April 11, 1999

After qualifying for the NCAA Gymnastics Championships by winning its Regional, the UCLA Gymnastics team found out today who it would be paired with in the preliminary session Apr. 22 in Salt Lake City, UT.

A blind draw conducted by the NCAA determined that UCLA will compete in the afternoon session (1:00 pm, local time) against three-time NCAA Champion Alabama, Stanford, West Virginia, Arizona State and LSU. Competing in the evening session (7:00 pm, local time) will be defending and four-time champion Georgia, Michigan, Penn State, host and nine-time champion Utah, Nebraska and Florida. The Top 3 finishers in each of the two preliminary sessions will advance to the NCAA Super Six Team Finals on Apr. 23.

In another blind draw, UCLA drew the bye-floor rotation. UCLA will start on a bye then move to floor, vault, bye and bars before ending on beam.

The Championships pairings were conducted differently this season. This year,the six winners of the Regionals were grouped together in a drawing. Three of those winners were drawn into the afternoon session, and three were placed in the evening session. The six second-place finishers at Regionals were also grouped together in a similar drawing. The 1999 regional winners were UCLA, Georgia, Alabama, Stanford, Michigan and Penn State.