Florida Gators
NCAA Championships (Individual Finals)
Hartung 5th on Beam & 8th on Floor; Evans 10th on Floor in NCAA Gymnastics Event Finals
Sunday, April 23, 2006 | Gymnastics
University of Florida freshman gymnast Corey Hartung tied for fifth in the balance beam and shared eighth in the floor exercise in Saturday's NCAA Individual Event finals held in Oregon State's Gill Coliseum. Gator junior Savannah Evans took 10th in the floor final. Both earned All-America first-team honors for advancing to the NCAA Individual Event finals.
In the balance beam final, Hartung tied for fifth overall with Georgia's Nikki Childs at 9.8125. The beam title was shared by a pair of Southeastern Conference gymnasts. LSU's April Burkholder and Georgia's Courtney Kupets, the final two competitors in the beam final, each posted marks of 9.9125 take the title.
It was an impressive list of final competitors, with two Olympians and the 2002 World beam champion among the eight beam finalists. No falls were recorded by any of the gymnasts.
Hartung looked confident in her first NCAA Individual Event appearance, hitting her skills with just the slightest balance shift during the routine and on her dismount. In the floor exercise final, Hartung shared eighth with Burkholder at 9.8375.
Evans had a bit of trouble with the landing of her last tumbling pass, a double back, resulting in a 9.6625 to place 10th in the floor standings. UCLA's Kate Richardson won her third career event title and first floor crown, posting a mark of 9.95.
Hartung enjoyed competing Saturday evening.
“It was thrilling to be out there with the top eight collegiate gymnasts. To march out and to compete with them was so exciting,” Hartung said. “To go one at a time and have everyone watching you was also exciting. It felt great to be out there and represent the Florida gymnastics program.”
As a freshman in 2004, Evans earned All-America second-team honors for floor, but this was her first appearance in the NCAA Individual Event finals.
“It was exciting to be out there tonight,” Evans said. “It was great to be on the floor with so many great competitors. I had a lot of fun.”
UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn thought the Gators did well Saturday.
“I thought they did a great job, especially considering this was their third consecutive day of competition. It is extremely exhausting, not only physically, but mentally as well,” Faehn said. “The fact that Corey went up and hit another great beam routine just says volumes about her level of endurance. She also did a really nice floor routine. It is a slight disadvantage, obviously, going up so early in the floor lineup. She was a pleasure to watch.
“It was a great experience for Savannah, making her first event final,” she continued. “I think the exhaustion of competing three consecutive days showed in her routine when she came up a little bit short at the end. I give her so much credit for not putting her hand down and fighting to stay with it. She was a joy to watch as well out there. They both had a very respectable performance out there today and they can learn from this for next year.”
Senior Ashley Miles of Alabama claimed her third NCAA vault title Saturday with a two-vault average score of 9.9375. Courtney Kupets and Utah's Kristina Baskett shared the 2006 NCAA uneven bars title with identical marks of 9.85.
NCAA Individual Event Final Results
| |||||
| Vault | School | V1 | V2 | Avg. | Rank |
| Ashley Miles | Alabama | 9.9750 | 9.9000 | 9.9375 | 1 |
| Kristina Comforte | UCLA | 9.9625 | 9.8375 | 9.900 | 2 |
| Kate Richardson | UCLA | 9.7875 | 9.8750 | 9.831 | 3 |
| Janet Anson | Iowa State | 9.8250 | 9.8250 | 9.825 | 4 |
| Emily Parsons | Nebraska | 9.9250 | 9.7250 | 9.825 | |
| April Burkholder | LSU | 9.8125 | 9.8250 | 9.819 | 6 |
| Nicolle Ford | Utah | 9.7875 | 9.7875 | 9.7875 | 7 |
| Ashley Postell | Utah | 9.7750 | 9.7875 | 9.781 | 8 |
| Tiffany Tolnay | Georgia | 9.7000 | 9.8500 | 9.775 | 9 |
| Gritt Hofmann | Utah | 9.7500 | 9.7000 | 9.7250 | 10 |
| Uneven Bars | School | Score | Rank |
| Courtney Kupets | Georgia | 9.8500 | 1 |
| Kristina Baskett | Utah | 9.8500 | |
| Ashley Kelly | ASU | 9.8375 | 3 |
| Katie Heenan | Georgia | 9.8000 | 4 |
| Ashley Postell | Utah | 9.7875 | 5 |
| Nicolle Ford | Utah | 9.7750 | 6 |
| Lauren Mirkovich | Michigan | 9.7625 | 7 |
| April Burkholder | LSU | 9.7500 | 8 |
| Tabitha Yim | Stanford | 9.3250 | 9 |
| Vanessa Meloche | Nebraska | 9.2375 | 10 |
| Stephanie LoPiccolo | Oklahoma | 9.0750 | 11 |
| Balance Beam | School | Score | Rank |
| April Burkholder | LSU | 9.9125 | 1 |
| Courtney Kupets | Georgia | 9.9125 | |
| Tiffany Tolnay | Georgia | 9.8500 | 3 |
| Terin Humphrey | Alabama | 9.8250 | 4 |
| Corey Hartung | Florida | 9.8125 | 5 |
| Nikki Childs | Georgia | 9.8125 | |
| Ashley Postell | Utah | 9.8000 | 7 |
| Tatjana Thuener-Rego | Michigan | 9.7625 | 8 |
| Floor Exercise | School | Score | Rank |
| Kate Richardson | UCLA | 9.9500 | 1 |
| Courtney Kupets | Georgia | 9.9375 | 2 |
| Ashley Miles | Alabama | 9.9125 | 3 |
| Tabitha Yim | Stanford | 9.9125 | |
| Janet Anson | Iowa State | 9.9125 | |
| Emily Parsons | Nebraska | 9.9000 | 6 |
| Kelsey Erickson | Georgia | 9.8500 | 7 |
| Corey Hartung | Florida | 9.8375 | 8 |
| April Burkholder | LSU | 9.8375 | |
| Trisha Woo | Nebraska | 9.7500 | 9 |
| Savannah Evans | Florida | 9.6625 | 10 |
