April 6, 1998

LEXINGTON, Kty. – University of Kentucky gymnastics freshman Ashley Burkholder has qualified for the NCAA National Championships to be held at UCLA April 16-18. Burkholder received a telephone call late Sunday evening from Coach Leah Little telling her the good news.

“Ashley has had a great season,” stated coach Little. “Her consistency has made her successful. This is great for her and for our program.”

Five regional competitions were held last Saturday. The top team in each regional competition automatically advanced to the NCAA National Championship. Burkholder is the 10th seed in the individual all-arounders.

The NCAA takes the overall top 12 finishers, and Burkholder placed seventh in the all-around competition at Saturday’s NCAA regional competition held in Athens, Ga.

She will compete in preliminaries on April 16 and if she makes the top-10 in any event (vault, uneven bars, balance beam or floor exercise) she will advance to the finals on April 18.

Burkholder is the only gymnast on Kentucky’s team that has competed in all events in all of UK’s meets this season. She is the 1998 Co-SEC Freshman of the Year. This is the second straight time Kentucky has received this honor. Last year Krissy Hoeferlin was recognized (Hoeferlin was out most of this season due to a dislocated left elbow suffered in the Feb. 20 meet vs. Alabama). Burkholder is the highest ranked freshman in the SEC for the floor exercise competition, scoring a 9.975 against George Washington on Jan. 30. In addition she is ranked nationally in three events: vault, uneven bars and all-around.

1996 marks the most recent year that any GymKat has qualified for the NCAA Nationals. The Kentucky qualifiers were Jennie Hansen (senior) and Robin Ewing (junior). Ewing is currently the assistant coach for the GymKats.

1998 Collegiate Results____________________________V_____UB_____BB______FX_______AA_______ Florida                  9.825   9.500   9.475   9.825   38.625    LSU                      9.825   9.525   9.725   9.825   38.900George Washington        9.875*  9.600   9.150   9.975*  38.600 Auburn                   9.825   9.550   9.725   9.850   38.950 Michigan                 9.575   9.450   9.475   9.800   38.300 Alabama                  9.850   9.775*  9.250   9.875   38.750  Nebraska Invit'l         9.775   9.350   9.650   9.750   38.525 Georgia                  9.700   9.500   9.800   9.775   38.775 

SEC Championships (@LSU) 9.750 9.575 9.825* 9.850 39.000* NCAA Regionals (@ GA) 9.750 9.550 9.800 9.775 38.875

AVERAGE SCORE 9.760 9.552 9.720 9.820 38.850

* personal best