TEAMS ANNOUNCED FOR NCAA CENTRAL REGIONAL GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

BATON ROUGE – The field of competitors for the NCAA Central Regional Gymnastics Championships to be hosted by LSU on April 7 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was announced Monday by the NCAA.

The nation’s top-18 teams were seeded throughout the country at the six predetermined regional sites.

LSU, who finished the regular season ranked seventh in the country, will play host to No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 16 Penn State, No. 20 Kentucky, Michigan State and Ohio State.

“I am excited about the teams we have coming in for the regional meet,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We’ve seen most of these teams in the regular season and I think we match up well with them.”

LSU is undefeated in the postseason against all but one team in the field, owning perfect marks against Oklahoma (3-0-0), Kentucky (1-0-0), Michigan State (11-0-0) and Ohio State (4-0-0). Penn State owns a slim 5-4-0 all-time record against LSU in the postseason. However, the two teams have already met once this year with the Tigers coming out on top, 195.275-193.200.

In addition to the six competing teams, five individual all-arounders as well as four individual event specialists have also been selected to compete at the regional meet.

Cherisse Marier and Jennifer Sturgis of Western Michigan, Carrie Mayle and Jillian Kowalski of Kent State and Rebecca Fuss of Eastern Michigan will all compete in the all-around competition.

Central Michigan will be represented by Mattie Crawford on the vault, Jules Passy on the beam and Danielle Espinoza on the floor, while Kristin Peters of Kent State will compete on the bars.

Tickets for the NCAA Central Regional Championships are now on sale. They can be purchased online at www.LSUsports.net, over the phone by calling (225) 578-2184 or in person at the LSU Ticket Office. Reserved tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for children ages 3-12. General admission tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children. In addition, students with a valid college ID can purchase tickets for $4, while groups of 10 or more can by tickets for $3 each.

COMPLETE NCAA REGIONAL ASSIGNMENTS

West Region – April 8 in Stanford, Calif. (Stanford)

1. Alabama

2. Stanford

3. Oregon State

4. Boise State

5. Sacramento State

6. San Jose State

North Central Region – April 8 in Ames, Iowa (Iowa State)

1. Iowa State

2. Arizona State

3. Arizona

4. Denver

5. Minnesota

6. BYU

South Central Region – April 8 in Fayetteville, Ark. (Univ. of Arkansas)

1. Florida

2. UCLA

3. Arkansas

4. Illinois

5. Illinois-Chicago

6. Southeast Missouri State

Central Region – April 7 in Baton Rouge, La. (LSU)

1. Oklahoma

2. LSU

3. Penn State

4. Kentucky

5. Michigan State

6. Ohio State

Northeast Region – April 8 in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Univ. of Michigan)

1. Utah

2. Michigan

3. Auburn

4. New Hampshire

5. Pittsburgh

6. Rutgers

Southeast Region – April 8 in Athens, Ga. (Univ. of Georgia)

1. Georgia

2. Nebraska

3. Missouri

4. West Virginia

5. North Carolina

6. North Carolina State