April 14, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY -
The Utah gymnastics team has learned from the NCAA office that it will compete in the evening session on the first day of competition at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga.

Joining Utah in the second preliminary session on Thursday, April 24 will be host Georgia, Stanford, Michigan, UCLA and Denver. Competing in the afternoon are Florida, LSU, Alabama, Oregon State, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The top three teams from each session will advance to the Super Six on Friday, April 25. Also on Thursday, the all-around champion will be declared and individuals will qualify into the event championships, which will take place on Saturday, Apr. 26.

Utah drew the same competitive rotation for nationals that it had last week at regionals: bye before bars, bars, beam, bye before floor, floor and vault.

The Utes will depart for Georgia on Tuesday, April 22 and have a practice and press conference to attend on Wednesday. The practice is open to the public. Utah is scheduled to practice from 1:00-2:40 p.m. (EDT) in Stegeman Coliseum.

The teams were seeded into the NCAA Championships by their national qualifying score in a new procedure implemented this year. The national qualifying score (NQS) is arrived at by adding a team's regional qualifying score to its regional score. Utah, which finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation by virtue of its RQS, slipped to No. 5 after the NQS was calculated.