March 29, 2010
The Arizona State women's gymnastics team has earned a bid for their 29th consecutive NCAA Regional. The Sun Devils will travel to a familiar place as they head to Pauley Pavilion for the NCAA West Regional, hosted by fellow Pac-10 competitor UCLA. The NCAA West Regional begins at 6 p.m. PT, on Saturday, April 10th in Los Angeles, Calif. UCLA will be providing live streaming and results.
"Today we have selected to go to Regionals. We are ranked 32nd after our poor performance at the Pac-10 Championships," said 30th year head coach John Spini. "I am very happy and I feel very lucky that we are still going to regionals, so these athletes do not end on that type of competition. I think we have to find a way to build their mindset up to believe in themselves a little better. They are very good athletes and we're trying to find a way to go into regionals, hit our routines and have a very positive experience. This team is definitely very capable of doing some great things. This gives us one last chance and I am looking forward to putting them on the floor at regionals."
Along with No. 1 seed UCLA, the Sun Devils will also face second-seeded Arkansas, third-seeded Iowa State, fourth-seeded Arizona and fifth-seeded Brigham Young. The Sun Devils will begin the meet on the uneven bars. Event specialists Shakea Sanders from Alaska Anchorage (vault), Lida Gehlen from UC Davis (bars), Cayla Boyce from Sacramento State (beam) and Gabrielle Targosz from San Jose State (floor) will also compete alongside the Sun Devils in their respective events.
Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event (who has a minimum Regional Qualifying Score of 9.4) were named to each of the six regions. The top two teams and the top all-around competitors from non-advancing teams from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Fla. In addition, the event winners at the regional championships will advance to the NCAA Championships as an event specialist if they are not part of a qualifying team or a all-around qualifier.