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(via GymNiceTic)

Gymdog Senior Courtney Kupets after finishing her final NCAA Championship. She capped off her career by breaking the NCAA Record for Career Individual Event titles. She now has a total of nine! 3 of them came tonight. Last night she led her team to their 5th NCAA Championship in a row.

Click PLAY or watch the Anne Phillips interview on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

She loves McCool’s beam. I couldn’t decide which Courtney should have won beam in Finals. Perhaps McCool’s was slightly better. But the judges ranked them:

1. Courtney Kupets 9.9875
2. Courtney McCool 9.95

UPDATE: Check the comments for links to videos of the two routines.

Beam was the most impressive Final.

Official results.

More good routines from Championships by the looks of these scores.

The evening’s spotlight shone on Oklahoma’s Steven Legendre and Ilinois’ Paul Ruggeri as they each brought home two national titles in very impressive and exciting fashion.

FLOOR:
Steven Legendre (OU) – 15.625
Paul Ruggeri (IL) – 15.60
Chris Brooks (OU) – 15.575

POMMEL HORSE:
Daniel Ribeiro (IL) – 15.575
Steven Spencer (OSU) – 15.475
Ty Echard (OSU) – 15.45

RINGS:
Evan Roth (Cal) – 15.60
Phillip Goldberg (MI) – 15.40
Nick Noone (ST) – 15.275

VAULT:
Steven Legendre (OU) -16.325
Geoff Reins (IA) – 16.30
Tim Gentry (ST) – 16.175

PARALLEL BARS:
Paul Ruggeri (IL) – 15.175
Kyle Brady (Cal) – 15.075
Thomas Kelley (MI) – 14.675

HIGH BAR:
Paul Ruggeri (IL) – 15.75
Thomas Kelley (MI) – 15.275
Alex Buscaglia (ST) – 14.875

A link to all scores and commentary on the meet on Stick It Media – Legendre and Ruggeri Each Win Two Event Titles at 2009 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships

Paul Ruggeri – Day Life

Anne Phillips live blogged the apparatus finals. She’s a very astute observer. Her site Gymnastike is the best single source of information on NCAA Championships 2009.

The big story of the night, however, once again was …

Georgia’s Courtney Kupets ended her distinguished college career with a record-setting performance on the final night of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

Kupets added individual titles in the uneven bars, floor exercise and balance beam on Saturday to the all-around championship she won two days earlier. Her four titles tied the record for a single national meet.

She ended her career with a record nine individual titles, beating the mark of eight by Kentucky’s Jenny Hansen in 1993-95.

Kupets accomplished the feat in three national meets. She missed last year’s because of an Achilles’ tendon injury.

Kupets won the balance beam (9.9875) and uneven bars (9.95) and tied for first with LSU’s Ashleigh Clare-Kearney in the floor exercise (9.95).

read more – USA Today – Georgia gymnast Kupets wins 3 events, sets record

Georgia Coach Suzanne Yoculan

On if Courtney Kupets is the greatest college gymnast of all time
“Absolutely, there’s no question she’s the greatest college gymnast of all time.

Huskers.com

full official results

So much attention goes to Georgia, Alabama, Utah and the other BIG NAME schools, that great gymnasts in the rest-of-the-NCAA are overshadowed.

For example, I’d never heard of Elise Wheeler from Southern Utah. Nor met her great coaches until this year. (Watch an interview with Scott Bauman, Southern Utah Head Coach.)

Elise is the first gymnast in SUU history to collect All-American accolades, qualifying to 2 Finals.

… “This was just an amazing performance tonight,” head coach Scott Bauman said following the meet. “To qualify for one event was a big deal, but to qualify for two is absolutely huge! This is an incredible night for Elise and an incredible night for our program.” …

Southern Utah Thunderbirds – Elise Wheeler Advances to NCAA Finals on Bars and Beam – Earns All-American Honors

Click PLAY or watch her Bars in podium training on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

Who says College gymnasts have bad line on Bars?

How many other wonderful College gymnasts do we never hear about?

With much speculation as to what 3 time NCAA Gymnastics Champion Courtney Kupets will do next year … whatever happened to her big sister, Ashley Kupets?

… Former UGA gymnast and USA National Team Member, Ashley Kupets is done with her competitive gymnastics career, but has found a way to take all her training and skills to a new level as a member of the cast of La Reve at the Wynn Theater in Las Vegas.

Ashley, the older sister of the newly crowned 2009 NCAA All Around Gymnastics champion Courtney Kupets, wasn’t sure what to do job-wise when she graduated from UGA. Even with a degree in graphic design, she just felt the need to act or perform – something she had been doing since she was a little girl in the gymnastics arena. …

read more – Sports Girls Play – Former Gymdog Ashley Kupets Flying High in Vegas

Circus is a great option for gymnasts who cannot retire from acrobatics.

TEAM RESULTS: 1. Stanford, 362.800; 2. Michigan, 361.5; 3. Oklahoma, 361.2; 4. Cal, 361.15; 5. Illinois, 359.3; 6. Ohio State, 355.95.

ALL-AROUND RESULTS: 1. Steven Legendre (OU) 90.5, 2. Glen Ishino (Cal) 90.0, 3. Paul Ruggeri (Illinois) 89.5, 4. Kyson Bunthuwong (Cal) 89.0, 5. Kyle Bunthuwong (Cal) 88.7, 6. Chris Brooks (OU) 88.45, 7. Casey Sandy (Penn State) 88.4.

Congratulations to #1 ranked Stanford who put it together when it counted after “strangling” this meet last year at home.

This article has great quotes from Stanford Head Coach Thom Glielmi.

It was supposed to be close. It was supposed to be a fight to the finish. And, while the winner was in question throughout the final rotation, when the dust settled, the Stanford Cardinal sat atop the leader board by a sizeable margin—a full 1.3 ahead of surprise second-place Michigan (362.8 to 361.5). …

Stanford’s unique audience participation wasn’t the only thing that made the night interesting. While the Stanford-Oklahoma rematch was supposed to be the storyline, with Illinois considered the dark horse, someone forgot to tell Michigan and Cal.

Both teams put together outstanding nights—Cal lead the field by more than a point heading into the sixth rotation—but it was Michigan who came out of seemingly nowhere to push past a shocked Oklahoma squad for second. …

Inside Gymnastics – 2009 MEN’S NCAAS: FINALLY, IT’S STANFORD

IG – Stanford Men Win Fourth NCAA Team Title

She’s so cute.

Everyone loves Grace Taylor, the defending NCAA Beam Champion.

In this post-meet interview Grace talks about how Georgia came back to win their the 10th Team Title.

Click PLAY or watch it on Gymnastike.

http://www.gymnastike.org/assets/portal/add_ons/mediaplayer-4.2/player.swf

From InsideGym on Twitter:

MEN’S NCAAS Super 6 FINAL:

1. Stanford 362.7
2. Michigan 361.5
3. Oklahoma 361.2
4. Cal 361.15
5. Illinois 359.3
6. Ohio 355.95

MEN’S NCAA AA:

1. Steve Legendre, 90.05
2. Glen Ishino
3. Paul Ruggeri

Performances tonight were much better than preliminaries, in general. The girls looked more relaxed.

Qualifying for the Super 6 Team final is the biggest pressure cooker of all. (Ask Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and the other 3 teams that did not make it in the preliminary round yesterday.)

larger original

Congratulations to the Super 6 Gymnastics Teams 2009.

Georgia 197.825
Alabama 197.575
Utah 197.425
Florida 196.725
Arkansas 196.475
LSU 196.375

You are all awesome!

It’s amazing Florida was able to finish 4th despite all their injuries to key gymnasts. And Arkansas can be very, very proud of what they’ve done this year.