Gym Blog: Mission Accomplished
April 02, 2015 04:42 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University held its annual spring break last week, giving students a chance to recharge and refresh before they tackle the last month of the spring semester.
Morgantown was practically deserted, and the WVU campus fell silent.
Well, all but one building, that is.
The WVU gymnastics team spent its spring break hard at work in Cary Gym, training for the 2015 NCAA Morgantown Regional Championships. The squad earned its 36th regional bid, 31st in NCAA competition, thanks in large part to a program-best second place, 195.025 showing at the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship on March 21.
The Mountaineers were elated to learn of their selection to the regional championships, having just-missed qualifying as a team in 2014.
“This year is pretty neat,” said fourth-year coach Jason Butts. “Our freshmen and sophomores have no idea what it means to be at a regional championship, and our seniors – that was their No. 1 goal for this season; there was no way they were going to miss qualifying again. There were two different perspectives in the gym throughout spring break: the seniors were thrilled that they hit their goal, while our underclassmen were so excited for the new experience.”
WVU is the last-seeded squad in a six-team field that features five nationally ranked teams, including top-seeded Florida. The No. 2-ranked Gators are the two-time defending NCAA national champions. Also competing at the regional, set for a 4 p.m. start at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday, April 4, are No. 11 Stanford, No. 14 Illinois, No. 19 Arkansas and No. 25 New Hampshire.
The Mountaineers (14-9-1, 1-1-1) are not fazed by the stacked field.
“We’ve barely given it a second thought,” said Butts. “What those teams do is so out of our control. I just want this team to hit 24-for-24 this weekend. There will be some big gymnastics competed in the Coliseum on Saturday. But, with big gymnastics comes more chances for errors. We all have to stay on the equipment.
“Consistency has been our sticking point this season. We don’t want to count a fall this weekend; we want to stay on the equipment. If we hit, I think we will place where we deserve to finish.”
The Mountaineers finished a program-best second in back-to-back regional championships (1999, 2000), earning two of their three bids to the NCAA National Championships. Two spots to the 2015 NCAA National Championships are up for grabs this Saturday, and while Butts stresses his team’s ultimate goal is a qualification to the national championships, he believes the Mountaineers have one duty Saturday afternoon.
“This year, our responsibility is to get the highest score we can so we can earn a high end-of-year ranking,” he explained. “That will set us up for a great run in 2016. That is this team’s duty. Regardless if we qualify for the national championships or not, we need to peak this weekend and turn in our best performance of the season. That’s been our focus throughout spring break, and that’s the mentality we will bring with us to the competition Saturday afternoon.”
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The Mountaineers open the regional championships on floor exercise. The team has opened a competition on the event only once this season, scoring a meet-best 49.1 at Pitt on February 28. Coach Butts entered the meet a bit hesitant, afraid his gymnasts might be too excited to start on an exhilarating event like floor. Instead, the squad tallied one of its top marks of the season, and three gymnasts earned marks of 9.85 or better.
Needless to say, he is singing a new tune this week.
“I want this team hyped up Saturday,” he explained. “They handled the start great at Pitt. Our floor routines have been coming together more and more as the season has progressed. We are so strong on that event. I’m confident we will open with a strong floor rotation, and we will carry that enthusiasm and consistency into the next three events.”
WVU enters the regional championships ranked No. 23 nationally on floor. The team has not ranked outside of the top 25 since February 16. Senior Dayah Haley ranks No. 31 nationally and has hit for 9.9 or better three times this season, including a career-best 9.95 showing at New Hampshire on February 8. Junior Melissa Idell ranks just behind Haley at No. 38. She has not scored below 9.8 since the season opener at Maryland on January 19 and has hit a career-high 9.925 twice.
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Senior Dayah Haley has competed in the all-around in the last two meets, finishing second at the 2015 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship two weeks ago.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks Photo
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One of the four Mountaineers to individually qualify for the 2014 NCAA Athens Regional Championships, former WVU gymnast Hope Sloanhoffer advanced out of the region and earned an individual all-around bid to last year’s NCAA National Championships. She was the program’s 18th individual qualifier and first since 2009.
Should the Mountaineers not advance as a team to the NCAA National Championships, the hope is always that an individual will qualify. Surprisingly, talk of individual qualifications has not filtered into Cary Gym this week.
“Refreshingly, that hasn’t come up at all,” enthused Butts. “There has not been one word spoken of an individual qualification, and I like that – it’s such a change from recent years. If we have an individual advance out, that will be so wonderful and we will all be proud. Right now, it’s all about the team. We will see where the chips fall at 7 p.m. Saturday night.”
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Fort Worth, Texas, April 17-19, hosted by Texas Woman’s and the Knight Eady Sports Group. Additionally, the event winners at each regional site will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier.
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Tickets for the championships are on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office. Tickets are $12 each when purchased in advance online at WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office at 1-800-WVU-GAME. Groups of 10 or more can receive a special group rate of $10 per person at WVUGAME.com or by calling 1-800-WVU-GAME. Group tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets will be available at the door for $15 each on the day of the meet. WVU students are admitted for FREE with a valid WVU student I.D.
All six teams, as well as the individual all-around qualifiers and event specialists, will practice at the WVU Coliseum Friday afternoon. Practice is free and open to the public. Friday’s practice schedule can be found HERE.
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