Auburn Selected To The NCAA Northeast Regional
March 27, 2006 AUBURN, Ala. - For the 14th time in school history and for the fourth straight year, the Auburn gymnastics team has been selected to compete at the NCAA Regionals. In an official announcement Monday afternoon, the Tigers were selected as the No. 3 seed in the Northeast Regional, which will be held in Ann Arbor, Mich., on April 8 at 5 p.m. CT. Joining the 14th-ranked Tigers at the Northeast Regional as the top seed is Utah. Host school Michigan received the No. 2 seed. The six-team field is rounded out by No. 4 seed New Hampshire, fifth-seeded Pittsburgh and sixth-seeded Rutgers. The Tigers' selection to the Northeast Regional marks the first time Auburn has competed in regional besides the Central Regional or the former regional known as Region IV. "Simply put, we have to beat Utah or Michigan to go to Nationals and that will be an incredible accomplishment," head coach Jeff Thompson said. "We are elated about the opportunity that lies before us and it should be a very competitive meet." All six of the teams in the field are ranked among the top 52 teams in the country. Utah headlines the field as the No. 2 ranked team in the country. Ninth-ranked Michigan is the second-highest ranked team in the regional. New Hampshire is ranked 27th, while Pittsburgh and Rutgers are ranked 45th and 52nd, respectively. "Utah has nine national championships to its credit and has never failed to advance to the NCAA Championships," Thompson said. "They have made it to the Super Six (gymnastics version of the Final Four) the past six years in a row - missing only twice in the 13-year history of the Super Six. "Michigan has been Big Ten Champions 13 of the past 15 years and has not missed an NCAA Championship since 1992. During that run, they have been in the Super Six three of the past five years and nine out of 13 total - finishing as the NCAA Runner-up on two occasions. As the home team, they should have an advantage, but with that sometimes comes the pressure and expectations of being the home team. They are coming off of their worst Big Ten finish in 13 years - finishing 4th last weekend in East Lansing." The Northeast Regional is one of six regionals comprised of six teams that are all vying for the coveted 12 spots at the NCAA Championships, which will take place from April 20-22 in Corvallis, Ore. In addition to the six teams, each regional also has 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). From each regional, the top two teams and the top two all-around competitors, who are not on an advancing team, will receive an automatic berth to the national championships. Event winners, whose teams do not advance, will also advance to the championships. Auburn will open the meet with a bye before floor in the first of six rotations. In the second rotation, Auburn will compete in its first event of the evening on floor. In the third rotation, the Tigers will compete on vault before having their second bye in the fourth rotation. To conclude the meet, Auburn will compete on bars and beam in the fifth and sixth rotation, respectively. "If I had to choose, I would not have chosen to follow Utah around all night, but on a good note we are on a bye the first rotation and end the night competing," Thompson said. "We will know what Utah has posted as a final score and what we will need to overtake them before we compete on our last event. Finishing the night on beam is a plus for us. The judges will have seen every other team before us, and having been in the top 10 all year on beam, I expect it to be our top scoring event. Although Michigan will be on floor while we are on beam, I can't imagine it being any louder than this past weekend when Georgia was on Floor and Alabama was on bars." Auburn, who boasts the Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Year in Julie Dwyer and the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year in Nicole Barnett, is coming off a fifth-place showing at the SEC Championships on March 25. The Tigers placed fifth at the championships with a score of 194.975 and finished ahead of Arkansas and Kentucky. The Tigers are bidding for their fourth appearance at the NCAA Championships and first since 2003. Auburn placed third at the 2005 NCAA Central Regional in Tuscaloosa, Ala., with a 194.800. Fans looking to attend the meet should visit Michigan's website at mgoblue.com. Live scoring of the meet will also be available on www.auburntigers.com.
Auburn's Rotation
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