Afternoon Session: 12 p.m.
No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs 197.225 Regional Qualifying Score
The class of women’s collegiate gymnastics for the past four years will be looking to five-peat in head coach Suzanne Yoculan’s final meet of her distinguished career. Tiffany Tolnay, Grace Taylor and Courtney McCool make up a strong supporting cast for top Gym Dog all-arounder and senior Courtney Kupets, who has been the best all-around gymnast in the country since her sophomore year.
No. 4 Louisiana State Tigers 196.760 RQS
The Tigers are coming off a season where they defeated eventual SEC champion Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, for the second time in school history and the first in head coach D-D Breaux’s 32-year career. The Tigers finished fourth in the SEC Championships, but are led by the best one-two punch in the country in all-arounders Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and Susan Jackson. Both are Top-5 all-arounders this season.
No. 5 Florida Gators 196.715 RQS
After spending much of the past two seasons hovering near the top of the NCAA women’s gymnastics rankings, the Gators have experienced a bit of a down season because of significant injuries. The team’s 12-person roster has been reduced to eight, forcing up to five gymnasts to take the all-arounder role. Three of their five all-arounders are making their career debut in that situation. Explosive gymnast Amanda Castillo is out, but with Melanie Sinclair and Corey Hartung, Florida is still competitive.
No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners 196.465 RQS
This is Oklahoma’s sixth straight appearance at nationals and the Sooners are just one of six teams to advance every year since 2004. Oklahoma has made eight national championship appearances overall, but is tied with BYU for the most national appearances without a spot in the Super Six. Oklahoma advanced out of the Northeast region behind Alabama.
No. 9 Stanford Cardinal 196.825 RQS
Stanford is trying to establish itself on the national scene as it tries to make its third straight Super Six appearance after not making the final day of nationals before 2002. Three members of Stanford have ties to host city Lincoln, Neb., including freshman Jenny Peter. Assistant coach Chris Swircek and trainer Lindsey Dame are also Nebraska natives.
No. 12 Penn State Nittany Lions 196.240 RQS
The Lions made nationals without a single senior on its club and are making the school’s first appearance since 2005. The Lions advanced out of the Southeast Regional behind No. 1 overall seed Georgia. Penn State successfully knocked off Nebraska in the regional, ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to attend their own hosted national competition.
Evening Session: 6 p.m.
No. 2 Utah Utes 197.190 Regional Qualifying Score
Nobody wants to knock Georgia off its perch before Suzanne Yoculan retires more than Greg Marsden. Utah will try to prevent the Gym Dogs from tying its record 10 national titles and has the strongest cast of all-arounders that it has had this decade. Utah is solidly positioned in the top two at every event, including all-around score this season.
No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide 196.925 RQS
Alabama advanced to its 27th consecutive NCAA Championships after winning its 24th regional qualifier, which is an NCAA best. Nebraska’s own Kylie Stone advanced to nationals as an individual competitor and will compete with the Crimson Tide. Alabama won the SEC Championships this year to hand the Georgia Bulldogs their only loss of the season.
No. 6 Oregon State Beavers 196.520 RQS
Oregon State has emerged as a Super Six contender this season as only one of eight teams to post a score of 197 or better. Although Oregon State’s record stands at just 16-8, it enters nationals as a model of consistency, having given many of the top teams in the country a good showing, and beating Arkansas back in January to earn its spot among the nation’s elite. Oregon State enters as the Pac-10’s top-ranked team despite not beating Stanford or UCLA in the regular season, and finishing second at the Pac-10 championships.
No. 7 UCLA Bruins 196.580 RQS
Vanessa Zamarripa has helped the Bruins enter nationals as the top vaulting team in the country. Her career low is 9.875 and she has scored at least a 9.9 in 10 of her 12 meets this season. Like Penn State, UCLA is very young, having had 82 percent of its routines performed by underclassmen. Although it’s been a few years, UCLA is looking for its sixth national championship, which ranks it third all-time behind Utah and Georgia.
No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks 196.440 RQS
Gymnastics didn’t even start at Arkansas until 2003 and already it has qualified for six regional championships. This year, Arkansas won its first regional championship in its short history by beating out Stanford. Arkansas is 4-3 against NCAA Championship teams, including wins over Alabama, Stanford, Oklahoma and Florida.
No. 11 Illinois Fightin’ Illini 196.015 RQS
This year’s gymnastics Cinderella is making its NCAA Championships debut after finishing second in the NCAA West Regional behind Utah. This year’s team holds the top four scores in team history, but even the school record Illinois scored in the Big Ten Championships wasn’t enough to get past Michigan8212;which didn’t even make nationals8212;and it will be tough to get into the Super Six with UCLA, Oregon State, Utah and Alabama being the class of the evening.