Utah and Auburn Among Field Announced for Northeast Regional

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The NCAA selection committee announced Monday (March 27) that No. 2 Utah, No. 14 Auburn, New Hampshire, Pittsburgh and Rutgers will join the ninth-ranked University of Michigan women’s gymnastics team at Crisler Arena for the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Northeast Regional Championships on Saturday, April 8, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students, seniors and children under 18 in the reserved lower bowl (blue) seats and $5 for general admission (yellow) seats and are available through the Michigan Ticket Office.

Michigan earns its 15th straight trip to the NCAA Regional Championships and has advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last 13 seasons.

Also joining the teams in the competition are five all-around competitors and one specialist for each of the four events. The all-around gymnasts are Emily Petkun and Stephanie Ortiz (Penn), Alina Liao and Kimbeley So (Yale) and Kelly Gurney (Rhode Island). The event specialists are Miki Seltzer (Yale) on vault and floor exercise, Emily Rinaldo (Rhode Island) on uneven bars and Lauren Tatsuno (Yale) on balance beam.

Michigan hosted Utah and New Hampshire in back-to-back weeks this season, losing a tight meet to the Utes and defeating the hard-luck Wildcats who were depleted by injury and illness on their swing through the state. Michigan fell 196.400-196.100 to Utah on Feb. 11 before knocking off New Hampshire, 195.600-190.850 the following week.

The last time U-M faced Auburn was in 2001 when the Wolverines traveled to Gainesville, Fla., for a tri-meet, finishing second ahead of the Tigers. Michigan is 4-0 all-time against Auburn with all wins coming under head coach Bev Plocki.

It has been three years since Pittsburgh and Michigan faced each other with the Wolverines prevailing in a three-way meet in East Lansing, Mich., with the Spartans and Panthers. Michigan is 6-4 all-time against Pitt, while head coach Bev Plocki is a perfect 6-0 vs. the Panthers.

Michigan has faced Rutgers once in program history, hosting the Scarlet Knights at a tri-meet in 1999 with UCLA. Michigan defeated both teams handily, scoring 197.400 to UCLA’s 189.075 and Rutgers’ 181.600.

The top two teams and the top two all-around gymnasts (who are not on a qualifying team) at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships receive berths to the 12-team field at the 2006 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships on April 20-22 in Corvallis, Ore., on the campus of Oregon State University. In addition, any event winner who scores at least a 9.800 and is not part of a qualifying team will advance to the national championships in that event only.

Each of the six regionals is made up of three teams ranked among the top 18 in the nation. The remaining three spots are then filled by the top three remaining teams in the region. For individual competitors, the top five all-around gymnasts and the top event specialist in each of the six regions are invited to their respective NCAA Regional Championship.
The teams will practice on Friday (April 7) in two sessions at Crisler Arena, both of which are open to the general public. The first session runs from 2-3:40 p.m. and will include Michigan, New Hampshire and Auburn. The second session will run from 4-5:40 p.m. and will include Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Utah. All-around competitors and event specialists will pair with teams for the competition with Petkun competing with Michigan, Gurney with Auburn, Liao with Rutgers, Ortiz with Pittsburgh, So with Utah and the Seltzer, Rinaldo and Tatsuno with New Hampshire.

Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Beverly Plocki
On the meet ... "This is going to be an excellent meet and we’re very excited to be hosting a regional championship again. We have had some great meets in Crisler Arena this season, and we are looking forward to welcoming Utah and New Hampshire back again this season, while also giving gymnastics fans in this area a chance to see another great team like Auburn compete on our home floor. Our team will be refocused and fired up after a disappointing showing at Big Tens. I think it will be a spectacular meet."

On Utah ... "Utah is an awesome team. We came up a little short when they visited earlier this season and the fact that they were here this season should help them. Knowing we came up just a little bit short to Utah this season, our athletes feel good about our chances to win this regional."

On Auburn ... "Auburn is a quality team who has remained among the 20 best teams in the nation all year. We have not seen them but they’re scores are strong and they will add to a great competition. We will also work to show them a great time here in Ann Arbor after the great job they did hosting nationals in 2005."

On New Hampshire ... "It’s interesting that New Hampshire and Utah were already here this season. New Hampshire will want to improve on their performance when they were here earlier in the season. They had a bad stretch of luck on that trip where a number of their athletes got the flu or were injured making it a less than enjoyable trip. We’ll look forward to making their trip this time around more enjoyable and we’re expecting them to be a strong competitor here."

On Pittsburgh and Rutgers ... "We haven’t seen Pittsburgh or Rutgers in a number of years, but this is a great opportunity for both programs to compete on a big stage against quality opponents with a chance to punch their ticket to nationals. We can promise them a great atmosphere with knowledgeable gymnastics fans and great competition."