(Photo by John Kelley)
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Super Six is slated for a 7 p.m. ET start on Saturday, April 18, and the individual event finals will be held Sunday, April 19 at 3 p.m. The top four individuals from each semifinal in each event (plus ties) from the preliminary team and all-around competition will compete in the individual event finals. The all-around championship will be awarded to the individual with the highest cumulative score during semifinal competition. The individual event champions will be determined solely on the bases of scores from the individual event competition.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia Wins Berkeley Regional
Georgia used its second-highest score of the season – a 197.025 – to win the NCAA Berkeley Regional on April 4. The Gymdogs had the high team score on bars (49.325) and beam (48.950) to go along with a 49.4 on vault and a 49.35 on floor. Utah finished second with a 196.575. It was the 24th NCAA Regional title in program history and the third in the last four years. Georgia’s rotation for the regional was: bye, bars, beam, bye, floor, vault.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Noteworthy
» Georgia has faced three other teams in the first semifinal a total of five times this year. The Gymdogs defeated Utah twice, lost to Florida twice and fell to Michigan in the season-opener.
» Two sisters – Georgia freshman Natalie Vaculik and Stanford senior Kristina Vaculik – will compete on different teams in the first NCAA semifinal on April 17. They are natives of Whitby, Ontario, Canada.
» Georgia has three gymnasts on its current roster from the state of Texas: Ashlyn Broussard (Plano), Chelsea Davis (Austin) and Hayley Sanders (McKinney).
» Georgia competed at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Jan. 26, 2013 in the Metroplex Challenge. Oklahoma won the meet with a 197.275, and UGA placed fourth with a 196.775. Four current Georgia gymnasts – Chelsea Davis, Sarah Persinger, Brittany Rogers and Bradie Jay – performed 11 of the Gymdogs’ 24 routines.
» Georgia competed in the regular season against six teams currently ranked in the top-eight in the country: No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Utah, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Michigan and No. 8 Auburn.
» Nine different Gymdogs have taken top honors on an event this season. Ashlyn Broussard leads the team with six event titles, Mary Beth Box has five, while Brandie Jay, Brittany Rogers and Chelsea Davis have four. Kiera Brown and Gigi Marino have two, and Rachel Schick and Natalie Vaculik have one apiece.
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Georgia’s History At The NCAA Championships
Georgia leads the country with 10 NCAA titles, with five coming from 2005-2009. The Gymdogs have finished third or better in the NCAA Championships in 21 of their last 27 appearances. The current championship format started in 1993, and UGA advanced to the Super Six each year from 1993-2009. Georgia leads all other teams nationally in number of individual NCAA champions. The Gym Dogs’ 40 is eight more than second place UCLA and 16 more than third place Alabama and Utah.
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Postseason Honors
Five Georgia gymnasts – second most of any team in the conference – earned 2015 SEC honors. Mary Beth Box, Gigi Marino, Rachel Schick and Brittany Rogers were named to the All-SEC Team, while Natalie Vaculik and Marino were named to the All-Freshman Team. Florida led the way with six gymnasts earning SEC honors, followed by Georgia with five, then Alabama and LSU with four each. Georgia and Florida had the most representatives on the All-Freshman team with two. The All-SEC and All-Freshman teams are based on results at the SEC Championship. Rogers also earned NACGC/W Regular Season All-America honors on bars.