Late Notice- NCAA Gym Champs. on CBS- tomorrow!

I have been meaning to post about this all week........but anyway in less than 24 hours, CBS will broadcast the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships that I attended in Salt Lake City, Ut., two weeks ago. Yes, that means, I know who won.....:) But, there will be some great routines, especially from Georgia, Florida, Utah and UCLA which was a surprise at the championships. The other two schools in the Super 6 are Nebraska, which I also saw earlier in the year at NC St., and Stanford.

Alas, Oregon State did not make the final 6, though they made the final 12 (there were 3 days of competition, and the footage that will air will be mostly from the team finals). I met some of the Oregon St. gymnasts during an autograph session on the last day (Sat.). I really enjoyed chatting with the Beaver team captain Yuki Lamb, a junior who is from Knoxville, Tn. I must admit I did not know who she was right-off-hand even though I had seen her perform (no name tags at the session). Lamb told me that she never got homesick in spite of the long distance from 'Rocky Top" and that she really enjoys competing for Oregon St. I later saw on a team web site that she would have liked to have competed for the University of Tenn., but one problem- they don't have a team!

 I also met Ashley Kupets from Georgia, a standout gymnast who was not competing due to an injury. Like Jordan Swikert of UCLA, Ashley is a talented gymnast who is perhaps overshadowed by an over-achieving sibling (and, though I'm not a gymnast- I know the feeling!).

The shock of the meet was that Alabama did not make the final cut, though former Olympic standout Terin Humphrey came through on the individuals (you'll have to see which event she won for yourself!).

I was one of the few 'neutral fans' at the meet, meaning I am not an alumni of any of the original 12 schools that were competing. But, I was rooting for Florida, which had dynamic gymnasts like Amanda Castillo and Samantha Lutz. The Gators had never won a meet coming into Utah (again, I will leave it at that since the meet has not been nationally broadcast). And, Georgia came in as the two-time defending champions. Utah had a hectic year but they were hoping to come together to win their 10th NCAA championship.

Among the standout performances were: Liz Tricase (Stanford), Ashley Postell and Kristin Baskett (Utah), former Olympian Courtney Kupets and her teammate Katie Heenan (Georgia) and Tasha Swikert (UCLA).

The meet airs from 4-6 pm Eastern Time on CBS, check local listings.

I also have to give kudos to the University of Denver for making a go at it in the first round. The Pioneers were the smallest school in competition. And, additional kudos to LSU for wearing a maroon and orange ribbon to recognize the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I was told that alas one of the Tiger gymnasts lost of a friend  in the shattering event that hit all of us from Virginia close to home. The Tigers had an outstanding year in spite of losing their top gymnast from a year ago.

Please excuse any spelling errors on this entry. I inted to correct them at a later time. More info on college gym, including photos of the finals can be found at:

http://www.collegegymfans.com