Michigan Heading to Arkansas for NCAA Regional Championships
3/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The NCAA selection committee announced Monday (March 23) that the No. 16 University of Michigan women's gymnastics team will compete against No. 4 Stanford, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 25 Arizona, Arizona State and Southern Utah in Fayetteville, Ark., at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics South Central Regional Championships on Saturday, April 4, at 6 p.m. CDT at the Barnhill Arena. The top two finishing teams in each region will earn a berth in the NCAA Championships held in Lincoln, Neb., on the campus of the University of Nebraska.
The 2009 Big Ten champion Wolverines will be making their 18th trip in a row to an NCAA Regional and their first to Fayetteville. The team has advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last 16 seasons Tickets are available at the Razorback Ticket Office by calling (479) 575-5151 or logging on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com. All seven Big Ten programs earned berths in regional championships with Illinois going to the west region, Penn State going to the southeast region, Minnesota and Iowa competing in the north central region and Ohio State and Michigan State competing in the central region. Iowa and Ohio State each host regionals this season.
Fresh off a dominating performance at Big Tens, sophomore Big Ten floor champion Kylee Botterman(New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) and sophomore Big Ten uneven bars champion Trish Wilson(Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) will help lead the Wolverines into Fayatteville along with seniors Becky Bernard(Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe), Huneth Lor (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and Tatjana Thuener-Rego(Miami, Fla./American School).
Michigan will face the No.10-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, who host the NCAA South Central Regional Championships after finishing sixth at the SEC Championships with a 195.650. Junior Casey Jo Magee became the program's first SEC Championships event winner, taking the balance beam title with a 9.900 and tying for eighth in the all-around. Michigan bested Arkansas at the 2007 NCAA Regional Championships in Ann Arbor, knocking off the higher-ranked Razorbacks and denying them a trip to NCAAs. Arkansas did make the 2008 NCAA Championships, finishing 10th in the nation.
The No. 4-ranked Stanford Cardinal are the top-ranked team in the regional, finishing third at the Pac-10 Championships. Stanford gymnasts earned four individual titles at the meet, with junior Carly Janiga winning the all-around with a 39.575 and senior Nicole Ourada winning a pair of titles, claiming floor exercise (9.900) and bars (9.900) crowns. Cardinal head coach Kristen Smyth was also awarded Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Stanford has made the Super Six the last two seasons, finishing third in the nation in 2008.
The No. 25 Arizona Wildcats took fifth place at the Pac-10 Championships, finishing with a score of 194.325, just ahead of conference foe Arizona State, which will also join the six-team field in Fayetteville. Arizona is coming off a 194.000 performance at Pac-10s. Rounding out the regional field is Southern Utah, which finished third at the Western Athletic Conference Championships with a 195.175 score.
Each of the six regionals is made up of three seeded teams that are ranked among the top 18 in the nation. The remaining three spots in each regional are then filled in by the No. 19 to No. 36 squads in the nation.
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
