Gymnastics: WVU Ready For NCAA Regionals

By Shannon McNamara for WVUsports.com
April 06, 2012 12:40 PM

Hope Sloanhoffer

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – On the heels of a 20-win season and a league-best seventh victory at the 2012 East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Championships, the West Virginia University gymnastics team seeks one of two bids to the national championships at this weekend’s NCAA Auburn Regional Championships, on Saturday, April 7.

The six-team meet is set for a 7 p.m. ET start inside the Auburn Arena, in Auburn, Ala.

The Mountaineers (21-5, 12-1 EAGL) earned the championship’s No. 5 seed. No. 6-ranked Georgia is the region’s top-seeded team, while No. 7 Oregon State is No. 2. The No. 18-ranked host Tigers are the No. 3 seed, while No. 20 Michigan is No. 4 and Michigan State is seeded No. 6.

WVU qualified for its 29th NCAA regional appearance, ninth straight, and has competed in a regional championship each season but once since the NCAA opened the competition in 1983.

“The potential is there for us to have a great regional,” says first-year coach Jason Butts. “We need to compete like we did at the EAGL Championship two weeks ago. I think if we can stay on our feet for 24 routines, the scores will take care of themselves. I’m excited to have all of these teams on the same competition floor with the same judges. At the end of the day, we’ll see how everyone stacks up.”

The Mountaineers open Saturday’s meet on balance beam and then move on to a bye before competing on floor. The team’s full rotation is: beam, bye, floor, vault, bye, bars.

“I’m happy with this rotation,” explains Butts. “Beam is a great event to start with. We can go out there and settle our nerves a bit on this event. We have a very solid beam lineup, and we’re very calm under pressure. I’m also excited that we will end the competition on bars and not on a bye. This will give us our best shot to qualify for the national championships.”

The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) at Saturday’s meet will advance to the 2012 NCAA Championships, hosted by the Gwinnett Center and Georgia Tech, in Duluth, Ga., April 20-22. Additionally, the event winners at each regional site will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not a part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier.

WVU is 1-1 against the field this year, having upset the then-No. 13 Tigers, 195.175-193.65, on Feb. 12, and losing at then-No. 22 UM, 194.65-194.05, on Feb. 3.

The Mountaineers enter the meet on a high, having secured their first EAGL title since 2008 with a season-best 196.475 score on March 24. The squad scored season highs on vault (49.25), uneven bars (49.175) and floor (49.2) en route to its victory.

All six teams last competed in a conference championship, with only WVU walking away with a title. UGA finished third (196.575) at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships, while AU finished seventh (194.1). OSU placed third (197.025) at the first-ever Pac-12 Championships, and UM finished fourth (195.875) and MSU placed eighth (194.675) at the Big Ten Championships.

“We’re very excited to be seeded in to this regional because of the great teams we will face,” Butts says. “They are all very talented squads, but we know we can hang with them. We have outscored each of these teams at least once this year. We have our work cut out for us, but I know we can go in there and put on a great show.”

Sophomore Hope Sloanhoffer is one of the meet’s top all-around competitors to watch. Ranked No. 33 nationally with a 39.2 regional qualifying score (RQS), the 2012 EAGL Gymnast of the Year won the league’s all-around title with a career-best 39.5 mark. The Cornwall, N.Y., native also won the vault (9.9) and bars (9.9) titles; her bars score was a career best. She also set a career high on floor with a second place, 9.9 mark.

Sloanhoffer also ranks No. 47 on vault and No. 48 on beam.

Freshman Beth Deal, the EAGL beam champion, will anchor the team’s lineup in the first rotation. The Parkersburg, W.Va., native clinched the Mountaineers’ league championship with a career-best 9.9 routine.

The Mountaineers will look to score the bulk of their points on floor and vault. Nationally ranked No. 20 and No. 21, respectively, on the events, the lineups are incredibly deep.

Each gymnast competing floor has scored at least 9.825 this season, with junior Alaska Richardson pacing the squad with a 9.823 season average. The Dayton, Ohio, native has hit for a career-best 9.9 this season. Ranked No. 9 in the Southeast Region with a 9.855 RQS, she has scored 9.8-plus nine times this year. In addition to Richardson and Sloanhoffer, junior Kaylyn Millick also has hit for a career-high 9.9 this season and has scored below 9.8 only once in 10 meets this year. Sloanhoffer and Millick tied for second at the EAGL Championship with 9.9 marks.

WVU’s vault lineup is equally impressive. Anchored by Sloanhoffer and Richardson, who has hit for a season-best 9.875 three times this year, the unit has scored 49.0-plus five times. Behind Sloanhoffer’s winning vault, Richardson, senior Tina Maloney and junior Chelsea Goldschrafe placed seventh at the league meet with matching 9.85s.

The Mountaineers’ bars lineup has recently found its groove. Anchored by sophomore Erica Smith, ranked No. 22 regionally with a 9.795 RQS, the unit saw five gymnasts place at the EAGL Championship. In addition to Sloanhoffer’s victory, Smith finished sixth with a career-best 9.85, while Millick placed seventh (9.825) and senior Nicole Roach and freshman Dayah Haley tied for 10th place (9.8); the score was a career best for Haley.

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