The Women’s NCAA Championships starts today. I’ll be posting live from the venue.
I arrived yesterday in time for the third of 3 training sessions. The gym was surprisingly quiet, I thought, and relaxed. Girls looked fit and ready to go. Very few did full routines.
Like the Men’s competition, this meet will be very tight:
Parity was the most commonly used word Wednesday afternoon during the gymnastics media session at the University of Utah.
Nearly all the coaches and many of the athletes used it to describe the 12 teams competing today through Saturday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. …
Nebraska coach Dan Kendig was easily the most diplomatic, saying, “Any athlete here is capable of sticking a 9.85 routine. That translates to a 197 score. Those (squads) who stick landings and put it together will advance.”
Jon M. Huntsman Center – home of the Utah Utes
Most impressive of the home winning streaks is the national record 170-meet streak that the gymnastics team compiled from 1979-2002. No other team in any NCAA sport had ever won that many consecutive regular season home competitions. The streak was snapped in the first meet of 2003 by eventual NCAA champion UCLA.
Utah’s diehard gymnastics fans have helped the Red Rocks attract the highest average attendance in the sport in 20 of the last 22 years. Since 1992, Utah’s attendance average at has never dipped below 9,500 and its 10-year attendance average is over 10,000 fans per home meet.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 