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The NCAA announced today which teams will compete in the 2019 NCAA Gymnastics Championships. As expected, the UCLA Bruins earned the number two seed overall, based on the team’s Regional Qualifying Score of 198.010.
The Regional Qualifying Score is determined by taking the team’s top six scores including at least three from road meets, dropping the highest score and dividing by five.
Oklahoma, whose RQS, at 198.115, is just slightly better than UCLA’s, has earned the top seed overall.
All eight Pac-12 schools which compete in women’s gymnastics have earned a bid in the field of 36 schools.
There are some format changes which have been made to the competition this year. In the past, there were six regions with six teams each. All six teams competed in a one day competition and the top two teams from each region went to the NCAA Championships where there were two six-team sessions and the top six teams competed in the Super Six.
The new format has cut the number of regions to just four regions with nine teams each in a three-day regional. Day One of the regional competition is a dual meet between two teams with the winner advancing to Day Two. On Day Two, there will be two four-team sessions with the top four teams advancing to the regional championship on Day Three. The top two teams from Day Three head to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas on April 19.
At the NCAA Championships, Day One will consist of two four-team sessions with the top four teams advancing to the Final Four on Saturday, April 20.
The net result of all of this is just that there is an additional day, or possibly two, of regional competition.
The Bruins will compete in the Ann Arbor Regional next week. The three other seeded teams are #7 Michigan, #10 Alabama, and #15 Nebraska while the five unseeded teams are Penn State, Ohio State, West Virginia, Illinois and Central Michigan. Illinois and Central Michigan are the teams which will compete in the first round of the regional.
You can view or print out the complete bracket on the NCAA website.
Go Bruins!!! Bring home NC #117!!! REPEAT!!!