April 7, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The 2014 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships competition schedule and rotation order was announced today, which includes Kentucky senior Audrey Harrison competing in the first of two semifinals on April 18.
Harrison will make her NCAA Championships debut at 2 p.m. ET in the first session on April 18. She is the first Wildcat since 2010 to qualify for the NCAA Championships and the 11th national qualifier in team history. Harrison is the fourth gymnast in program history to qualify on a single event and the first on beam.
“It’s really exciting, it means a lot to me,” Harrison said. “I wish my whole team would have made it, but it’s still exciting to go individually and represent Kentucky. For each event on Saturday, I just tried to think of it as `this could be my last meet, but I don’t want it to be,’ so I just did the best I could at regionals and I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue competing.”
A 9.850 on beam tied for the highest score at Saturday’s NCAA Regional in State College, Pa. to send a UK gymnast to the NCAA Championships for the first time since Whitney Rose made the national championship meet on vault in 2010.
“I’m happy for Audrey, who will get to represent UK at the NCAA Championships,” UK head coach Tim Garrison said. “She has had a great career and I’m glad she gets to bring it to a close at the national championships.”
At the NCAA Championships, Harrison will compete on beam in the same rotation as the University of Georgia in the fourth of six rotations in the semifinal.
The championship field features 12 teams, 12 all-around competitors in addition to each event winner at the six regionals that were not part of an advancing team. A total 45 competitors in the first semifinal, including Harrison, will vie for four spots in the individual finals on April 20. The total includes 36 competitors on the six teams, six all-arounders and three beam specialists.
The NCAA Championships will be held April 18-20 in Birmingham, Ala., at the BJCC Arena, the same site as the 2014 SEC Championships. The top three teams from each semifinal will advance to the Super Six competition on April 19, at 6 p.m. The top four individuals in each event (including ties) from the semifinals will compete in the individual-event competition on April 20 at 2 p.m.
Follow Championship Central for a behind-the-scenes updates on the UK gymnastics team in the postseason. Breaking news, photos and more can be found on Twitter at @UKGymnastics and Facebook at Facebook.com/UKGymnastics.
