Gymnastics: Cox Places 24th at Nationals
April 21, 2005 11:20 PM | General
By Justin Zackal for MSNsportsNET.com
April 21, 2005
RESULTS | PHOTO GALLERY
AUBURN, Ala. – West Virginia University gymnast Janáe Cox placed 24th in the all-around competition in the preliminary session II of the 2005 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships late Thursday night at Auburn’s Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. Cox, a sophomore competing as individual at the NCAA Championships for a second straight year, compiled an all-around score of 37.9.
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| Janae Cox was making her second consecutive appearance at NCAA nationals Thursday night.
Jama Gibson photo |
The all-around score was evidently and aberration for Cox as she qualified for nationals with a 39.15 at regionals two weeks ago and only one of her all-around scores in 12 other all-around meets this year was under 38.0 and nine were over 39.0. She ended the regular season as the nation’s 23rd-ranked all-arounder with a 39.305 regional qualifying score.
Two rare falls on the floor exercise in her first event of the night in the second rotation proved costly for Cox, who ended the regular season as the nation’s 25th rated gymnast on the floor. Cox scored an 8.75 on the event, her only score lower than 9.85 in a remarkable 11 straight meets dating back to her second attempt of the season. She placed 42nd overall in the floor competition.
Cox then rebounded with scores of 9.75 on the vault and uneven bars in her next two events, which came in the meet’s third and fifth rotations, respectively. The scores held for a tie for 25th place on the vault and a tie for 24th on the bars.
Finishing the meet in the sixth rotation on the balance beam, one of her stronger events towards the end of the season, Cox drew a score of 9.65 for a tie for 36th place overall.
Cox followed the same rotation order as Alabama, who advanced to Friday’s Super Six team finals. The Crimson Tide (197.0) placed third at the session behind Georgia (197.350) and defending national champion UCLA (197.025). Utah (196.85), Michigan (196.575) and Nebraska (195.875) advanced to the final round in the Thursday’s first session.
Individual event championships will be held Saturday, which will include the top four place-winners from each of Thursday’s sessions.
In culminating her season at nationals, Cox is just the seventh WVU gymnast all-time to compete at the NCAA meet as an individual all-arounder and the 10th overall. Also, Cox is just one of four WVU gymnasts to compete as individual all-arounders at nationals in consecutive seasons. Last year, Cox placed 26th in the first preliminary session with a 38.65 all-around score.
