Gymnasts Improve to No. 10 in Latest Rankings
March 24, 1999
The Oregon State gymnastics team, fresh off a school record performance at last weeks Pacific-10 Championships, has moved up to No. 10 in the latest Top 25 rankings, which came out late Tuesday evening.
After scoring a 197.400 at the Pac-10 meet, the Beavers upped their Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) to 195.5312, the 10th highest in the country. UCLA, which won the Pac-10 title, has moved into the 12th spot with an RQS of 195.2937.
For now, though, the Beavers and Bruins must sit back and wait to see what the rest of the country does this week. Both OSU and UCLA are off this week, while most teams still have a final week to improve their RQS and earn a spot in the Top 12.
After this weekend, the Beavers will have a better idea of who they will be facing in the upcoming NCAA Regional on Saturday, April 10 at Gill Coliseum. Regionals selections will be made on Monday, March 29.
In the past, Oregon State only had to worry about the teams within its own region, but the NCAA has changed the format of the competition this year. The NCAA will take the Top 12 teams and send two to each regional site.
Besides OSU and UCLA, the other Top 12 teams are: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Utah, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Arizona State, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 9 Ohio State, and No. 11 Florida.
LSU, Penn State and Nebraska also are hosting regional meets, so they will not be among the teams that could come to Corvallis, but the Beavers could face any of the others.
Based on this week's rankings, the field at Gill Coliseum would be OSU, another Top 12 team, Stanford, Boise State, Washington and Sacramento State.
However, that could change depending on how other teams score this weekend. No. 14 Stanford has a strong chance to move into the Top 12 and bump UCLA out, which could send Stanford to any of the six sites and keep the Bruins on the west coast. No. 13 Maryland, No. 15 Minnesota and No. 16 Iowa State also compete this weekend and could move into the Top 12 if they come up with high enough scores.
The top two finishers at each of the regional meets will advance to the NCAA Championships in Salt Lake City from April 22-24.
WHERE THE INDIVIDUAL BEAVERS RANK NATIONALLY
Vault Lara Degenhardt - 11th Megan Murphy-Barcroft - Tied for 19thBars Danae Phillips - 4th
Beam Megan Murphy-Barcroft - 6th
Floor Exercise Megan Murphy-Barcroft - Tied for 24th
All-Around Megan Murphy-Barcroft - 12th
