Arkansas Gymanstics Fact Sheet #8

2008 GYMNASTICS FACT SHEET #8 – at No. 1 GeorgiaArkansas hits the road for two The 11th-ranked Arkansas gymnastics team has back-to-back road meets traveling first to perennial powerhouse and top-ranked Georgia Saturday, March 1 and next, to No. 9 UCLA where they also face No. 5 Alabama and No. 38 CS-Fullerton in the first quad meet of the year.
Cortez wins vault, career-best all-around score Senior Samantha Cortez won the vault title tying her career-best with a 9.90 against No. 14 Auburn. Cortez went on to post a 39.175 for a career-high as an all-arounder.
Arkansas sets or ties 14 season/career-bests The Gym’Backs set or tied 14 season or career-bests in the win over Auburn. On vault, Casey Jo Magee and Michelle Stout tied season-highs while Samantha Cortez tied her career-best. Sarah Nagashima set a career-high as well. On bars, Amy DeFilippo, Stout and Allison Daniels all set career-highs. On the beam, Cortez tied her season-high, DeFilippo set a season-high and Stout had a career-best. On the floor, Stout and Cortez tied season-bests while Alexandra LaChance tied her career-best.
Arkansas moves to No. 11 The Gym’Backs fell one spot to No. 11 in this week’s GymInfo poll. Arkansas had been holding steady at the No. 10 spot but moved one place after the poll went to RQS (from average).
11th in the nation but fifth in the SEC That’s right. Arkansas is 11th in the nation and fifth in the SEC facing what is again the best teams in the country in their own conference. This week Georgia holds the top spot for the fifth consecutive week. Florida remains third, followed by No. 5 Alabama, No. 8 LSU, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 12 Auburn and No. 29 Kentucky.
To RQS or not to RQS? Qualification for regional competition is based on a team’s and an all-around competitor’s six best regular-season-meet scores, of which three must be away. To obtain the regional qualifying score (RQS), the high score is eliminated and the remaining five scores are averaged.
About Georgia (from GeorgiaDogs.com) Top-ranked Georgia recorded a season-high team score and set two season-best event totals in an SEC win over Kentucky last week. Georgia scored a 197.675 – their best score since last year’s Super Six. The Gym Dogs improved to 7-1 overall and are unbeaten (5-0) in the SEC. Freshman Cassidy McComb won the all-around with a 39.550 and is the first Georgia freshman to win since Courtney Kupets in 2006. The Gym Dogs have been ranked No. 1 for seven of the nine weeks this year (including preseason).

About the series Arkansas is 0-11 against Georgia. Georgia has never been ranked lower than eighth (2005) and was ranked in the top three in the last five meetings. The closest meeting between the teams came in Fayetteville last year when Arkansas just missed the upset with the Gym Dogs edging the Gym’Backs 196.100-196.075.Georgia more than made up for it at the SEC Championship out-scoring Arkansas 197.175-194.550. To RQS or not to RQS? Qualification for regional competition is based on a team’s and an all-around competitor’s six best regular-season-meet scores, of which three must be away. To obtain the regional qualifying score (RQS), the high score is eliminated and the remaining five scores are averaged. The South Central Rankings The Gym’Backs remain in second place in the South Central Regional standings. No. 6 Oklahoma leads the SC, followed by Arkansas. Missouri is third followed by Nebraska and Arizona State rounding out the top five in the region. Here’s the complete regional standings:

Individuals in the regional rankings Several Arkansas gymnasts are ranked in the South Central standings. On the vault, Arkansas ranks second as a team with Samantha Cortez tied for sixth. Michelle Stout and Casey Jo Magee are tied for ninth and Amy DeFilippo is 14th. Arkansas is second as a team on the bars with Emily Peacock fifth overall. Stout is tied for eighth while DeFilippo is 14th. Arkansas is fourth overall on beam with Casey Jo Magee ranking fifth overall and the Gym’Backs are second on the floor with Peacock sixth overall. Magee is 13th overall and Cortez andStout are tied for 14th on the floor. Finally, on the all-around, Magee is third in the region with Cortez 11th.
Gym’Backs live on the web All of the 2008 home meets will be streamed live at LADYBACKS.COM. Click on “All Access” and sign up today. Non-subscribers can view live scores on the web as well.
Back-to-back-to-back-to-back Arkansas’ 2008 schedule works in twos. The Gym’Backs open the home season with back-to-back meets in LSU and Penn State. Then Arkansas has two on the road, followed by two at home, then two road and two more home to wrap up the regular season.
TV loves the Gym’Backs Arkansas again has a great television lineup for the 2008 season. The Gym’Backs’ road meet at Florida will be televised on a tape delay basis by SUN Sports. Arkansas’ meet at Alabama is the Crimson Tide’s Power of Pink and will air on ESPN 2. The meet at defending national champion Georgia has been picked up by FSN as well. In addition, Arkansas’ home meets will air in the Natural State – stay tuned as more information becomes available.
The SEC is strong — Again The Southeastern Conference is the strongest league for women’s gymnastics. Last year, the SEC sent four of its seven members to the NCAA Championships. All seven earned trips to the NCAA Regional Championships. Georgia emerged as the National Champion for the third consecutive year with Florida third, LSU seventh and Alabama ninth in the final meet. Meanwhile, Arkansas finished the year ranked 15th, followed by No. 23 Kentucky and No. 24 Auburn. That success and respect continues again in 2008 as evidenced by this week’s poll. Four of the seven SEC teams are ranked in the top 10 this week and six are in the top 16 this week. Georgia leads the SEC and is ranked first overall, followed by No. 3, Florida, No. 5 Alabama, No. 8 LSU, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 12 Auburn and No. 29 Kentucky.

What’s coming up? Arkansas has just four regular season weeks remaining in the 2008 season. The Gym’Backs have two on the road traveling to No. 1 Georgia March 1 and to No. 9 UCLA with No. 5 Alabama and CS-Fullerton March 9. The Gym’Backs host No. 6 Oklahoma (March 15) and No. 19 Michigan State (March 21) as the regular season concludes.
The 2008 SEC Championship returns to Georgia The state of Georgia is going to be busy this year. The SEC Championship returns to the Gwinett Center in Duluth for the third time since 2003. In addition, the University of Georgia will host the 2008 NCAA Championship behind the three-time defending national champion Georgia Gym Dogs.
NCAA Regionals follow April 12 Nothing is ever a given in sport but if the season ended today, the 10th-ranked Gym’Backs would earn the program’s fifth consecutive trip in six seasons to the NCAA Regional Championship. The NCAA regional selection is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. eastern/4:00 p.m. central Monday March 31. This year’s regionals are as follows:

2009 is approaching Yes, the 2008 season is just starting but the Gym’Backs can look forward to 2009 as well. Arkansas has been selected to host the 2009 NCAA South Central Regional Championship April 4, in Barnhill Arena. It is the second NCAA Regional Arkansas has hosted. The Gym’Backs also hosted the 2006 South Central Regional upsetting UCLA to finish second overall and advance to the program’s first NCAA Championship. The other hosts include Ohio State (Central), Iowa (North Central), TBA (Northeast), North Carolina State (Southeast), Washington (West) and Nebraska (Championship).