Gymnastics: Morris' Schedule Announced
April 06, 2009 03:47 PM | General
April 6, 2009
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| Mehgan Morris |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University senior gymnast Mehgan Morris will compete as an all-arounder at the 2009 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championship on Thursday, April 16, in Lincoln, Neb.
Morris will compete with the No. 5 Louisiana State University gymnastics team in the first session on April 16, at 2 p.m. EST, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Nebraska’s campus. The group’s rotation order will be as follows: beam, bye, floor, vault, bye, bars.
Morris advanced to the championship by virtue of her fifth-place finish (39.125 points) at the NCAA Southeast Regional this past weekend in Raleigh, N.C. Nebraska’s Kylie Stone finished fourth (39.20 points) and also qualified for the national championship. No. 1-ranked Georgia and No. 12 Penn State were the two qualifying teams out of the Southeast Region.
LSU finished first at the Central Regional, also on April 4, while No. 8 Oregon State also qualified from that region.
Morris, a Belle, W.Va., native, will be making her first appearance on the national stage. She is the 16th Mountaineer to individually qualify for the national championship, and the first to do so since All-American Janáe Cox competed in 2007. Morris currently resides at No. 13 on the WVU career points list with 1,584.925.
The 2009 WVU co-captain, Morris has steadily produced all season for the Mountaineers, with her regional point total pushing her season streak to seven straight 39.00-plus scores. Along with her fifth place all-around finish, Morris also tied for second on the floor with 9.90 points, and 11th on the bars with a 9.80 score.
Morris enters the national championship at the climax of her strong post-season run, as she finished first at the 2009 EAGL Championship in the all-around (39.30 points), the bars (9.850 points) and the floor (9.850) on March 21. Additionally, she was named the 2009 EAGL Outstanding Senior Gymnast and was an All-EAGL First Team honoree for the bars, floor and all-around.
The championship consists of 12 teams, 12 all-around competitors (not on qualifying teams) and individual event specialists.
Preliminary team and all-around competition will be conducted in two sessions Thursday, April 16, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m EST. The top three teams from each session will advance to the Super Six competition on Friday, April 17, at 7 p.m. EST. The top four individuals from each session in each event (plus ties) from the preliminary team and all-around competition will compete in the individual-event competition Saturday, April 18, at 7 p.m. EST.
