Arkansas Gymnastics Fact Sheet #13

2009 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Second Session — Thursday, April 16, 2009

^NQS (Regional meet finish + RQS–#High Score–$Average %Regional Score– From last regular season ranking
ARKANSAS EARNS NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP BID The 10th-ranked University of Arkansas gymnastics team opens the 2009 NCAA Championship with a bye before the floor exercise, the Razorbacks learned Monday. Arkansas advanced to its second consecutive NCAA Championship and the third in program history winning the 2009 NCAA South Central Regional Championship in Barnhill Arena last weekend. The Razorbacks’ score puts Arkansas in the second session of the first day of the championship in Lincoln, Neb., April 16. The NCAA Championship consists of two rounds of six teams on Thursday, April 16. The top three teams from each session move on to the Super Six on Friday. The individual championships are Saturday. Arkansas is joined by No. 7 UCLA, No. 2 Utah, No. 14 Illinois, No. 8 Oregon State and No. 3 Alabama in their session. The rotation includes UCLA on vault, Utah with a bye, Illinois on bars, Oregon State on beam and Alabama on the floor.
WHO ELSE IS THERE? The first session features fourth-ranked Stanford who opens on vault. Cook’s alma mater No. 12 Penn State opens on bye, No. 9 Oklahoma is on bars, No. 5 LSU on beam, top-ranked and defending national champion Georgia opens with a bye and No. 6 Florida is on the floor.
ROTATION INFORMATION – Thursday, April 16, 2009

ARKANSAS AT THE NCAA REGIONAL -The Razorbacks have competed in six NCAA Regional Championships in seven years. -Arkansas won its first ever Regional Championship this year. -Arkansas individuals won their first ever titles with Casey Jo Magee winning beam and tying for floor win. Michelle Stout tied for the vault title. -Mark and Rene Cook were named NCAA South Central Regional Co-Head Coaches of the Year. -Dave Kuzara was named NCAA South Central Regional Assistant Coach of the Year.
ARKANSAS AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP -The Razorbacks are making their third team appearance in seven seasons (2006, 2008, 2009). -Arkansas has had two individuals advance with the team to the NCAA Championships. They were Dana McQuillin in 2005 and Casey Jo Magee in 2007. -Arkansas finished 12th in the program’s first team appearance in 2006 and improved to 10th in 2008. -Arkansas had the program’s first two All-Americans in Michelle Stout and Casey Jo Magee in 2008. -Michelle Stout became the program’s first individual event finalist on the vault last year.
ARKANSAS AGAINST THE FIELD -The Razorbacks are 4-3 this season against the team’s they have faced in this year’s NCAA Championship. That mark includes wins over Alabama, Stanford, Oklahoma and Florida and losses to Oregon State, LSU and Georgia. -Arkansas’ best team score at the NCAA Championship is195.825 set last year. -Arkansas has been in the second session in both of their NCAA Championship appearances. -Arkansas has faced all of the teams in this year’s field at some point in the program’s seven-year history.
SEC WELL-REPRESENTED IN POST-SEASON The Southeastern Conference has proven itself again and again as the most dominate conference for women’s gymnastics. That is true again this year with five of the seven teams advancing to the NCAA Championship. Top-ranked Georgia, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Florida are all in the first session with No. 3 Alabama and No. 10 Arkansas in the second session.
TOUGH TO WIN An NCAA Championship is tough to win in any sport but it’s nearly impossible in women’s gymnastics unless your Alabama, Georgia, UCLA or Utah. That’s because those are the only four teams to ever win the title in the 27-year history of the championship. Georgia and Utah have won nine each with the Gym Dogs winning the last four consecutive titles. UCLA has won five titles and Alabama four. Utah is the only team in NCAA history to have advanced to all 27 Championships. Alabama and Florida have attended 26 each, Georgia 25, UCLA 24 and LSU 20.
BYE ME SOME TIME Arkansas opens this year’s NCAA Championships with the bye before floor. It is the second consecutive meet the Razorbacks open with a bye. Arkansas opened with the bye before bars in the South Central Regional meet and went on to win the program’s first Regional title.
KUZARA EARNS REGIONAL HONOR Arkansas assistant coach Dave Kuzara was named South Central Regional Coach of the Year for the first time in program history. His floor squad has ranked in the top five in the country 10 of 11 weeks this year including the last six weeks of the season. Kuzara has had the top-ranked floor team in the South Central Region 10 of 11 weeks this year.
COOKS EARN REGIONAL HONORS TOO The Cooks were named South Central Regional Coaches of the Year this year for the first time in program history. They guided the Razorbacks to the program’s first-ever Regional title winning the South Central Region in Fayetteville. Under the Cooks Arkansas has been in the top 10, 11 of 13 weeks reaching a program-high tie for third in week four; ranked first or second in each week of the Regional rankings and has ranked in the top 10 on vault seven weeks, bars nine weeks, beam four weeks and floor 10 weeks.
ALL-AMERICANS RETURN FOR ARKANSAS The Razorbacks had the program’s first All-Americans at last year’s NCAA Championships. Then-sophomores Michelle Stout and Casey Jo Magee were both All-Americans and are returning to the NCAA Championships again this year. Stout earned first-team honors on vault with Magee a second-team All-American on both vault and bars.
MAGEE MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW This is the second consecutive NCAA Championship appearance for the Razorbacks and the third for junior all-arounder Casey Jo Magee. Magee earned a trip as an individual all-arounder in 2007 traveling to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the meet. She is the second individual all-arounder to advance for the Razorbacks. The first was Dana McQuillin in 2005.
MAGEE LEADS TEAM Junior Casey Jo Magee holds three of Arkansas’ top marks at the NCAA Championships. She scored a 9.90 on bars, a 9.90 on floor and a 39.350 as an all-arounder. Michelle Stout holds the top mark on vault with a 9.90 and Emily Peacock and Amy DeFilippo hold the top beam mark with a 9.775.

Download: 09GymFact13 Results-NCAA Championship.pdf