Georgia, Florida, Nebraska advance

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 27, 2007 | by Jon Ringwood Deseret Morning News

SEC powers Georgia and Florida easily advanced to the Super Six on Thursday afternoon -- the only mystery was who would finish first.

The slugfest went Georgia's way with the Gym Dogs, sparked by all- around champion Courtney Kupets, handing the Gators their first loss of the season. Georgia scored 197.7 to Florida's 197.4.

Joining the two SEC schools in the Super Six is Nebraska, which recovered from Emily Parsons' opening fall on bars to score 196.625 and best Oklahoma, Alabama and Oregon State for the third spot from the afternoon session at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Georgia, Florida and Nebraska will be joined by Utah, Stanford and UCLA, which advanced out of the evening session.

Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan was ecstatic about her team"s performance, which she said was sparked by the 11th different lineup this season.

"Adversity was a tremendous motivator for us today," she said. "Our team has a history of getting every bit of energy from each athlete. They really rallied around each other."

Alabama, which hadn't missed a Super Six competition since 1996, finished a surprising fifth, recording no falls but failing to stick a number of landings, which ultimately hurt its overall score.

Florida coach Rhonda Faehn was circumspect about advancing. The 197.4 is the Gators' highest score ever at the NCAA championships.

"You have to stick landings," she said. "It's good to have a pressure-packed session, because tomorrow we have nothing to lose."

After Parsons' fall on bars, Nebraska coach Dan Kendig said he wasn't worried about his star gymnast as much as the next bars competitiors.

"Sometimes it's hard (for a team) to recover from that. I knew Emily would have a good meet, so I was focused on getting the girls into a solid mental state. And they pulled together to record a total team effort."

In the evening session, Stanford posted a 49.525 on vault to match Georgia"s afternoon score for the highest event score of the day. Utah was only .25 behind with 49.5, tying its season high for vault.

Stanford led much of the evening contest and only Utah's beam performance in the final rotation vaulted the Utes ahead to capture the session with a score of 197.325 to Stanford's 197.200. UCLA's third-place score was 196.475. LSU, Denver and Michigan failed to advance to tonight's finals.

"We did what we had to do -- something our gymnasts have been doing all year long," Stanford coach Kristyn Smith said. "It"s great to be in the Super Six." UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field echoed those remarks, saying, "It was great to focus on our routines and know exactly what we had to do. No one is going to give this competition to you, you have to take it."

Both coaches praised the partisan Utah crowd. "Great job, Greg," Field said.

With Florida and Georgia representing the SEC and Stanford and UCLA the Pac-10, Utah and Nebraska could have their work cut out for them. Either way, tonight's Super Six promises to be one of the closest competitions ever.

"Tomorrow is what we've trained for all year, it's what dreams are made of," said Nebraska's Kendig. "I think that emotion and momentum will be big tomorrow. All six teams will be ready."

E-mail: jringwood@desnews.com