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Show JTHE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Thursday, April 16,2009 11 Afternoon Session: 72 p.m. Courtney K u p e t s : The fivetime Ail-American is alsoaiO-timeNCAA champion. She won the all-around competition in bac.k-to-back years before sitting out last season's nationals with an Achilles'injury. She is the top-ranked all-arounder this season and has scored a 10.0 in each of the fourevents this season. No. 2 Utah Utes 197.190 Regional Qualifying Score No. I Georgia Bulldogs 197.225 Regional Qualifying Score Nobody wants to knock Georgia off its The class of women's collegiate gymperch before Suzanne Yoculan retires more nastics for the past four years will be than Greg Marsden. Utah will try to prevent looking to five-peat in head coach Suthe Gym Dogs from tying its record 10 nazanne Yoculan's final meet of her distional titles and has the strongest cast of alltinguished career. Tiffany Tolnay, Grace arounders that it has had this decade. Utah Taylor and Courtney McCool make up is solidly positioned in the top two at every a strong supporting cast for top Gym event, including all-around score this season. Dog all-arounder and senior Courtney Kupets, who has been the best all-around gymnast in the country since her sophomore year. Ashleigh Clare- No. 4 Louisiana State Tigers 196.760 RQS The Tigers are coming off a season Kearney: One of the most powerful gymnasts in the country, Kearney is the top floor competitor this season and isalso No. 4 on vault and No. 5 on bars, making it easy to see how she is No. 3 in the country in the all-around. Corey Hart u n g : After suffering a third degree strain of her left soleus muscle (located in the lower leg), Hariung returned for the team's last two meets of the season, turning in her best all-around scores. Megan Fergus o n : As the first freshman in Big 12 history to win multiple events at the conference championships, she-ranks in theTop 25 in the country on the balance beam, while teammate Hollie Vise ranks there on both balance beam and bars. Carly Janiga: Fresh offthePac-lOandNCAA South Centra! Regional allaround titles, Janiga leads the way for the Cardinal abng with Nicole Ouracia.__ She is a three-time Ail-American and is No. 13 overall in the all-around. Brandi Persone t t : She is the only competitor on Penn State with nationals experience and was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year this season. She is No. 4 in the country on floor and No. 9 in the nation in the all-around. where they defeated eventual SEC champion Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, for the second time in school history and the first in head coach D-D Breaux's 32year career. The Tigers finished fourth in the SEC Championships, but are led by the best one-two punch in the country in all-arounders Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and Susan Jackson. Both are Top-5 all-arounders this season. No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide 196.925 RQS Alabama advanced to its 27th consecutive NCAA Championships after winning its 24th regional qualifier, which is an NCAA best. Nebraska's own Kylie Stone advanced to nationals as an individual competitor and will compete with the Crimson Tide. Alabama won the SEC Championships this year to hand the Georgia Bulldogs their only loss of the season. No. 5 Florida Gators 196.715 RQS After spending much of the past two seasons hovering near the top of the NCAA women's gymnastics rankings, the Gators have experienced a bit of a down season because of significant injuries. The team's 12-person roster has been reduced to eight, forcing up to five gymnasts to take the all-arounder role. Three of their five all-arounders are malting their career debut in that situation. Explosive gymnast Amanda Castillo is out, but with Melanie Sinclair and Corey Hartung, Florida is still competitive. No. 6 Oregon State Beavers 196.520 RQS Oregon State has emerged as a Super Six contender this season as only one of eight teams to post a score of 197 or better. Although Oregon State's record stands at just 16-8, it enters nationals as a model of consistency, having given many of the top teams in the country a good showing, and beating Arkansas back in January to earn its spot among the nation's elite. Oregon State enters as the Pac-10's top-ranked team despite not beating Stanford or UCLA in the regular season, and finishing second at the Pac-10 championships. No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners 196465 RQS This is Oklahoma's sixth straight appearance at nationals and the Sooners are just one of six teams to advance every year since 2004. Oklahoma has made eight national championship appearances overall, but is tied with BYU for the most national appearances without a spot in the Super Six. Oklahoma advanced out of the Northeast region behind Alabama. No. 7 UCLA Bruins 196.580 RQS Vanessa Zamarripa has helped {he Bruins enter nationals as the top vaulting team in the country. Her career low is 9.875 and she has scored at least a 9.9 in 10 of her 12 meets this season. Like Penn State, UCLA is very young, having had 82 percent of its routines performed by underclassmen. Although it's been a few years, UCLA is looking for its sixth national championship, which ranks it third all-time behind Utah and Georgia. No. 9 Stanford Cardinal 196.825 RQS No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks 196440 RQS Gymnastics didn't even start at Arkansas Stanford is trying to establish itself on the nauntil 2003 and already it has qualified for six tional scene as it tries to make its third straight regional championships. This year, ArkanSuper Six appearance after not making the final sas won its first regional championship in its day of nationals before 2002. Three members of short history by beating out Stanford. ArkanStanford have ties to host city Lincoln* Nebw in-_ sas is 4-3 against NCAA Championship teams, eluding freshman Jenny Peter. Assistant coach including wins over Alabama, Stanford, OklaChris Swircek and trainer Lindsey Dame are also homa and Florida. Nebraska natives. No. 12 Penn State Nittany lions 196.240 RQS No. n Illinois FighthV Ulini 196.015 RQS The Lions made nationals without a This year's gymnastics Cinderella is making single senior on its club and are makits NCAA Championships debut after finishing the school's first appearance since ing second in the NCAA West Regional behind 2005. The Lions advanced out of the Utah. This year's team holds the top four scores Southeast Regional behind No. 1 overall in team history, but even the school record Ilseed Georgia. Penn State successfully linois scored in the Big Ten Championships knocked off Nebraska in the regional, wasn't enough to get past Michigan—which ensuring that they wouldn't be able to attend their own hosted didn't even make nationals—and it will be tough to get into the national competition. Super Six with UCLA, Oregon State, Utah and Alabama being the class of the evening. Kristina Bask e t t : W h e n Utah lost its most decorated gymnast in Ashley Postell, the team was going to have to platoon to fill the void. Then Basken stepped up and filled PostelVs No. 2 all-around ranking, giving Utah the anchor it needs to compete with the Gym Dogs. Morgan Denn i s : The 2007 NCAA Champion on floor has 16 individual wins this season and won the SEC floor and vault championships this season. Dennis is in the Top 20 in the all-around and in the Top 10 in the nation on both the vault and floor exercise. Mandi Rodrig u e z : Rodriguez was named Pac-10 gymnast of the year after ranking No. 7 in the country in the allaround, which is first overall in the conference. Teammate Jami Lanz has been the model of consistency, competing in every meet this season, and also ranks in theTop 20 in the nation in the all-around. Elyse HopfnerH i b b s : Hopfner-Hibbs is the Bruins'top allarounder and is No. 15 in the country, but is far from the only contributor. Zamarripa leads the way on vault for UCLA and Aisha Gerber has been sensational for UCLA on balance beam. Casey Jo Mag e e : Magee is the top gymnast in a threegymnast front that leads the Razorbacks. She's the top all-arounder, racked No. lOin the country, but is backed by Michelle Stout and Jaime Pisani, who also rank in the Top 25 in the all-around. Allison Buckl e y : Buckley won the individual beam title at the West regional, but is accompanied by a strong floor tandem in Sarah Schmidt and Marijka Bonerman, who both rank in theTop 25 on that event. 2nd Annual Record Store Day Events: *H All Graywhale Locations April 18th record store dayone day only sales rx . i performing: In support of her record store day 7" release, Brandi will be playing a special acoustic set and meeting with fans. Plus other great local talent all day. sponsored "by: KrcSfm DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Vs Double Killerwhale Discounts , 2 ; 3 0 p ThaHa C o n d o 1 :i 5p Angel Tyler 2:00p Brandi Carlile 2:45p Indian Headset 3:30p Fictionist 4:30p Eric Openshaw .rent for the next great metal ban*. a or e^ at .--^TA p Starts jAfiird Eater . 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