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Women's Gymnastics
No. 24 Illini Earn Fifth Straight NCAA Regional Bid
March 31, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Regional selections for the 2008 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships were announced Monday evening by the NCAA, and Bob Starkell's 24th-ranked Fighting Illini squad earned the fifth seed in the South Central Regional, which will take place at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., on Saturday, April 12. The regional invite is the fifth in a row under Starkell, who is in his ninth season with the Illini. Illinois will begin the meet on a bye before starting competition on floor exercise in rotation two. That is the same order the Illini had at last week's Big Ten Championships, where they finished second with a season-high score of 195.750 and produced the conference balance beam champion in junior Julie Crall. The Orange and Blue's complete rotation order will be bye-floor-vault-bye-bars-beam. Starkell was happy with the draw and the fact that the team is rotating in the same order as Big Tens. "I'm excited that we get a chance to go to Oklahoma and compete as the five seed against some great teams," Starkell said. "I know they'll host an excellent event there and I think we have a good chance to succeed with the momentum we have after the Big Ten Championships. Starting on the same event should give the team confidence that we can repeat that performance." This is Illinois' 21st trip to the NCAA Regional Championships. The Illini's best finish at a regional meet is fourth on several occasions, most recently last year at the South Central Regional. The Illini have never qualified for the national championships as a team. Six teams, plus up to five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event were named to six regions across the country. The other five regional sites include Baton Rouge, La., (Central), Minneapolis, Minn., (North Central), University Park, Pa., (Northeast), Gainesville, Fla., (Southeast) and Corvallis, Ore., (West). 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 hosted by University of Georgia in, Athens, Ga., April 24-26. In addition, the event winners at the regional championships will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers. Joining the Illini in Norman will No. 4 Alabama, No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 16 Boise State, No. 19 Arizona State and Southeast Missouri State. Illinois is currently ranked 24th in the nation with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 195.125. Also joining the teams in the South Central Regional are five all-around gymnasts and one specialist for each event. The individual all-arounder rotating with Illinois is Erica Schick of Illinois State. This is Illinois' 20th trip to the NCAA Regional Championships. The Illini's best finish at a regional meet is fourth on several occasions, most recently in 2006. The Illini have never qualified for the national championships as a team. At last year's South Central Regional in Tucson, Ariz., the Illini finished fourth with a score of 194.625, equaling the best finish at a regional meet in school history for the second straight year. No. 4 Stanford (196.600) took the regional title, while No. 8 Oregon State (196.075) edged host Arizona (196.025) for the second team qualifying spot to the NCAA Championships. Illinois was fourth behind the Wildcats, and was followed by Arizona State (194.375) and Illinois-Chicago (190.925).
Live scoring from the 2008 NCAA South Central Regional will be available at fightingillini.com and soonersports.com. Tickets for the event are $10 for adults and $5 for youth and are available through the Oklahoma Athletics Ticket Office. Fans can purchase tickets online through soonersports.com or call (405) 325-2424 or toll-free (800) 456-GoOU. Groups of 10 or more can order $5 tickets by calling 405-325-7513. Complete regional assignments can be found here. 2008 NCAA South Central Regional // April 12, 2008 // 6 p.m. CT // Norman, Okla. (University of Oklahoma) Qualifying Teams (RQS) |
