Led by all-around champion Ashanee Dickerson, No. 4 Florida won the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional championship Saturday night before a partisan crowd of 6,141 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on the University of Utah campus.
Coach Rhonda Faehn’s Gators, the reigning Southeastern Conference team champions, finished with a score of 197.675 to edge No. 10 Utah’s 196.900. The Gators’ total was their best of the season and the fifth best total in program history.
Both Florida and Utah, which saw its streak of winning regionals it has hosted stopped at 10, advance to the NCAA Division I Women’s Gymnastics Championships finals April 22-24 at Florida’s Stephen C. O’Connell Center. It will be Florida’s 28th appearance in the NCAA Championship meet’s 29-year history (missing only in 2000), while Utah is 29-of-29—the only team to have qualified for all of the NCAA meets.
Finishing third was No. 22 Denver with a score of 196.175, followed by No. 19 Boise State (195.950), No. 23 Washington (195.075) and No. 16 Auburn (194.925).
The victory also was the sixth straight regional title for the Gators, who won in 2005 (Gainesville), 2006 (Fayetteville, Ark.), 2007 (Ann Arbor, Mich.), 2008 (Gainesville) and 2009 (Iowa City, Iowa).
“We’re just really thrilled with how everything turned out,” said Florida head coach Rhonda Faehn, who was named the NCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year for the fourth time since 2003. “It was a big crowd—probably the biggest of any of the six regional sites. They are a very gracious crowd that appreciate good gymnastics. I think our team really fed off that. We started off rough on floor, kind of like we did at SECs. I told them, ‘Hey, it’s just like SECs. We are going to rebound and do our absolute best on our next three events.”
After finishing second (to Boise State) in the vault with a score of 49.500, Florida won the uneven parallel bars (49.425) and balance beam (49.575) competitions. Florida was third in the floor exercise (49.175) behind Washington (49.350) and Denver (49.200).
“They just kept fighting through and didn’t give up,” Faehn continued. “I’m just really proud of the heart they competed with tonight. We are looking forward to coming back home.”
In those last three events, the Gators posted 10 collegiate- or season-best scores. The five scores used by Florida on the balance beam were all collegiate bests: Dickerson’s 9.950, Liz Green’s 9.925 and the 9.900s posted by Courtney Gladys, Marissa King and Elizabeth Mahlich.
Dickerson’s winning total of 39.70 in the all-around competition also was a collegiate best. It was the fifth highest in school history and the highest ever by a freshman. Dickerson was named the NCAA Southeast Region Gymnast of the Year, the first time a Gator was so honored, and her victory—the seventh all-around title of the season—was the first time a freshman has won the regional since Ashley Reed accomplished the feat in 2005. Utah’s Kyndal Robarts (39.450) and Jamie Deetscreek (39.350) were second and third and Florida’s Marissa King was seventh at 39.175.
Dickerson was either first or second in each event Saturday and she used two collegiate-best efforts to win two of the events. She won the balance beam with a collegiate-best of 9.95. She had a collegiate-best of 9.90 to share the uneven parallel bars with teammates Amanda Castillo and Maranda Smith. Dickerson and Smith were in the seven-gymnast group that finished first in the floor exercise with scores of 9.900. Dickerson matched a collegiate best of 9.950 to share second with Boise State’s Hailey Gaspar behind Boise State’s Hannah Redmon, who won in 9.975.
The 12-team field is set for the NCAA Championships and it does not include defending champion Georgia, which lost a tiebreaker to Oregon State, for second place in the regional at Columbia, Mo. Oregon State won the tiebreaker 235.2-234.8 after both finished with scores of 196.275 to trail Missouri (196.500).
Oklahoma (197.250) and Louisiana State (196.400) finished first and second at the State College, Pa., regional. Stanford (196.775) and Michigan (195.800) qualified from the regional at Morgantown, W.Va. UCLA (197.825) won the regional it hosted in Los Angeles with Arkansas (196.675) finishing second, while Alabama (197.400) and Nebraska (195.975) qualified at the regional in Lexington, Ky.
The afternoon semifinal session (1 p.m.) on April 22 at the O-Dome will feature No. 1 UCLA, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Utah, No. 8 Oregon State, No. 9 Louisiana State and No. 12 Nebraska. The evening semifinal (7 p.m.) has No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Arkansas, No. 10 Missouri and No. 11 Michigan. The teams will learn their event rotation Monday for the April 22 semifinals. The Super Six team finals will be Friday, April 23 at 6 p.m. with the individual event finals on Saturday, April 24.
All-session tickets are available at $55 (level two), $45 (adults level three), $30 (seniors/students/children level three) and $25 (group rate of 15 or more, level three). Individual tickets (level) are $20 adults and $15 for seniors, students and children.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
SALT LAKE CITY REGIONAL
At Jon M. Huntsman Center, University of Utah
TEAM SCORES: 1. (4) Florida 197.675; 2. (10) Utah 196.900; 3. (22) Denver 196.175; 4. (19) Boise State 195.950; 5. (23) Washington 195.075; 6. (16) Auburn 194.925.
Florida and Utah advance as teams to the NCAA Division I Women’s Gymnastics Championships at Florida April 22-24.
Team results
Vault: 1. Boise State 49.575; 2. Florida 49.500; 3. Utah 49.300; 4. Denver 49.075; 5. Washington 48.925; 6. Auburn 48.875.
Uneven parallel bars: 1. Florida 49.425; 2. (tie) Utah 49.125 and Denver 49.125; 4. Auburn 48.775; 5. Boise State 48.700; 6. Washington 48.650.
Balance beam: 1. Florida 49.575; 2. Utah 49.350; 3. (tie) Boise State 48.775 and Denver 48.775; 5. Auburn 48.525; 6. Washington 48.150.
Floor exercise: 1. Washington 49.350; 2. Denver 49.200; 3. Florida 49.175; 4. Utah 49.125; 5. Boise State 48.900; 6. Auburn 48.750.
Individual results
Vault: 1. Hannah Redmon (Boise State) 9.975; 2. (tie) Ashanee Dickerson (Florida) 9.950 and Hailey Gaspar (Boise State) 9.950; 4. (tie) Kyndal Roberts (Utah) 9.925 and Amy Glass (Boise State) 9.925; 6. (tie) Annie DiLuzio (Utah) 9.900, Maranda Smith (Florida) 9.900 and Marissa King (Florida) 9.900; 9. (tie) Dali Lemezan (Florida) 9.875, Nicole Ellis (Florida) 9.875 and Brittany Potvin-Green (Boise State) 9.875. Other Florida: T22. Courtney Gladys 9.800.
Uneven parallel bars: 1. (tie) Daria Bijak (Utah) 9.900, Ashanee Dickerson (Florida) 9.900, Amanda Castillo (Florida) 9.900 and Maranda Smith (Florida) 9.900; 5. (tie) Alicia Goodwin (Florida) 9.875, Kelley Hennigan (Denver) 9.875, Louise Mercer (Denver) 9.875, Louise Mercer (Denver) 9.875 and Annamari Maaranen (Denver) 9.875; 9. (tie) Gael Mackie (Utah) 9.850, Elizabeth Mahlich (Florida) 9.850 and Taylor Jacob (Boise State) 9.850. Other Florida: T29. Marissa King 9.675.
Balance beam: 1. Ashanee Dickerson (Florida) 9.950; 2. (tie) Kyndal Robarts (Utah) 9.925 and Liz Green (Florida) 9.925; 4. (tie) Daria Bijak (Utah) 9.900, Jamie Deetscreek (Utah) 9.900, Courtney Gladys (Florida) 9.900, Elizabeth Mahlich (Florida) 9.900 and Marissa King (Florida) 9.900; 9. Rachel Inniss (Auburn) 9.850; 10. Annie DiLuzio (Utah) 9.825. Other Florida: T11. Rebekah Zaiser (Florida) 9.800.
Floor exercise: 1. (tie) Annie DiLuzio (Utah) 9.900, Rachel Inniss (Auburn) 9.900, Maranda Smith (Florida) 9.900, Ashanee Dickerson (Florida) 9.900, Hannah Redmon (Boise State) 9.900, Kristen Linton (Washington) 9.900 and Samantha Walior (Washington) 9.900; 8. (tie) Louise Mercer (Denver) 9.875, Kristina Coccia (Denver) 9.875 and Haley Bogart (Washington) 9.875. Other Florida: T11. Amy Ferguson 9.850; T16. Liz Green 9.825; T30. Marissa King 9.700; T32. Randy Stageberg 9.650.
All-around results: 1. Ashanee Dickerson (Florida) 39.700; 2. Kyndal Robarts (Utah) 39.450; 3. Jamie Deetscreek (Utah) 39.350; 4. Kelley Hennigan (Denver) 39.300; 5. (tie) Kylie Shields (Auburn) 39.200 and Brianna Artemev (Denver) 39.200; 7. Marissa King (Florida) 39.175; 8. Stephanie McAlllister (Utah) 39.150; 9. (tie) Daria Bijak (Utah) 38.975 and Kristen Linton (Washington) 38.975.
CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
At Stephen C. O’Connell Center, University of Florida, Gainesville
1. UCLA; 2. Florida; 3. Alabama; 4. Oklahoma; 5. Utah; 6. Stanford; 7. Arkansas; 8. Oregon State; 9. Louisiana State; 10. Missouri; 11. Michigan; 12. Nebraska.
April 22 semifinal sessions
1 p.m.: UCLA, Oklahoma, Utah, Oregon State, Louisiana State and Nebraska.
7 p.m.: Florida, Alabama, Stanford, Arkansas, Missouri and Michigan.