Sooners Headed to NCAA Central Regional
OU earns No. 1 seed and will head to Baton Rouge, La.

NORMAN, Okla. --The Oklahoma women’s gymnastics team will travel to Baton Rouge, La., for its NCAA regional competition on Friday, April 7. Louisiana State University will host the event which is slated to begin at 6 p.m. CST at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Oklahoma earned the No. 1 seed in the Central Region and will be paired with No. 2-seed LSU, No. 3-seed Penn State, No. 4-seed Kentucky, No. 5-seed Michigan State and No. 6-seed Ohio State.

Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event [who has a minimum Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 9.4] were named to each of the six regions.

The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Corvallis, Ore., April 20-22, hosted by Oregon State University.

In addition, the event winners at the regional championships will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.

The Sooners are coming off a third place finish at the Big 12 Championship held in Lincoln, Neb., on March 25.

Oklahoma qualified for the national championships last year in Auburn, Ala., with its second-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional. No. 1-seed LSU took top honors, scoring a total of 197.125 to join OU and its 195.550 at nationals.

Central Region – 6 p.m. – April 7 in Baton Rouge, La.

Teams: 1. Oklahoma 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Kentucky 5. Michigan State 6. Ohio State

All-Around Competitors

1. Cherisse Marier, Western Michigan

2. Jennifer Sturgis, Western Michigan

3. Rebecca Fuss, Eastern Michigan

4. Carrie Mayle, Kent State

5. Jillian Kowalski, Kent State

Alt. – Jolene Worley, Eastern Michigan

Individual Event Specialists

Vault – Mattie Crawford, Central Michigan Alt. – Sheena Smith, Central Michigan Uneven Bars – Kristin Peters, Kent State Alt. – Sheena Smith, Central Michigan Balance Beam – Jules Passy, Central Michigan Alt. – Mattie Crawford, Central Michigan Floor Exercise – Danielle Espinoza, Central Michigan Alt. – Amy Cucinotta, Kent State