April 23, 1999
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The UCLA women's gymnastics team, which won its preliminary session Thursday afternoon, drew the floor exercise first for the NCAA Super Six Team Finals. UCLA's first event in the prelims was also floor. However, unlike the prelims, UCLA begin on floor immediately rather than on a bye. After floor, the Bruins will move to vault, then take a bye. Following the bye will be bars and beam and finally a bye to end the meet.
Defending champion Georgia drew the favored Olympic order, beginning on vault and ending on floor. Nebraska starts on the bye before bars, Alabama begins on bars, Michigan on vault and Arizona State on the bye before floor.
The NCAA also drew the order for event finals. But because this year's event finals will have two events occurring simultaneously, that order could be altered for those who might be scheduled to compete at the same time on both events.
The preliminary draw had Lena Degteva going first on vault, Kiralee Hayashi going third, Luisa Portocarrero 11th and Heidi Moneymaker 12th out of 13. On bars, defending champ Moneymaker was scheduled to compete fourth, Degteva 10th and Mohini Bhardwaj last at 12th. Moneymaker drew third on beam, and Hayashi drew 14th out of 15. And on floor, Hayashi will be fourth and Moneymaker sixth.
In the evening session for the team preliminaries, Georgia recorded the top score in both sessions, a 197.025. Michigan was second with a 196.575, and Nebraska took the final spot in the Super Six with a 196.225. Host Utah missed the cut for the Super Six, placing fourth with a 195.475. However, Ute freshman Theresa Kulikowski won the all-around with a score of 39.675. Needing a 9.75 on her final event (vault) to tie Moneymaker, who won the first session with a 39.55, and a 9.775 to tie Georgia's Karin Lichey, who finished with a 39.575, Kulikowski scored a 9.875 to clinch the win. Moneymaker finished third, the highest all-around finish for a Bruin since Stella Umeh placed third in 1995. Degteva tied for sixth with a 39.375 to earn first-team All-America honors in the all-around for the first time in her career. She was a second-teamer in each of her previous two seasons. Hayashi's 10th place showing (39.3) and Bhardwaj's 11th place showing (39.275) gave them second-team All-America honors.
Following is the complete team draw for Friday's Super Six:
Rotation Vault Bye Bars Beam Bye Floor I Georgia Nebraska Alabama Michigan ASU UCLA II UCLA Georgia Nebraska Alabama Michigan ASU III ASU UCLA Georgia Nebraska Alabama Michigan IV Michigan ASU UCLA Georgia Nebraska Alabama V Alabama Michigan ASU UCLA Georgia Nebraska VI Nebraska Alabama Michigan ASU UCLA Georgia