Bama Gymnastics Ready for NCAA Regional Championships
6/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
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MORGANTOWN, WV – The picture outside didn’t match the Alabama gymnastics team’s vision of April. Snow flurries greeted them the today, just over 24 hours before they compete for one of two automatic bids available out of the NCAA Southeast Regionals which gets underway Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in the West Virginia Coliseum.
But the weather outside doesn’t seem to phase the 16 gymnasts, ranked No. 2 in the nation. They are laughing, joking and chatting away with little evidence that the most important meet of their season is just around the corner. To advance to their 20th NCAA Championship, they must compete well on Saturday night.
There’s a little extra pressure on Alabama this season to make it to the championship since they are the host of this year’s extravaganza. For the third time since 1991, Coleman Coliseum will be the site of the national championships.
Also vying for one of the two spots available from the Southeast Region is No. 11 Minnesota, No. 19 West Virginia, No. 20 Kentucky, No. 21 Michigan State and No. 22 North Carolina. The top-two finishers from the five other regionals will fill out the field of the Tuscaloosa based 2002 NCAA Championships.
To return to Tuscaloosa and the NCAA Championship, Alabama has to fight off the Gophers, the Mountaineers and the rest. The Crimson Tide is favored with a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 197-plus. Minnesota’s RQS stands at 196.210 followed by West Virginia’s 195.415. The Gopher’s high score this season is 196.850 while the Mountaineers’ top mark stands at 196.275. Alabama’s top score this season is a 197.650. The Tide has gone above 197.000 four times this season.
Alabama was last in Morgantown for the 1999 NCAA Regional Championships, the first year of the current system where two teams from each regional advance to the NCAA Championships. Prior to 1999, the winner of each of five regionals automatically advanced while the next seven highest scoring teams at the regionals also earned bids.
“I like this (the current system) much better,” head coach Sarah Patterson said. “We know as soon as the meet is over who from this region advances, we don’t have to wait for scores from around the country. It’s a much more head to head competition.”
The Tide’s seniors competed here in 1999, with the exception of All-American Raegan Tomasek who was injured the week prior and did not travel to regionals that year. For Tomasek and the rest of the Tide, this is the first year they have traveled to regionals. The last two years Tuscaloosa has served as host of the NCAA Central Regional Championships, which will be in Baton Rouge this year.
This will also be the farthest that the Tide has traveled all season. The Tide has only traveled out of the state of Alabama four times prior to this weekend, going to Gainesville, Fla., Baton Rouge, La., Lexington, Ky. and Athens, Ga. during the regular season. The trip to Morgantown covered 735 miles.
Tickets to the NCAA Championships are available through the Alabama Ticket office (205.348.BAMA).
