FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas gymnastics team will travel to St. Louis, Missouri for the NCAA Gymnastics Championships beginning this Friday at 12 p.m.
Arkansas will compete against UCLA, Nebraska, Alabama, LSU and Georgia in National Semifinal Session I beginning at Noon April 20. The meet will be televised live on ESPN2 with Bart Conner, Kathy Johnson Clarke, and Laura Rutledge on the call.
Arkansas will be competing in its first NCAA Championship appearance since 2013 and is looking for its third Super Six appearance and first since 2012. The top three teams from each NCAA Semifinal will advance to the final Super Six at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 21.
Individual event and all-around national champions will also be determined during Friday’s semifinal competition. Arkansas’ lone National Champion, Katherine Grable, took the national vault and floor title in 2014 competing as an individual.
SEC NCAA Championships
The Razorbacks will face off against three Southeastern Conference programs in the first semifinal on Friday, being paired up against LSU, Alabama and Georgia. The Razorbacks fell to both LSU and Alabama on the road this season, while picking up its third and fourth program wins over Georgia this season. In total, six teams from the SEC made the NCAA Championships, with Florida and Kentucky in Session II.
Third Trip To St. Louis
Friday's semifinals will mark Arkansas' third trip to St. Louis this season, competing at GymQuarters in February, and SEC's in March.
Garnering Attention
After posting the program's highest score on bars with a 9.975 in Arkansas' tri meet, Hailey Garner posted a 9.925 on beam at the SEC Championships, tying the highest score ever recorded by a Razorback at an SEC Championship meet. Her score of 9.875 as Arkansas anchor on bars secured a second-place finish at the Regional.
Balanced Beam Squad
The Razorbacks have counted just one fall on the balance beam this season, having five total. In 12-of-13 meets this season, the beam squad has event scores of 49.000 or higher. Last season, the Razorbacks posted a 49.000 event score on beam in just six-of-12 meets.
Not The Same Team
Arkansas has posted a 49 or higher on an event 40 times this season, after posting similar scores just 18 times last season.
Joining the Razorbacks will be freshman Lauren Bridges from Penn State. Bridges was an individual all-around qualifier and will rotate with Arkansas.
Semifinal I – Noon – ESPN2
| Vault | Bye | Bars | Beam | Bye | Floor | |
| Rotation 1 | UCLA | Nebraska | Alabama | LSU | Arkansas | Georgia |
| Rotation 2 | Georgia | UCLA | Nebraska | Alabama | LSU | Arkansas |
| Rotation 3 | Arkansas | Georgia | UCLA | Nebraska | Alabama | LSU |
| Rotation 4 | LSU | Arkansas | Georgia | UCLA | Nebraska | Alabama |
| Rotation 5 | Alabama | LSU | Arkansas | Georgia | UCLA | Nebraska |
| Rotation 6 | Nebraska | Alabama | LSU | Arkansas | Georgia | UCLA |
| Vault | Bye | Bars | Beam | Bye | Floor | |
| Rotation 1 | Utah | Kentucky | Florida | Oklahoma | California | Washington |
| Rotation 2 | Washington | Utah | Kentucky | Florida | Oklahoma | California |
| Rotation 3 | California | Washington | Utah | Kentucky | Florida | Oklahoma |
| Rotation 4 | Oklahoma | California | Washington | Utah | Kentucky | Florida |
| Rotation 5 | Florida | Oklahoma | California | Washington | Utah | Kentucky |
| Rotation 6 | Kentucky | Florida | Oklahoma | California | Washington | Utah |
"It's real exciting. We haven't been there in a couple years. There were several individuals, but it's exciting to go with the team. The team was focused, they set goals and they stayed on task this year. Now it's just a matter of putting it down." - Head Coach Mark Cook on making Nationals
"All we have to do is stay relaxed, do our job and stay clean. It's all about the landings, being sharp and just being relaxed. You get too tense sometimes, and then you start changing things. In gymnastics it's like taking a putt, you get tense and you push it. Same thing in gymnastics, we just have to keep our minds relaxed, be aggressive and stay clean." - Cook on what it would take to make the Super Six
"I'm very happy and very blessed that Amanda and I get to end our careers at Nationals. For the rest of the team we're just really happy and excited. Last week didn't start out like we thought, but our beam team is solid. They are so mentally strong, they've done this all season. They don't care if one person has fallen or not. They know how to do beam. For us to make a mistake, it's OK. It's up to the rest of the beam team to make up for it." - Senior Braie Speed on what it took to qualify at last week's NCAA Columbus Regional
"It means a lot. This program deserves it, the coaches deserve it and the gymnasts deserve it. They've been through a lot, especially last year with the injuries and the adversity that we faced. It means the world to us that we made it and I'm just happy that I could benefit the team in anyway possible, regardless if I'm competing or not." - Speed on what it means to make it to Nationals
"It means the world to me. I've been there two times by myself, and I wish nothing more to have my teammates by my side. I get to do that my last year. We're pretty used to the arena from SEC's, we have a lot of confidence, we know how the environment is and I think we're ready for that." - Senior Amanda Wellick on making Nationals as a team
"A lot of the adversity that we overcame made us mentally stronger. It made the chemistry between us a lot stronger. There's a lot of leadership qualities on this team. We have sophomores that have stepped up, and the seniors have stepped up with the seniors that we have. It's been tremendous. This has been my goal since coming to Arkansas, to make Nationals as a team. We're going in there and trying to earn a ring." - Wellick on making Nationals her senior year
For more information on Arkansas gymnastics, including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackGym on Twitter.