or higher than 9.85, including Niki Tom's career high-tying 9.875. UCLA ended its meet on vault, which Mizuki Sato led off by matching her personal best (9.9). Again, no Bruin scored less than 9.85. The five-time NCAA champion Bruins drew the Olympic rotation for the evening session of the NCAA Championships, beginning the meet on vault and cycling through a bye, uneven bars, balance beam, another bye, and then will end the meet on floor.

PAC-10 NOTES:
ARIZONA - The Wildcats closed their season with a fourth-place finish in the South Central Regional in Fayetteville, Ark,. They scored a 194.350 and junior Sarah Tomczyk earned a place in the NCAA Championships meet by finishing first on floor. The Gymcats, making their 23rd straight appearance in the postseason, failed to move on to the national meet because they did not finish in the top two teams. The bright spot for the team was Tomczyk, who also finished third on vault courtesy of a 9.85. But the entire team was solid on floor and vault. In what has been their best event of the season, the Gymcats picked up a 49.225 on floor. Four gymnasts recorded 9.8s or higher.

ARIZONA STATE - ASU finished fifth at the NCAA South Central Regional, scoring a 193.9 to finish behind host Arkansas (196.3), Stanford (196.2), Michigan (195.7) and Arizona (194.35) and ahead of Southern Utah (192.65). Nicole Harris narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships as she scored a 39.125 and placed second in the all-around but lost the tie-breaker with Elise Wheeler of Southern Utah. After counting two falls on beam, the Sun Devils rebounded with six performances that scored equal to or greater than 9.7 on floor. The team had a good showing on vault as well, earning a team score of 48.8. Mary Atkinson led the Devils with a 9.825 while Harris and Beaté Jones each put up scores of 9.8.

CALIFORNIA - Three Golden Bears competed at the NCAA West Regional in Seattle - Sophia Hocini, Bridgette Glass, and Avery Gee. Hocini finished 10th in the all-around with a combined score of 38.750 (9.75 V, 9.65 UB, 9.575 BB, 9.775 FX). Glass, competing in her third Regional but first postseason appearance on bars, notched a 9.650. Sophomore Avery Gee rated a 9.750 on floor, an improvement over the 9.725 she scored at the Pac-10 Championships.

WASHINGTON - Head coach Joanne Bowers was named Regional Co-Head Coach of the Year and the GymDawgs tied for fifth in the NCAA West Regional. Perennial powerhouse Utah won the meet outright, scoring 197.675. The Huskies tied with San Jose State with a 194.800 to round out the field of six teams. Washington started the evening on vault with a strong rotation. Four underclassmen led off with scores of 9.725 and higher, including a season-best 9.8 by Amanda Cline. On the uneven bars, Hatsune Akaogi recorded a career-high-tying 9.825 and Kristen Linton ancoured in personal-best fashion with a 9.875, good for fourth overall. Out of 24 routines by the GymDawgs, 22 were by freshmen and sophomores.