April 22, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. –

University of Kentucky sophomore Whitney Rose will compete on the vault Thursday at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida.

The Frisco, Texas native qualified as an event specialist at the NCAA Lexington Regional on April 10 by tying for first place with a 9.900 score on vault.

The nationals begin with semifinal sessions at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Rose will compete in the second semifinal. Individual preliminaries are held along with the 12 advancing teams. Three teams from each semifinal session along with event specialists who win or tie for first place advance to Saturday’s individual event finals.

Live video and live statistics are available at ncaa.com.

Rose’s first-place finish on vault at the NCAA Lexington Regional marked her seventh vault title of the season and the ninth of her career. She has registered a 9.900 or better in the event at six meets this season.

Rose entered the NCAA regional tied for 14th in the nation with a 9.900 regional qualifying score.

Rose becomes Kentucky’s first event specialist to advance to the NCAA Championships since Krystle Cook won the NCAA Central Regional vault title with a 9.900 in 2006. Cook went on to finish 21st on the vault at nationals.

Former Wildcat Jenny Hansen (1993-96) is the only UK gymnast to win a national title. She won eight national crowns during her storied career, including three all-around titles (1993-95), two titles each on vault and balance beam (1994-95) and one floor title (1995).

Additional coverage from nationals is available at “UKGymnastics” on Facebook and Twitter.