Beavers Sent to Penn State for Regionals
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The 2014 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships regional selections were announced today by the NCAA. Oregon State will trek across the country to compete at Penn State as the second seed of the NCAA University Park Regional Championships.
Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event [who has a minimum Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 9.4] were named to each of the six predetermined host sites.
Joining No. 12 Oregon State (196.615 Regional Qualifying Score) at the University Park Regional Sat., April 5 at 1 p.m. PT, will be No. 1 Florida (197.895), No. 15 Penn State (196.475), No. 23 New Hampshire (195.880), Kentucky (195.585) and Maryland (195.010).
The top-18 teams are seeded nationally, based on RQS, and placed into the bracket. Teams 19-36 are organized into three pods (19-24, 25-30 and 31-36) and placed geographically at one of the six sites, beginning with teams 19-24 followed by teams 25-30 and then finally teams 31-36. Seeding determined at the time of regional selections will be maintained throughout the championships. All-around competitors and event specialists are assigned to their respective geographic region.
The NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Committee at its annual meeting conducted a random draw for the regional rotation, which follows: Penn State begins on vault, Florida on a bye before uneven bars, Kentucky begins on the bars, Maryland begins on the balance beam, Oregon State begins on a bye before floor exercise and New Hampshire begins on the floor.
Individual all-around qualifiers for the 2014 NCAA University Park Regional Championships are: Brittney Harris from Pittsburgh, Lissette La Fex from Bridgeport, and a trio – Diana Walters, Caroline Morant and Michelle Schnayder – from Brown.
Individual event at-large qualifiers are: vault – Maebelle Pacheco, Pittsburgh; bars – Melanie Jorgensen, Cornell; beam – Katie O’Rourke, Pittsburgh; and floor – Katie O’Rourke, Pittsburgh.
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Birmingham, Ala., April 18-20, hosted by the University of Alabama and the Alabama Sports Foundation. The top two teams from the University Park, Fayetteville and Seattle regionals will compete in one of the semifinals, and the top two teams from the Minneapolis, Athens and Baton Rouge regionals will compete in the other semifinal.
