LIVE STATSLIVE VIDEO FEEDMORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University gymnastics team seeks one of two national bids at the 2011 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday, April 2, at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga. The six-team meet is set to start at 4 p.m.
The Mountaineers (13-10, 10-4 EAGL) qualified for their 28th regional appearance as the No. 6 seed, marking the second straight season the squad will compete as the last-qualifying seed. WVU scored 195.1 at the 2010 Morgantown Regional and finished fourth overall.
WVU has competed in a regional championship each season but one since the NCAA opened the competition in 1983.
“The team is very focused heading into this meet,” says 37-year coach Linda Burdette-Good. “We have had 10 days to train since the EAGL Championship, and that time was just what the doctor ordered. I believe we improved in a lot of areas, including our landings and concentration.”
UCLA and host Georgia, ranked No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, in this week’s GymInfo Poll, earned the regional’s top two seeds. No. 18-ranked LSU is seeded third, while East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) foes NC State and Maryland are seeded fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Mountaineers open the meet on vault and then move on to a bye, before competing on bars. The team’s full rotation is: vault, bye, bars, beam, bye, floor.
Saturday’s top two teams will earn the right to advance to the 2011 NCAA Championships, held April 14-16, in Cleveland, Ohio. The Mountaineers last advanced in 2000. Additionally, the top two all-around finishers and event winners not attached to a qualifying team also will advance to the national championships.
WVU is 1-3 against the regional field. Tomorrow’s meet will be the Mountaineers’ second at Stegeman this season, as they lost to Georgia, 196.725-192.125, on Jan. 17. The team also dropped a 195.025-193.725 decision to Maryland at the league championship on March 19. WVU split its two meetings with NC State, losing, 194.55-194.475, in Raleigh, N.C., on Jan. 21, and winning, 193.725-193.45, at the EAGL Championship.
“There are some great teams competing at this regional,” Burdette-Good says. “We have our work cut out for us, but overall, I’m happy with our field. I think competing at the Coliseum in January gives us a great advantage.”
Senior Amy Bieski and freshman Hope Sloanhoffer enter the meet with a combined four national rankings.
Bieski, the EAGL Gymnast and Outstanding Senior of the Year, is ranked No. 38 in the all-around. The Nanticoke, Pa., native has had her best season to date, having scored a career-high 39.325 on Feb. 20. The league’s bars champion, she also set or matched career highs on bars (9.875) and beam (9.85) this season, and has earned a season-best 9.875 on floor three times.
Ranked No. 2 on the all-time WVU career points list with 1,940.6 points, Bieski has scored 39.0-plus seven times this season. She needs 59.4 points to reach the 2,000-point plateau; volunteer assistant Janáe Asbury is the only gymnast in program history to reach the benchmark.
Sloanhoffer, the six-time EAGL Rookie of the Week, paces the Mountaineers on each of the events she competes and is nationally ranked No. 17 on beam, No. 37 on vault and No. 48 on floor. The Cornwall, N.Y., native most recently scored a career-best 9.9 on beam and finished second at the league championship. She also finished second on vault with a 9.875 score.
After scoring 9.925 on vault in the Mountaineers’ season-opening win over then-No. 13 Missouri on Jan. 7, Sloanhoffer has scored 9.8 or better in 29 of 36 career routines. Her 9.95 vault score at Penn State on Feb. 6 stands as the squad’s best individual mark of the season. Sloanhoffer was only the fifth Mountaineer since 2004 to earn the apparatus score.
The Mountaineers tallied five podium appearances at the EAGL Championship. In addition to her event win, Bieski also finished second on floor with a 9.875 score, while junior Tina Maloney scored 9.875 on vault and tied Sloanhoffer for second place.
WVU’s 193.725 team score was good enough for fourth place at the league championship. The Mountaineers won floor with a season-best 49.25 mark and also finished first on vault with 49.275 points. The team placed seventh on bars (47.575) and beam (47.625).
The defending-national champion Bruins are coming off a second-place showing at the Pac-10 Championships. UCLA has won 18 regional championships, including last year’s Los Angeles Regional. The 10-time national champion, Georgia, finished third at the Southeastern Conference Championships, while LSU placed fifth. The Terrapins finished third at the EAGL Championship, while the Wolfpack placed sixth.
