NCAA Championships Blog - Team Prelims
April 16, 2009
10:16 pm - Ending on floor exercise, UCLA needed to score four-tenths better than Arkansas on beam to pass them. The Bruins did all they could, hitting six routines and scoring 49.3. Arkansas hit beam to finish in second, but Utah finished with a 49.4 on vault to finish tied with UCLA for third place. After the tiebreaker, which counts all six scores, the Bruins fell short, 234.650-234.575.
9:22 pm - With the Bruins on a fifth-rotation bye, Arkansas and Alabama maintained their positions ahead of UCLA. The Lady Backs scored 49.1 on bars for a three-event total of 147.7, .375 ahead of UCLA. Alabama finished strong on beam with a 49.375 on beam and a final score of 197.025. Utah's 49.175 on floor kept them one-tenth behind UCLA with a 147.225.
UCLA will finish up on floor, while Arkansas ends on beam. Utah closes on vault, which has been the highest-scoring event of the night.
8:54 pm - The balance beam loomed large in the fourth rotation, but Berlin was her usual rock, nailing yet another huge routine for a 9.875 leadoff. Sato was solid in the second spot, hitting a career-best 9.85. Niki Tom had a few wobbles but stayed on and scored 9.7. Zamarripa came up big with a near-stick on her 2.5 twist dismount and tied her career-best with a 9.9. Hopfner-Hibbs made it 5-for-5 in hit routines, scoring 9.875. With a 49.2 already in hand, Gerber's fall on her dismount did not hurt the Bruins, who moved into second place with a 147.325, .325 behind first-place Alabama. Arkansas and Utah were on byes in the rotation.
8:29 pm - The Bruins moved to uneven bars in rotation three. McCullough led off by sticking her dismount and scoring 9.8. Freshman Aisha Gerber had a solid routine going but sat down her full-twisting double back dismount, scoring 9.275. Berlin continued her hot streak, nailing her elements and sticking her full-twisting double back dismount for another 9.9, tying her season-high. Zamarripa also had a strong routine, scoring 9.85. Hopfner-Hibbs had her best bar routine in some time, scoring 9.85, but Li fell on her Tkatchev, forcing the Bruins to count her 9.3. The team total was 48.7, pushing the Bruins into third place with a 98.125, behind first-place Arkansas (98.6) and second-place Alabama (98.450). Utah had to count a fall on balance beam, scoring 48.775 for a two-event total of 98.050, good for fourth place. Oregon State's 49.175 on floor improved the Beavers' team total to 97.5, good for fifth place, and Illinois stood in sixth with a 97.45.
8:00 pm - With UCLA on a bye in rotation two, Alabama compiled a 49.325 on vault to take a two-event lead with 98.45, followed by Illinois, whose 48.575 on beam increased its point total to 97.45. Utah began its competition on uneven bars and totaled 49.275. Arkansas scored 49.15 on floor exercise in its first event.
7:29 pm - UCLA began the Championships on vault in the first rotation. Sophomore Mizuki Sato got things started with a stuck Yurchenko layout full for a 9.85. Freshman Kaelie Baer got good height on her vault but took a step back for a 9.7. Redshirt sophomore Brittani McCullough, competing in her first NCAA Championship after missing the last two due to injury, took a step back on her vault and scored 9.825. Senior Ariana Berlin nailed her vault with huge height and scored a career-high tying 9.9. Freshman Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs also rocked a strong vault, scoring 9.9, setting up classmate Vanessa Zamarripa perfectly for a huge score. Zamarripa complied by sticking her vault and receiving a 10 from one judge and three 9.95s for a final average of 9.95, giving UCLA a 49.425 to start off the competition.
The Bruins' vault score put them in first place. Alabama was second with a 49.125 on floor. Illinois was third with a 48.875 on bars, followed by a 48.325 on beam by Oregon State.
6:55 pm - UCLA is looking for a Top 3 finish in tonight's preliminaries to qualify for the NCAA Super Six Team Finals. Also at stake are spots in the Individual Event Finals. The Top 4 from each session on each event qualifies to Saturday's event finals.
The Bruins will be debuting new leotards tonight. See the photo from warmups to the right for a sneak peak of the design.
Lineups are similar to the Bruins' Regional lineup. Starting out for UCLA on vault in the first rotation are Mizuki Sato, Kaelie Baer, Brittani McCullough, Ariana Berlin, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and Vanessa Zamarripa.
In Session I, Georgia took first place with a 197.450. Florida was second with a 196.375, and LSU edged out Stanford with a 196.300. Stanford was fourth with a 196.225. Penn State was also close behind with a 196.100. Oklahoma finished sixth with a 195.825. LSU had to count a fall on beam but made up ground with huge scores on vault, totaling 49.45.
Georgia's Courtney Kupets scored 39.8 in the all-around and had a 10.0 on beam to take the lead in the all-around. It is going to take a Herculean effort to keep her from winning her third NCAA all-around title, but you can't count anyone out until the last performance.