It’s on to the NCAA
Championships for the No. 1 University of Florida gymnastics team after
claiming the Raleigh Regional meet title Saturday evening in front of 2,265 at
theReynolds Coliseum on North Carolina State’s campus. The NCAA Championships
are set for April 20-22 at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga., and Florida will be the top seed.
This will be 30th
national championships appearance for the Gators, missing only the 2000 meet in
the 31-year history of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.
The Gators posted a
197.325 Saturday to bring the program’s total number of regional wins to an
even dozen. Ohio State was second at 196.225 to claim the other NCAA
Championships’ berth, which will be the Buckeyes first national championship
appearance since 1990. NC State was third at 195.975, followed by Penn State
(195.65), North Carolina (194.025) and Kent State (193.575).
At the Southeastern
Conference Championships, the Gators won the title, but there were some areas
that needed some polishing as the team continued in the championship portion of
their season. Florida coach Rhonda Faehn liked that her team showed some
improvements, but also acknowledged there are still some areas that will be
focused on in the upcoming training sessions.
“I think our main focus
was just coming in here to compete aggressively and to correct the problems we
had at SECs. I think we accomplished that,” Faehn said. “I’m happy with the
results and the way the team carried themselves and performed and I’m happy
that we have some things to work on when we get home.”
Four of the meet’s top
six all-arounders were Gators. Junior All-American Ashanée Dickerson
used her season-best total of 39.65 to claim her third all-around title of
2012. It is also her second regional all-around win, as she used her
collegiate-best total of 39.70 to take the NCAA North Central title in 2010.
Sophomore All-American Alaina
Johnson was second at 39.55, while junior All-American Marissa King
was fourth at 39.325 and freshman Kytra Hunter took sixth at 39.25.
At least a share of each
of the four event titles went to a Gator. Dickerson shared the vault title with
Johnson as each turned in collegiate-best marks of 9.95. It is the fifth time
for each to post a 9.95 on vault. Hunter also turned in a 9.90 to tie for
fourth on the event.
Dickerson and Johnson
again combined to share the uneven bars title, as they each posted a 9.90 on
the event in Florida’s opening rotation. They shared the event title with NC
State’s Rachel Fincham. The win pushes Johnson’s career total of bar titles to
12 while Dickerson earns her third of the season. Sophomore Mackenzie Caquatto
shared fourth overall at 9.85.
King anchored the Gators’
balance beam lineup with her winning mark of 9.925 – her sixth beam mark of
9.925 or higher in the last eight meets. It was her eighth beam win of 2012 and
the 10th of her career. Dickerson was second at 9.90 while Johnson
and junior Randy Stageberg were among a five-way tie for third at 9.85.
Hunter used a 9.95 to
pick up her seventh title of the season on the event. It was her fifth floor
exercise mark of 9.95 or higher this season. Dickerson was second at 9.90,
while Johnson was among a four-way tie for third at 9.85.
Uneven bars was the
starting event for the top-seeded team at each of the nation’s six regional
sites. Faehn like the way the Gators opened competition on that event and carried
that focus throughout the meet.
“I’m really pleased. They
did a great job starting out aggressively on bars. We were able to stick three
of the landings and carry that energy and momentum to the beam,” she said.
“Beam I thought was lights out. We had two wobbly routines but the other four
were magnificent. So that helped keep the energy up.
“We had a few little
things on floor, like going out of bounds. We were happy to see some of the
things improved upon from SECs. Alaina landed her last pass so much better.
Marissa, even though she went out of bounds on her first pass, she corrected
her second and third pass. Ashanée was just on fire tonight. She nailed her
passes and hit the last one without even a lunge,” she said. “Vault was a
wonderful way to finish. Tonight and probably SECs were our best vault sets of
the season.”
For Dickerson, she
pointed to a key factor present tonight that seems to be a boost for this
team’s performances.
“We had a lot fun with each
other,” Dickerson said. “I think that helped us perform to the best of our
ability tonight.’
Next up, the Gators await
the NCAA’s announcement Monday of team assignments for the two April 20 NCAA
semifinal sessions.
The National Qualifying Score
(NQS) determines the pairings for day one of the team competition at the NCAA
Championships. The NQS is calculated by adding a team's regional qualifying
score (RQS) and score from the regional meet. Teams are ranked 1 to 12 based on
the NQS. Teams 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 will be placed in one semifinal and teams
2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11 placed in the other.
The top three from each
of the semifinal sessions advance to the NCAA Super Six on April 21 where the
national team champion will be determined.
|
Florida at NCAA Raleigh Region Championships
Final Team Totals
|
|||||
|
April
7, 2012 ● Reynolds Coliseum (2,265)
|
|||||
|
Team
|
Vault
|
Bars
|
Beam
|
Floor
|
Total
|
|
Florida
|
49.550
|
49.300
|
49.200
|
49.275
|
197.325
|
|
Ohio State
|
49.225
|
49.125
|
48.925
|
48.950
|
196.225
|
|
NC State
|
49.125
|
49.100
|
48.625
|
49.125
|
195.975
|
|
Penn State
|
49.225
|
49.050
|
48.325
|
49.050
|
195.650
|
|
North Carolina
|
49.025
|
47.600
|
48.775
|
48.625
|
194.025
|
|
Kent State
|
48.900
|
48.325
|
48.350
|
48.000
|
193.575
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2012NCAA Championship Field
|
|||||
|
Seed
|
School
|
Region
Score
|
RQS
|
NQS
|
Region
Champion
|
|
1
|
Florida
|
197.325
|
197.445
|
394.77
|
X
|
|
2
|
UCLA
|
197.225
|
197.270
|
394.495
|
X
|
|
3
|
Oklahoma
|
197.025
|
197.360
|
394.385
|
X
|
|
4
|
Alabama
|
197.025
|
197.245
|
394.27
|
X
|
|
5
|
Georgia
|
197.100
|
196.995
|
394.095
|
X
|
|
6
|
Nebraska
|
196.525
|
197.030
|
393.555
|
|
|
7
|
Utah
|
196.825
|
196.705
|
393.53
|
X
|
|
8
|
Arkansas
|
196.825
|
196.545
|
393.37
|
|
|
9
|
Oregon
State
|
196.450
|
196.760
|
393.21
|
|
|
10
|
Stanford
|
196.675
|
196.410
|
393.085
|
|
|
11
|
L.S.U.
|
196.075
|
196.570
|
392.645
|
|
|
12
|
Ohio
State
|
196.225
|
196.245
|
392.47
|
|
|
Shading
denotes teams in Florida’s semifinal session
| |||||
