March 21, 2011
The sixth-ranked UCLA Gymnastics team will travel to Georgia to compete at the NCAA Athens Regional. The meet will take place at Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday, Apr. 2 at 4 pm ET. Joining the Bruins in the Regional will be eighth-ranked Georgia, 18th-ranked LSU, 26th-ranked North Carolina State, 28th-ranked Maryland and 29th-ranked West Virginia.
Qualifying as individual all-arounders are Melissa Cream and Melissa Cream from William & Mary, and Kayla Carto, Leslie Delima and Betsy Zander from George Washington. Delima will be rotating with UCLA. Individual event qualifiers competing in the regional are Avis Hixon from Towson (vault and floor), Kiera Kenney from George Washington (bars) and Monique Blount from George Washington (beam).
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 Cleveland, Ohio, April 15-17, hosted by Kent State University and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. In addition, the event winners at each regional will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier.
The Bruins will begin the regional meet on floor exercise then will move to vault, then a bye, then bars and beam. UCLA will sit out the last rotation on a bye. West Virginia begins on vault, Maryland begins on a bye before bars, North Carolina State starts on bars, Georgia begins on beam, and LSU starts on a bye before floor.
Last season, UCLA won its Regional in Los Angeles and went on to win the NCAA title. The Bruins have won a total of 18 Regional titles.
The six regional fields and sites are as follows:
Athens Regional (at University of Georgia): UCLA, Georgia, LSU, North Carolina State, Maryland, West Virginia
Denver Regional (at Denver University): Florida, Arkansas, Boise State, Denver, Arizona, BYU
Tuscaloosa Regional (at University of Alabama): Alabama, Penn State, Illinois, Auburn, Central Michigan, Kentucky
Corvallis Regional (at Oregon State University): Oregon State, Nebraska, Iowa, Southern Utah, San Jose State, Michigan State
Ann Arbor Regional (at University of Michigan): Stanford, Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa State, Minnesota, Kent State
Norman Regional (at University of Oklahoma): Oklahoma, Utah, Washington, New Hampshire, Missouri, North Carolina