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Meet Notes | Meet Central
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the first time since 2014 and the fifth time in program history, the Arkansas gymnastics team will be hosting an NCAA Regional.

Arkansas, ranked No. 27 in the nation and making its 14th consecutive regional appearance, will welcome No. 4 Utah, No. 9 Denver, No. 16 California, No. 21 Auburn and No. 28 Central Michigan for the Fayetteville regional, which will be held on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Barnhill Arena.

The Razorbacks, with a regional qualifying score (RQS) of 195.775, are coming off an eighth-place finish at the SEC Championship. They posted three scores of 196-plus earlier this season, including a season-best 196.375 in a win at No. 17 Auburn.

At the championship, Hailey Garner earned All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman honors with a 9.875 on uneven bars, while Jessica Yamzon earned SEC All-Freshman honors with a 38.825 in the all-around. Garner is tied for 18th in the SEC on uneven bars with a RQS of 9.860, while Yamzon has competed in the all-around in all 11 meets, winning three all-around tiles and a balance beam title.

Utah (197.550), Denver (197.040) and California (196.515) all enter the regional as national seeds.

Utah won the Pac-12 Championship and has two of the nation’s top-five all-arounders in MyKayla Skinner (39.680) and Baely Rowe (39.540). Denver is ranked in the top 10 nationally going into regionals for the first time ever and also set a program record with a RQS of 197.040.

California advanced to the NCAA Championship for the first time in 24 years and the second time in program history this past season. Auburn (196.265), which Arkansas defeated earlier this season, scored a season-best 196.550 for a sixth-place finish at the SEC Championship.

Arkansas’ rotations will start on balance beam, followed by a bye, and then floor exercise and vault, followed a second bye. Arkansas will then finish the meet on uneven bars.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth ages 17 and under, and $5 for students at any college or university with student ID. Fans can purchase tickets online or by calling the Razorback Ticket Center at 800-982-HOGS or 479-575-5151. All tickets are general admission.

Notable
• The NCAA Regional will be the last home meet for seniors Heather Elswick and Samantha Nelson. Fellow senior Amanda Wellick has announced that she will return for a fifth year of eligibility.
• Arkansas has made seven NCAA Championship appearances, including six straight from 2008-13, and two Super Six appearances, finishing as high as fifth nationally in 2009.
• Arkansas last advanced to the NCAA Championships in 2013 and last advanced to the NCAA Super Six in 2012.
• Arkansas has advanced to the NCAA Championship in three of the previous four times that it has hosted an NCAA Regional, winning the 2009 Fayetteville Regional, placing second at the 2006 and 2012 Fayetteville Regionals and finishing third at the 2014 Fayetteville Regional.
• Arkansas scored a 195.500 and finished third of six teams at the 2016 Iowa City Regional, behind No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 12 Nebraska. Amanda Wellick qualified for the NCAA Championship as an individual in the all-around competition.
• Arkansas ranked seventh in the SEC and ninth in the nation in attendance with an average crowd of 3,797 and a season-best crowd of 5,456 against Alabama on Jan. 27.

Quotable – Head Coach Mark Cook
“It’s an honor and an exciting opportunity (to host an NCAA Regional. We’ve done this a couple times before and our staff knows how to do it and do it well. Having the home court advantage is always helpful.

This is a tough field and we’re going to have our work cut out for us to make the top two in this competition but we’re going to go out and do our best. We’ve learned a lot this year. This season is like life – you can’t give up. You have to keep going and persevere (despite all of the injuries and setbacks). We have to control the things we can and this team is really mature and they have great attitudes. We have to be really sharp and not give any tenths away on Saturday.”

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