Georgia and Stanford enter the championships as the No. 1 seeds
© Georgia Athletics and Stanford Athletics

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., April 15, 2009 – The nation’s best collegiate gymnasts will compete for NCAA titles at the 2009 National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships, April 16-18. The women’s national championships are at the Bob Devaney Sports Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb., with the men’s at the Sports Pavilion at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. Both fields include a host of current and former U.S. national team members.

2004 Olympic team silver-medalists and University of Georgia gymnasts Courtney Kupets and Courtney McCool are among 32 former U.S. national team members in the women’s field. Six current U.S. national team members are among the 24 current and former national team members in the men’s field: Chris Brooks of Houston/University of Oklahoma; Kyle Bunthuwong of El Cerrito, Calif./University of California – Berkeley; Chris Cameron of Winter Haven, Fla./University of Michigan; Glen Ishino of Santa Ana, Calif./University of California – Berkeley; Steven Legendre of Flower Mound, Texas/University of Oklahoma; and Sho Nakamori of Albany, Calif./Stanford University. A complete list of current and former U.S. national team members competing in the NCAA Championships is included below.

In addition, 2008 Olympic team bronze-medalists Justin Spring and Kevin Tan are coaching for the University of Illinois and Pennsylvania State University, respectively, with 2008 Olympic alternate David Durante on the Stanford University coaching staff.

Three schools qualified for both the men’s and women’s NCAA collegiate championships: University of Illinois, Pennsylvania State University and Stanford University.

Women’s NCAA Championships

Georgia, the defending national champion, is one of 12 universities that qualified to compete at the NCAA Championships by finishing in the top two at each of the six regionals on April 4. The 12 schools are:

  • University of Alabama
  • University of Arkansas
  • University of California – Los Angeles
  • University of Florida
  • University of Georgia
  • University of Illinois
  • Louisiana State University
  • University of Oklahoma
  • Oregon State University
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • Stanford University
  • University of Utah

Click here for a list of participants for the all-around and individual events who are not part of a qualified team.

Kupets and McCool lead the University of Georgia in its quest for a fifth consecutive team title and 10th overall. Kupets, a senior, won the all-around in 2006-07, but missed the 2008 NCAA Championships with a torn Achilles tendon. McCool, a junior, is the reigning floor exercise champion. The other defending champions in the field are LSU’s Susan Jackson (vault) and Georgia’s Grace Taylor (balance beam).

The competition schedule for the women’s championships is: April 16 – team preliminaries and all-around finals, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; April 17 – Super Six (team) finals, 6 p.m.; and April 18 – individual event finals, 6 p.m.

The top six teams in the prelims advance to the Super Six team finals. The top four individuals, plus ties, on each event in the team prelims advance to the individual event finals.

All-session and single-session tickets are available now by phone at 1-800-8BIGRED (1-800-824-4733) or 402-472-3111, or online at www.huskers.com. The all-session package is $30 per person for reserved seating, and $22 per adult and $18 per child/senior citizen for general admission. Single-session tickets are $12 per adult for reserved seating, $9 per adult for general admission for the first three sessions; $10 per adult for general admission for Saturday’s individual event finals. Single-session tickets are $5 for youth/senior citizen, and admission is free for children younger than 2 years old.

For more information on the qualification procedures and format for the women’s championships, view the 2009 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships Handbook at www.ncaa.org.


Men’s NCAA Championships

The University of Oklahoma, the defending national champion, is one of 12 universities that qualified to compete in the National Qualifier on April 16. The 12 schools are:

  • University of California – Berkeley
  • University of Illinois
  • University of Illinois – Chicago
  • University of Iowa
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Minnesota
  • University of Nebraska
  • Ohio State University
  • University of Oklahoma
  • Pennsylvania State University
  • Stanford University
  • U.S. Naval Academy

Click here for the list of participants for the all-around and individual events who are not part of a qualified team.

Legendre, the reigning NCAA vault and floor exercise champion, is a member of the University of Oklahoma team that is hunting for its second consecutive NCAA team title and ninth overall. The other defending champions in the field are Penn State’s Casey Sandy (all-around) and Illinois’ Paul Ruggeri (horizontal bar).

The competition schedule for the men’s championships is: April 16 – National Qualifier, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; April 17 – team finals and all-around finals, 7 p.m.; and April 18 – individual event finals, 7 p.m.

The National Qualifier has two competitive sessions. The top three teams from each session advance to the team finals for a total of six teams. The top six all-around gymnasts (three from each session) who are not members of a qualified team and the top six gymnasts for each apparatus (three from each session) who are not selected as part of a team or the all-around also advance to the championships.

Both all-session and single-session ticket packages are on sale now through the University of Minnesota Athletics Department. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the ticket office at Mariucci Arena, over the phone by calling 612-624-8080 or 800-UGOPHER, or online at www.gophersports.com. On competition days, tickets may be purchased at the Sports Pavilion ticket window. All-session adult tickets, which include four competition sessions, are priced at $35, with all-session student tickets available for $25. Single-session tickets are priced at $15 for adults and $8 for students. Special single-session packages for groups of 15 or more are also available and are priced at $5 per ticket.

For more information on the qualification procedures and format for the men’s championships, view the 2009 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships Handbook at www.ncaa.org. For more information on collegiate gymnastics, click here.


Current and former U.S. national team members competing in the 2009 NCAA championships

Men
Listed alphabetically by school, last name.

    University of California – Berkeley
    Kyle Bunthuwong
    Kyson Bunthuwong
    Bryan del Castillo
    Glen Ishino

    University of Illinois
    Chris Lung
    Tyler Mizoguchi
    Paul Ruggeri

    University of Michigan
    Chris Cameron
    Thomas Kelley
    Ralph Rosso
    Mel Anton Santander

    University of Minnesota
    Andre Berry
    Cole Storer

    University of Nebraska
    Kyla Shanahan

    Ohio State University
    Jake Bateman
    Eddie Hay
    Tai Lee
    Phillip Onorato

    University of Oklahoma
    Chris Brooks
    Steven Legendre

    Stanford University
    Josh Dixon
    Tim Gentry
    Ryan Lieberman
    Sho Nakamori

Women
Listed alphabetically by school, last name. Individual qualifiers are listed at the end

    University of Alabama
    Kayla Hoffman
    Brittany Magee
    Casey Overton
    Kassi Price
    Ashley Priess
    Geralen Stack-Eaton
    Caitlin Sullivan

    University of California – Los Angeles
    Melissa Chan
    Anna Li
    Brittani McCullough

    University of Florida
    Corey Hartung
    Melanie Sinclair

    University of Georgia
    Courtney Kupets
    Hilary Mauro
    Courtney McCool
    Marcia Newby
    Grace Taylor
    Amber Trani

    Louisiana State University
    Susan Jackson

    University of Oklahoma
    Natasha Kelley
    Hollie Vise

    Stanford University
    Stephanie Carter
    Kelly Fee
    Allyse Ishino
    Carly Janiga
    Catherine Nguyen

    University of Utah
    Cortni Beers
    Annie DiLuzio
    Jacquelyn Johnson
    Nina Kim

    Individual qualifiers
    Sarah Curtis, University of Michigan
    Sarah Shire, University of Missouri