Florida Gators
NCAA North Central Regional
Florida Gymnasts Win NCAA North Central Regional; Head Back to Gainesville for NCAA Championships
Sunday, April 11, 2010 | Gymnastics
The No. 4 University of Florida gymnastics team used its season-best team total of 197.675 – the sixth-highest total in school history – to claim the NCAA North Central Regional title, which was held Saturday in front of a Huntsman Center crowd of 6,141. The win sends Florida back home for the NCAA Championships, set for April 22-24 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. It will be Florida's 28th NCAA Championship appearance in the meet's 29-year history.
No. 10 Utah took the other advancing position at 196.90. Utah is the only team to advance to every NCAA Championship. Other team results Saturday included No. 22 Denver (196.175), No. 19 Boise State (195.95), No. 23 Washington (195.075) and No. 16 Auburn (194.925). Florida's win was its sixth consecutive in NCAA Regional action.
The meet started off for the Gators much like the Southeastern Conference Championships did on March 27. The Gators were slow starting on their opening event (vault) at SECs and again were not at their sharpest when they opened regional competition on floor. UF Head Coach Rhonda Faehn told the Gators to shake off that event and focus on what was ahead.
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“We're just really thrilled with how everything turned out. It was a big crowd tonight – probably the biggest of any of the six regional sites. They are a very gracious crowd who appreciate good gymnastics. I think our team really fed off that. We started off rough on floor, kind of like we did at SECs. I told them 'Hey, it's just like SECs. We are going to rebound and do our absolute best on our next three events.'”
That is exactly what the Gators did. Their team total of 49.50 on their next event, vault, was Florida's highest of the season. Florida led the North Central Regional competition with its team totals of 49.425 on uneven bars and 49.575 on balance beam.
“They just kept fighting through and didn't give up,” Faehn said. “I'm just really proud of the heart they competed with tonight. We are looking forward to coming back home.”
Over the course of Florida's final three events, a total of 11 collegiate or season-bests were posted by individual Gators. All five of the scores used toward Florida's balance beam total of 49.575 –which matches the school record set in 2007 -were collegiate-bests. Those marks included Ashan?e Dickerson's 9.95, Liz Green's 9.925 and 9.90s from Courtney Gladys, Marissa King and Elizabeth Mahlich.
Dickerson used a collegiate-best all-around total of 39.70 – the fifth-highest in school history and the top total ever by a Gator freshman – to claim her seventh all-around title of the season. She is the first Gator freshman to win a regional all-around since Ashley Reed claimed the 2005 title.
She took first or second in each event Saturday, and used two collegiate-best marks to claim two of the titles. Dickerson matched her collegiate-best of 9.95 to win sole possession of the balance beam title. She set her collegiate-best for the uneven bars (9.90) to share that win with two teammates – Amanda Castillo and Maranda Smith. Dickerson and Smith also were among a seven-way tie at 9.90 for the floor exercise title. In the final vault standings, Dickerson shared second with Boise State's Hailey Gaspar after matching her collegiate-best of 9.95. That title went to Boise State's Hannah Redmon with her vault mark of 9.975.
In the post-meet award ceremony, Dickerson was announced as the NCAA Southeast Region Gymnast of the Year – a first for the Gator program. Faehn was named the Southeast Region Coach of the Year – her fourth such honor since 2003.
The 12-team field for the April 22-24 NCAA Championships is set. There will be a new champion this year, as five-time defending NCAA champion Georgia lost the tie-breaker to Oregon State for the second qualifying position at the South Central Regional in Columbia, Mo. The field is listed below.
Next up, the Gators await Monday's announcement by the NCAA of its competitive rotation for April 22 semifinal action. The National Qualifying Score (NQS) determines the pairings for day one of the team competition at the NCAA Championships. The NQS is calculated by adding a team's regional qualifying score (RQS) and score from the regional meet. Teams will be ranked 1 to 12 based on the NQS. Teams 1, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 12 will be placed in the afternoon session on April 22 and teams 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11 placed in the evening session. Florida enters as the No. 2 seed and will compete in the April 22 evening session.
| Final Team Standings | ||||||
| No. 4 Florida at NCAA North Central Region Championships – April 10, 2010 – Huntsman Center (6,141) | ||||||
|
| Team | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total |
| 1. | Florida | 49.500 | 49.425 | 49.575 | 49.175 | 197.675 |
| 2. | Utah | 49.300 | 49.125 | 49.350 | 49.125 | 196.900 |
| 3. | Denver | 49.075 | 49.125 | 48.775 | 49.200 | 196.175 |
| 4. | Boise State | 49.575 | 48.700 | 48.775 | 48.900 | 195.950 |
| 5. | Washington | 48.925 | 48.650 | 48.150 | 49.350 | 195.075 |
| 6. | Auburn | 48.875 | 48.775 | 48.525 | 48.750 | 194.925 |
| 2010 NCAA Championship Field | |||||
| Seed | School | Region Score | RQS | NQS | |
| 1 | UCLA | 197.825 | 197.06 | 394.885 | |
| 2 | Florida | 197.675 | 197.05 | 394.725 | |
| 3 | Alabama | 197.400 | 197.250 | 394.65 | |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 197.25 | 197.17 | 394.42 | |
| 5 | Utah | 196.900 | 196.485 | 393.385 | |
| 6 | Stanford | 196.775 | 196.60 | 393.375 | |
| 7 | Arkansas | 196.675 | 196.51 | 393.185 | |
| 8 | Oregon State | 196.275* | 196.545 | 392.82 | |
| 9 | LSU | 196.40 | 196.415 | 392.815 | |
| 10 | Missouri | 196.500 | 196.085 | 392.585 | |
| 11 | Michigan | 195.800 | 196.60 | 392.4 | |
| 12 | Nebraska | 195.975 | 196.335 | 392.31 | |
| Shade denotes teams in Florida's session of April 22 NCAA Championship semifinal competition | |||||
| OSU wins tie-breaker over Georgia 235.2-234.8 | |||||
| Florida Notes: | |||||
| ● This is Florida's sixth consecutive NCAA Regional title and 11th overall (1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). | |||||
| ● Ashan?e Dickerson's four event titles (all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise) are the most event titles by a Gator since Elfi Schlegel swept all five titles at the 1984 NCAA Southeast Regional. | |||||
| ● Florida's win in the Huntsman Center is its second over Utah in its home arena. The first came in 2007 regular-season action. Utah was undefeated in its previous 10 NCAA Regional appearances in the Huntsman Center. | |||||
| ● Ashan?e Dickerson is the first Gator to be named the NCAA Southeast Region Gymnast of the Year. She is the fourth Gator freshman to win a regional all-around title (Elfi Schlege/1983; Janice Kerr/1987; Ashley Reed/2005; Ashan?e Dickerson/2010). | |||||
| ● NCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year honor went to Rhonda Faehn. It is her fourth such honor since 2003 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2010) | |||||
| ● Nine collegiate-best marks were set or matched by the Gators Saturday and two set or matched season-best scores. | |||||
| Name | Event | Score | Collegiate-Best | Season-Best | |
| Ashan?e Dickerson | Vault | 9.95 | √ | √ | |
| Bars | 9.90 | √ | √ | ||
| Beam | 9.95 | √ | √ | ||
| All-Around | 39.70 | √ | √ | ||
| Courtney Gladys | Beam | 9.90 | √ | √ | |
| Liz Green | Beam | 9.925 | √ | √ | |
| Marissa King | Vault | 9.90 | √ | √ | |
| Beam | 9.90 | √ | √ | ||
| Elizabeth Mahlich | Beam | 9.90 | √ | √ | |
| Maranda Smith | Vault | 9.90 | √ | ||
| Bars | 9.90 | √ | |||
