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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Gymnasts Prepare For NCAA Championships
4/16/2008 12:00 AM | Gymnastics
April 16, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Utah's NCAA Championships Guide
THE MEET
Utah (17-1) will compete at the 2008 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships in Athens, Ga., beginning on Thursday, April 24. The Utes will compete in the evening session (7 p.m. EDT), along with Georgia, Stanford, Michigan, UCLA and Denver. In the afternoon session (1 p.m. EDT) are Florida, LSU, Alabama, Oregon State, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The top three teams from each preliminary session will advance to the Super Six on Friday, April 25. The all-around champion will be determined on the first day of competition, while individual event championships are scheduled for Saturday, April 26. Live scoring will be available at georgiadogs.com. There is no live TV coverage. CBS will broadcast delayed coverage of the meet on May 10 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. Free video streaming will be available on April 24 only (no video stream April 25-26) at georgiadogs.com.CHAMPIONSHIP CHAMPION
Utah has qualified for a record 27th-straight NCAA Championship and has finished in the top two 15 times, including nine NCAA Championships and six runner-up finishes. Utah is the only program to qualify for every NCAA Championship. The Utes, who are competing in their 33rd-consecutive national championship dating back to the AIAW years, has 10 total national titles: 1981 (AIAW), 1982-86 NCAA, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995.QUICK STICKS
Utah has finished as the NCAA runner-up at the last two championships (2006-07) ... Utah's 2008 lineup features two NCAA champions: Ashley Postell on beam in 2007 and Kristina Baskett on bars in 2006 (co-champion) ... Postell won the NCAA North Central Regional all-around (39.600), bars (9.85), beam (9.90) and floor (9.95) titles and was named the NCAA North Central Gymnast of the Year. Taking first place on vault at regionals was Baskett (9.925) ... Utah is 9-1 against ranked teams this year, with wins over (then) No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 Michigan, No. 7 Oregon State, No. 9 UCLA, No. 11 Nebraska, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 14 Arizona, No. 20 Arizona State and No. 23 Iowa. Utah's only loss to date was to (then) No. 3 Florida on Mar. 14 in Gainesville ... Utah won the NCAA gymnastics attendance title for the 24th time in the last 27 seasons by averaging 12,771 fans a meet in 2008, including the largest crowd ever to attend a college women's gymnastics meet (15,447 vs. Brigham Young on Mar. 28).UTE NOTES
Utah has not counted a fall this season and has just nine falls total, "hitting" 303-312 routines for a 97% success rate. Utah has just two falls on the road (166-168) ... A Ute has won or tied for first in 59-65 individual and all-around competitions ... Postell, Utah's leader with a school-record 43 wins, has earned at least one victory in every meet ... Seven Utes are without a fall going into nationals: Annie DiLuzio (32-32), Kyndal Robarts (24-24), Jessica Duke (17-17), Beth Rizzo (13-13), Katie Kivisto (11-11), Gael Mackie (9-9) and Stephanie Neff (6-6) ... Ute event and/or all-around winners are Postell (43), Kristina Baskett (12), Daria Bijak (4), DiLuzio (3), Nina Kim (2), Mackie (1), Neff (1) and Rizzo (1).THIS 'N THAT
Utah advanced to the 2008 NCAA Championships by placing first at the NCAA North Central Regional in Minneapolis. It was Utah's 22nd regional title in 27 years of NCAA competition ... Utah finished the regular season with a No. 2 national ranking, based on a 197.255 regional qualifying score (RQS) ... Utah's high score was a 197.750 on Feb. 1 ... Utah was been ranked in the top three all season, including nine weeks at No. 2 and three weeks at No. 3 ... Utah was the top ranked vaulting team in the regular season (49.445 RQS).IMPOSTELLIBLE
Fifteen-time All-American Ashley Postell will finish her spectacular career as the winningest gymnast in Utah history. Postell, who will be inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame this summer (she was the 2002 World Balance Beam Champion) holds school victory marks for a season (43) and career (116). Her 29 career all-around wins also ranks first and she is one shy of the school record for season all-around wins with 10. She needs just one All-America performance at nationals to tie the school record of 16. For more on Postell and the record books, please see boxed inset on page 2 of this release. Postell, the 2007 NCAA balance beam champion, has never been beaten in head-to-head all-around competition at the NCAA Championships. She won her session in 2005, 2006 and 2007, only to finish third, second and second respectively. Postell finished the 2008 regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the all-around (39.705 RQS), on beam (tie, 9.935) and on vault (9.965).ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS
Ashley Postell is the defending NCAA balance beam champion and the two-time defending NCAA all-around runner-up (she placed third as a freshman all-arounder in 2005). At last year's championships Postell claimed first-team All-America honors on beam (1st), all-around (second), floor (third) and bars (seventh), while earning second-team recognition on vault. Of her 15 career All-America awards, 13 are first-team awards. For other All-America finishes by Postell, please see sidebar on page 2. Other current Ute All-Americans are sophomore Annie DiLuzio (runner-up on vault, 2007), junior Kristina Baskett (first on bars, 2006; fourth on bars, 2007; second-team vault, 2006), sophomore Daria Bijak (eighth on bars, 2007), sophomore Beth Rizzo (12th on floor, 2007) and senior Jessica Duke (second-team on bars, 2007).UTAH AND THE SUPER SIX
Utah has made the Super Six team finals 13 times since the format went into effect in 1993. Utah's Super Six finishes follow: 1993-3rd, 1994-1st, 1995-1st, 1996-3rd (tie), 1998-4th, 2000-2nd, 2001-5th (tie), 2002-4th, 2003-6th, 2004-6th, 2005-3rd, 2006-2nd, 2007-2nd. The Utes finished seventh in both 1997 and 1999. Utah won the Super Six in 1994 and 1995, and won a preliminary round three times (2002, 2005 and 2007).ABOUT THE FIELD
Eleven of the 12 teams at the 2008 NCAA Championships are returners from last year: Utah, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, UCLA, LSU, Oregon State, Michigan, Oklahoma and Denver. New from last year is Arkansas - replacing Nebraska. The number of NCAA Championship appearances this makes for each of the 2008 qualifiers follows: Utah (27), Alabama (26), Florida (26), Georgia (25), UCLA (24), LSU (19), Oregon State (19), Michigan (17), Oklahoma (8), Denver (3), Arkansas (2).NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
Utah is the only program that has qualified for all 27 NCAA Championships ... Four teams have won every NCAA Championship: Utah (9), Georgia (8), UCLA (5) and Alabama (4). Utah's 10 total national championships includes the 1981 AIAW title ... There have been eight different runners-up at the NCAA Championship since its debut in 1982: Utah (6), Alabama (6), Arizona State (4), Georgia (4), UCLA (3), Michigan (2), Florida (1) and Cal State-Fullerton (1) ... The closest NCAA Championship finishes were in 1994 and 1989. In 1994, Utah edged Alabama 196.400-196.350, and in 1989, Georgia nipped runner-up UCLA 192.650-192.600 ... The best score ever at nationals was UCLA's 198.125 in 2004 ... The NCAA champion has won its qualifying session 12 times in 15-years using the three-day format: Georgia in 1993, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007; Alabama in 1996 and 2002; and UCLA in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004 ... Utah won the NCAA title in 1994 and 1995, after finishing second and third, respectively, in the qualifying round. UCLA took first place in 1997 after placing second in its qualifying round.UTAH COACH Greg Marsden
Greg Marsden, college gymnastics' only 800-win coach, owns an 892-153-5 career record in his 33rd year. He has spent his entire career at Utah and has won a record 10 national championships. Under Marsden, Utah is the only team to qualify for all 27 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships - placing in the top three 18 times. Marsden is a seven-time National Coach of the Year.ATTENDANCE CHAMPS
Utah won its 24th gymnastics attendance title in the last 27 years by averaging 12,771 spectators to its six home meets in 2008. It is the third highest season attendance average in Utah and NCAA gymnastics history. The Utes drew an NCAA record 15,447 fans to their final home meet of the season against BYU on Mar. 28. Utah has averaged 10,840 fans a meet over the last 17 years.Players Mentioned
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