No. 19 Gymnastics Earns Trip To NCAA Central Regional
4/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
April 2, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The 19th-ranked Michigan State gymnastics team has qualified as the No. 4 seed at the Tuscaloosa, Ala. (University of Alabama) NCAA Regional site, as announced by the NCAA on Monday. The selection marks the 17th regional appearance in MSU history, and fifth in the past six seasons for the Spartans. The Central Region Championships will be held at Coleman Coliseum on April 14 at 6 p.m.
"We are very happy to have earned a team selection to the NCAA Central Regional," Spartan head coach Kathie Klages said. "We have traveled to the University of Alabama many times, and our team is familiar with the competition arena."
Host Alabama, who is ranked third in the April 2 GymInfo Top 25 Poll, earns the No. 1 seed on its home floor, while 10th-ranked Oklahoma is the No. 2 seed and 16th-ranked Iowa State earned the No. 3 seed. Following the Spartans at No. 4 is 21st-ranked Ohio State at No. 5, and Kentucky at No. 6.
Michigan State is 0-2 against its Central Regional opponents this year, falling to Ohio State twice during the regular season.
Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event (who has a minimum Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 9.4) were named to each of the six regions. 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 in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 26-28, hosted by the University of Utah. 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.
Central Regional, Tuscaloosa, Ala. - No. 3 Alabama, No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 19 Michigan State, No. 21 Ohio State, No. 26 Kentucky
North Central Regional, Denver, Co. - No. 2 Georgia, No. 11 Penn State, No. 14 Denver, No. 23 Brigham Young, No. 25 Minnesota, No. 28 Utah State
South Central Regional, Tucson, Ariz. - No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 Oregon State, No. 15 Arizona, No. 20 Illinois, No. 26 Arizona State, No. 36 Illinois-Chicago
Northeast Regional, Ann Arbor, Mich. - No. 1 Florida, No. 12 Michigan, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 41 Pittsburgh, No. 43 New Hampshire, No. 53 Rutgers
Southeast Regional, Morgantown, W.V. - No. 5 LSU, No. 8 UCLA, No. 17 Auburn, No. 22 NC State, No. 24 West Virginia, No. 30 UNC
West Regional, Berkley, Calif. - No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Utah, No. 18 Missouri, No. 31 Washington, No. 35 Sacramento State, No. 37 California - Berkley