Georgia Gymnastics Wins Berkeley Regional to Qualify for National Meet
The tenth ranked Georgia gymnastics team emerged from the SEC pack to claim the NCAA Berkeley Regional championship and advance to the National NCAA meet.
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The Georgia gymnastics team will compete in the NCAA championship for the thirty-first time. Georgia qualified for the national meet with its twenty-fourth regional championship.
“This team has been working incredibly hard the last two weeks,” head coach Danna Durante told Georgiadogs.com. “We made some minor adjustments, and we’re really excited about what they did today. I’m really proud of them. A lot of people probably didn’t know what was going to happen to Georgia, and for us to be able to come in and not only make nationals but win the regional, it speaks very highly to this team and their character and willingness to just keep fighting.”
Georgia competed in the NCAA Berkeley Regional. Utah placed second for a spot in the championship meet. SEC foes Alabama, Auburn and Florida also qualified for the national meet along with the tenth ranked Gymdogs.
The Bulldogs are 13-10 on the season but are performing at their highest level of the year. The Dawgs scored 197.025 in the regional meet, the sixth-highest score of any team in the NCAA Regionals on Saturday.
After a bye, Georgia started competition on bars and scored a meet-high 49.325 on the strength of 9.9s by Chelsea Davis and Brittany Rogers.
The Gymdogs transitioned to beam and registered a 48.95. Ashlyn Broussard led the team with a 9.875, while Vivi Babalis and Mary Beth Box had a pair of 9.825s.
After a bye in the fourth rotation, Georgia scored a 49.35 on floor led by a career-high 9.9 by Vivi Babalis. UGA had a 147.625 going to the last rotation, the best three-even score of any team.
Georgia’s used a 49.4 on vault in the last rotation sealed the victory. Davis and Rogers added two more 9.9s, while Brandie Jay and Ashlyn Broussard scored 9.875s.
The 12-team NCAA Championships opens with two semi-final sessions on April 17 in Fort Worth, Texas. The top three teams from each semi-final session will advance to the NCAA Super Six April 18 at 7 p.m. ET. The Individual Event Finals follow on April 19 at 3 p.m.