March 29, 1999
The University of Kentucky gymnastics team has qualified for NCAA first-round competition and will compete on Saturday, April 10 in Baton Rouge, La., it was announced today by the NCAA.
The GymKats (9-12, 2-8) finished fifth at the 1999 Southeastern Conference Championship last weekend in Tuscaloosa, Ala., posting a final team score of 194.875. Freshman Jennifer Simmons was the top all-arounder at the meet, outscoring SEC Freshman of the Year Andree Pickens from Alabama with a score of 39.050. Defending national champion Georgia won the conference battle with a score of 197.475.
“I feel like coming off of our best performance ever in the SEC Championships has prepared us well for the NCAA Regional,” Coach Leah Little said. “The pressure and intensity of the SEC Championship is the best rehearsal for the competition we will face in Baton Rouge. We are in the best possible position going in next weekend and we are ready to go out and have another great meet.”
Two contributors to the UK program have been nominated for regional honors. UK Assistant Coach Hajile “Mo” Muhammad and junior gymnast Krissy Hoeferlin have been nominated for assistant coach and athlete of the year, respectively. The awards will be given at the conclusion of Saturday nights competition.
Other teams competing in the southeast regional are host No. 5 Louisiana State, No. 7 Stanford, Central Michigan, Auburn and Ball State. The top two teams from each of the six regionals will move on to the 1999 NCAA Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 22.
This marks the seventh time Kentucky has participated in the NCAA tournament and the sixth consecutive showing for UK. All of those appearances have come in the 90s for the Kats. UKs top performance in a regional came in 1996 when the GymKats, led by senior All-American and three-time NCAA all-around winner Jenny Hansen, finished third with a team score of 193.925. Hansen went on to compete as an individual in nationals that year, finishing second on vault with a score of 9.9375.
