No. 6 Florida Gymnasts at NCAA North Central Regional Championships
Friday, April 3, 2009 | Gymnastics
A competitive field awaits the No. 6 University of Florida gymnastics team (10-6, 3-3 SEC) for its first trip to the state of Iowa for the NCAA North Central Region Championships, set for April 4 at 7 p.m. (ET) in the University of Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The six teams for the NCAA North Central Regional includes No. 6 Florida, No. 7 UCLA (17-3), No. 18 Minnesota (11-10), No. 20 Denver (10-8), No. 23 Iowa State (1-12) and No. 28 Iowa (10-11).
What the teams are vying for at each of the nation's six NCAA Regional sites is a top-two finish, which advances those teams to the NCAA Championships, set for April 16-18 in Lincoln, Neb. The NCAA Championships' teams compete in two sessions on April 16, with the top three teams in each session advancing to the April 17 NCAA Super Six, where the team champion is determined. Florida has advanced to the NCAA Championships 26 times in the meet's 27-year history, missing only the 2000 event.
Three NCAA North Central Region team advanced to NCAA Championship competition in 2008 - Florida, UCLA and Denver. In 2008 NCAA Super Six competition, Florida took fourth. UCLA and Denver also advanced to 2008 NCAA Championship competition, finishing seventh and 12th, respectively. The Gators have advanced from the NCAA Championships team competition to the NCAA Super Six team final four of the last five years. The Bruins have missed only two NCAA Super Six appearances since the two-day format began in 1993. That stretch includes five NCAA titles, with the first coming at the 1997 NCAA Championships held in Gainesville, Fla.
Florida has won its last four regional events, beginning its string of NCAA Regional titles in 2005, in Gainesville, Fla. The Gators also won the 2006 (NCAA Central/Fayetteville, Ark.), 2007 (NCAA Northeast/Ann Arbor, Mich.) and 2008 (NCAA Southeast Region/Gainesville) regional team titles.
The 2009 Gators have been hit hard by injuries, as four of the team's 12 members are out for the season with injuries. One Gator that has returned from injury since the March 21 Southeastern Conference Championships is sophomore Alicia Goodwin, who sprained her left knee in the last practice before the team departed for the league championships. She is expected to return to UF's uneven bars and balance beam lineups.
At the SEC Championships, three Gators earned All-SEC honors. Senior All-American Corey Hartung turned in a season-best 39.50 to finish fourth in the SEC's all-around competition. Following her closely was junior All-American Melanie Sinclair, who was fifth in the all-around (39.45). Both Hartung and Sinclair shared second in the SEC uneven bars competition at 9.95 and Hartung tied for third on vault (9.90). Elizabeth Mahlich earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team with her all-around total of 39.15.
