No. 1 Florida Gymnasts Look for NCAA Berth at NCAA North Central Regional Championships
Saturday, April 2, 2011 | Gymnastics
The No. 1 University of Florida gymnastics team (17-2, 5-1 SEC) is in the Mile-High City Saturday, where a challenging field awaits the Gators at the NCAA North Central Regional Championships. The meet begins at 8 p.m. (ET) on April 2 in the Denver University's Magness Arena. The six teams competing for the North Central Region title include No. 1 Florida, No. 12 Arkansas (14-4), No. 13 Boise State (14-3), No. 19 Denver (9-9), No. 20 Arizona (15-10) and No. 27 BYU (11-8).
| Saturday's Meet Notes: |
| No. 1 Florida (17-2, 5-1 SEC) at NCAA North Central Region Championships Date & Time: April 2, 2011 @ 8 p.m. ET Television: none Internet: live stats available on www.GatorZone.com Streaming Video: Denver is offering a complimentary video stream of Saturday's meet – link can be found here at meet time. In addition, links to the video of each team's performance on each apparatus will be available as soon as possible here the evening of the meet. This link is only available for the 72 hours following the meet. UF NCAA Region Titles (all-time): UF has won 11 NCAA region titles (1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) Series Records (all-time): UF leads Arizona 9-4-1; UF leads Arkansas 24-2; UF leads Boise State 3-0; UF leads BYU 4-1; UF leads Denver 8-0 Tickets: $15 for reserved lower level and $10 for upper level. Children and senior tickets are also available for $8 in upper level. Tickets can be purchased online here. |
| See Rhonda Faehn's appearance Friday at the NCAA North Central Regional press conference. |
What the teams are vying for at each of the nation's six NCAA Regional sites is a top-two finish to advance to the NCAA Championships, set for April 15-17 in Cleveland, Ohio. The NCAA Championships' teams compete in two sessions on April 15, with the top three teams in each session advancing to the April 16 NCAA Super Six, where the team champion is determined. Florida has advanced to the NCAA Championships 28 times in the meet's 29-year history, missing only the 2000 event.
Florida has won its last six regional events, beginning its string at the 2005 NCAA Southeast Regional in Gainesville, Fla. The Gators also won the 2006 (NCAA Central/Fayetteville, Ark.), 2007 (NCAA Northeast/Ann Arbor, Mich.), 2008 (NCAA Southeast/Gainesville), 2009 (NCAA North Central/Iowa City, Iowa), and 2010 (North Central/Salt Lake City, Utah) regional team titles. UF is the No. 1 seed in this weekend's competition. The NCAA began seeding regional fields in 1999 and UF has been a region's top seed six times, beginning in 2006.
In Florida's last meet, the Gators fell short of a second consecutive Southeastern Conference team title at the SEC Championships in Birmingham, Ala. Florida finished behind Alabama, 197.225-196.975, for second place in the seven-team meet. Sophomore Ashan?e Dickerson claimed first place on floor to give the Gators their first SEC floor title since Amanda Castillo claimed back-to-back wins in 2007 and 2008, and freshman Alaina Johnson finished in second in the all-around competition. Johnson was awarded with this year's SEC Freshman of the Year honor. Florida's Rhonda Faehn received the SEC Coach of the Year award, her second consecutive honor and fourth since 2006.
Live scoring for the NCAA North Central Regional can be found at www.GatorZone.com and live meet updates can be viewed at www.Twitter.com/GatorZoneGym. Denver is offering a complimentary video stream of the meet and the link can be found Saturday on Denver's NCAA North Central Regional meet site.
| 2011 NCAA North Central Region Competition Order | ||||||
| Vault | Bye | Bars | Beam | Bye | Floor | |
| BYU | Arizona | Denver | Arkansas | Boise State | Florida | |
| II | Florida | BYU | Arizona | Denver | Arkansas | Boise State |
| III | Boise State | Florida | BYU | Arizona | Denver | Arkansas |
| IV | Arkansas | Boise State | Florida | BYU | Arizona | Denver |
| V | Denver | Arkansas | Boise State | Florida | BYU | Arizona |
| VI | Arizona | Denver | Arkansas | Boise State | Florida | BYU |
