University of Minnesota Athletics
WGM: Gophers To Compete at NCAA Regional Championship This Weekend
4/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
This Week
Minnesota travels to Utah for the 2005 NCAA North Central Region Championships. The Golden Gophers are making their 10th-straight NCAA Regional appearance. The other five teams competing in the North Central regional are: Brigham Young, Iowa, Oregon State, Southern Utah, and Utah.
Follow the action
Live statistics of the NCAA North Central Regional Championships will be posted on the Internet at www.UtahUtes.com. Choose the gymnastics page, then live stats.
What’s at Stake
There are six regional championships across the country, with six teams competing at each site. The top two teams from each region will advance to the NCAA Championship in Auburn, Ala., on April 21-23. The Gophers have advanced to the NCAA Championship twice, in 1997 and 2002, with their highest national finish (ninth) coming in 2002.
Regional Rotation
The event rotation order for the NCAA regional meet was determined by a random draw at the NCAA office. Minnesota will begin the meet with a bye in the first rotation, followed by bars, beam, another bye, floor, and vault.
National Rankings
Minnesota moved up from No. 22 to No. 20 in this week’s edition of the GymInfo National Rankings. In the event-by-event rankings, Minnesota is No. 15 in the floor exercise, tied for No. 22 on the bars, and No. 22 on the vault.
Five of the six teams competing in the NCAA North Central Regional Championship are listed among the nation’s top 25 this week: No. 1 Utah, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 13 Brigham Young, No. 20 Minnesota, and No. 22 Southern Utah.
Twelve of Minnesota’s 2005 opponents are listed in this week’s national ranking. Three of the seven Big Ten women’s gymnastics teams are included in this week’s national ranking: Michigan (No. 8), Penn State (No. 11), and Minnesota (No. 20).
The national rankings are based on regional qualifying scores, which are calculated by taking the six best regular-season team scores, of which three must be from away meets. The highest of those six scores is dropped, and the remaining five scores are averaged.
Minnesota’s Last Competition - the Big Ten Championships
Minnesota finished in third place at the 2005 Big Ten Championships, which were held at the University of Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Gophers earned a team score of 195.375 for their highest Big Ten finish since coming in second at the 2002 championship.
Minnesota had more than one individual event champion for the first time since the 1991 season, as freshman Ashley Mutchler tied for first on the vault, and senior Carolyn Yernberg tied for first on the floor. Mutchler is the first Gopher freshman to win a Big Ten title since Jessica Wolf won the Big Ten vault title as a freshman in 1991.
The Golden Gophers started the meet on the balance beam, and were led by freshmen Ashley Stanton and Ashley Mutchler, who each earned a score of 9.775 to tie for 10th place. The team score for Minnesota on the beam was 48.525.
The floor exercise was the second event of the evening for Minnesota. The Gophers earned a team score of 48.925. Minnesota's top finisher was Carolyn Yernberg, who earned a 9.850 to tie for first place with Michigan's Becca Clauson. Also in the top 10 for Minnesota on the floor was Laura Johnson, who finished in a tie for eighth place with a 9.800.
The Gophers scored a season-best 49.125 on the vault in their third event of the competition. Ashley Mutchler was the top scorer for Minnesota, earning a career-best 9.900 to tie for first place. Also scoring 9.900 to tie for first place were Michigan's Katie Lieberman and Jenny Deiley. Minnesota's other top-10 finishers on the vault were Carolyn Yernberg, who tallied a 9.875 to tie for fourth, and Laura Johnson who posted a 9.850 to tie for sixth.
Minnesota's last event was the uneven bars, where the Gophers scored a 48.800. Laura Johnson was the top scorer for Minnesota, tying for fourth place with a score of 9.850. Stephanie Funk was the other Minnesota gymnast in the top 10, earning a 9.825 to tie for ninth place.
In the all around, Minnesota's Laura Johnson finished fifth with a total score of 39.125.
Minnesota’s History in the Regional Championships
Minnesota’s highest finish at an NCAA Regional Championship was second in 2002, the last time the Gophers qualified for the national championship. Minnesota’s highest score at a regional championship is a 196.050, earned in 2002.
The Gophers have qualified for regional competition 17 times since the NCAA era began in the 1982-83 academic year. Previous to that, Minnesota compted in the AIAW Regional Championship from 1974 to 1982, where the Gophers finished first in 1980 and 1982.
Last Time at the NCAA Regional Meet
Minnesota tallied its lowest team score of the season when it scored a 192.225 to finish sixth at the 2004 NCAA North Central Region Championships, hosted by Denver. Alicia Opsahl was Minnesota’s top performer in two events, finishing in a tie for fifth on the beam (9.850) and tied for third on the floor (9.875). Laura Johnson was Minnesota’s top vaulter, earning a 9.800 to finish ninth. Stephanie Funk was the top scorer for the Gophers on bars, tallying a 9.725 to tie for 16th place.
Facing Number One
The Golden Gophers will be facing the top-ranked team in the country for the third time this season. Minnesota competed against Utah on Feb. 6 when it was the No. 1 team. On March 6, Minnesota faced No. 1 Nebraska.
The Utah Connection
Co-head coaches Jim and Meg Stephenson worked for the Utah gymnastics program before coming to Minnesota in 1992. Jim serrved as an assistant coach for four years, and helped lead Utah to national titles in 1990 and 1992. Meg was a consultant to the program, assisting with the balance beam and floor exercise.
Last Time at Utah
The Gophers last competed at Utah in a dual meet on Jan. 30, 2004, and lost to the host team by a score of 194.625-196.600. Utah had a higher score than the Gophers in three of four events, although Minnesota did outscore Utah on beam 48.90- 48.875.
Laura Johnson placed third among five all-around performers with a 39.200. Johnson also placed among the top five in three of the four events. Johnson was fifth on the beam with a score of 9.80 and also tied for fifth on the vault with a 9.825 and on the bars with a 9.80.
Carolyn Yernberg was another top- five performer as she placed fourth on the floor and was the Gophers' top scorer in that event with a 9.850. Yernberg also tied for fifth on the vault with a 9.825. Maria Opsahl took fifth on the floor with a 9.80.
Yernberg Co-Big Ten Gymnast of the Year
Golden Gopher senior Carolyn Yernberg was named the Co- Big Ten Gymnast of the Year. She shares the honor with Michigan’s Elise Ray. Yernberg won her first Big Ten individual title when she tied for first place in the floor exercise at the 2005 conference meet.
Yernberg has been an All-Big Ten honoree three times, earning second-team honors in her sophomore and junior seasons, and garnering first-team all- conference acclaim as a senior.
Yernberg competes on the vault and floor exercise, and owns a share of the school record in both events. As a freshman, she was the first Golden Gopher to score a perfect 10.0, doing so on the vault. In the first meet of her senior season, she tied the school record on the floor with a 9.975. This season, Yernberg has won floor exercise titles seven times, and has won the vault at five meets.
Yernberg is the third Golden Gopher gymnast to win the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year award. Marie Roethlisberger won the honor in 1987, 1988 and 1989, and MaryAnne Kelley earned the award in 2002.
