Gymnastics: Regionals on Saturday at Georgia
April 05, 2006 11:35 AM | General
April 5, 2006
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 22-ranked West Virginia University women’s gymnastics teams will make its 28th postseason appearance in the last 29 years when the Mountaineers compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Athens, Ga.
No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Georgia (21-0) will host the meet at the 10,523-seat Stageman Coliseum where it has averaged 9,484 fans during the regular season.
Also competing at the meet will be No. 12 Nebraska (16-6-1), No. 13 Missouri (13-11), No. 23 North Carolina (24-8) and No. 29 NC State (23-8). The top two teams at Saturday’s six-team regional will advance and make up a 12-team field at the NCAA Championships held April 20-22 in Corvallis, Ore.
West Virginia (22-8) is making its 23rd appearance at an NCAA regional. The Mountaineers have advanced to the nationals three times (1995, 1999, 2000) since the NCAA first sponsored gymnastics in 1983. WVU placed second at the Region 2 Championships in Minnesota to qualify in 2000.
Last year, the Mountaineers placed fifth with a score of 193.675 at the NCAA Southeast Regional held in Gainesville, Fla. Host-team Florida won the meet with a 196.575, followed by eventual national champion Georgia with a 195.15.
There are nine WVU gymnasts on this year’s team with competitive experience at regional meets, including junior Janáe Cox, who is looking to make her third trip to nationals.
Cox qualified for nationals as an individual in the all-around the last two years. She led her team on three of the four events last year at regionals and placed fourth overall in the all-around with a 39.15. The regional meet’s top two all-arounders on teams that failed to qualify for nationals advance as individuals to the final meet.
