April 12, 2007

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State gymnastics is set to compete at the NCAA North Central Regional Championships in Denver, Colo. on Saturday, Apr. 14 at 6 p.m. at University of Denver's Magness Arena.

This is Utah State's second NCAA Regional appearance in the last three years. The Aggies went to 17-straight regionals from 1986-2002. In the 30 years of Aggie gymnastics, all under head coach Ray Corn, Utah State has been to the regionals 26 times.

"We are excited about going to Denver, because it is like a home state for us," Corn said. "I like the teams we are with as we have seen most of them. There is nothing that should surprise us or be overwhelming for us."

USU will be joined in the six-team field by Georgia, Penn State, host Denver, Brigham Young and Minnesota.

"I think Georgia is a shoo-in and we hope to be a dark horse candidate," Corn said. "We are coming off of a one-tenth of a point loss at the WAC Championships. We seem to be peaking and doing our best gymnastics at this time."

Western Athletic Conference champion Sacramento State is one of the six teams in the West Regional Championship, and is the only other WAC school competing in the NCAA Regionals as a team.

WAC runner-up Southern Utah had two gymnasts qualify for the North Central Region individual all-around competition and five others as either individual event specialist or alternates. San Jose State has two individual all-around gymnasts and one individual event specialist, while Boise State has one all-around and three individual event specialists.

In the national rankings, the Aggies moved up from 29th to 28th with a regional qualifying score of 194.695.

The Aggies rank 22nd on the vault (48.950), 30th on bars (48.720), 40th on beam (48.320), and are tied for 26th in the floor exercise (48.920).

Individually, Katy Schilla is tied for 62nd in the nation on the vault with a regional qualifying score of 9.845. Jessica Parenti-Otte is tied for 55th on bars with a 9.840 RQS and is tied for 83rd on beam with a 9.815 RQS, while Megan Tschida is tied for 70th in the floor exercise with a 9.840 RQS. In the all-around, Parenti-Otte is tied for 36th with a 39.205 RQS and Meagan Lewis is 54th with a 39.050 RQS.

In the WAC, freshman Schilla is ranked second in the conference in the vault with a regional qualifying score of 9.845, while Parenti-Otte ranks third with a 9.815 RQS. Heather Heinrich is fourth with a 9.800 RQS and Katie Omann is sixth with a 9.795.

The Aggies also have three gymnasts ranked in the top 10 on bars with Parenti-Otte (2nd, 9.840), Lewis (4th, 9.800) and Ashley Barr (10th, 9.760). On balance beam, Parenti-Otte is tied for fifth with a 9.815 RQS. USU also has four gymnasts in the top 10 on floor in Megan Tschida (3rd, 9.840), Lewis (4th, 9.825), Nicki Felley (4th, 9.825) and Parenti-Otte (10th, 9.800).

Despite the third place finish at the WAC Championships, Utah State is first in the conference with a regional qualifying score of 194.695 ahead of Southern Utah's 194.460. SUU is followed by Sacramento State (194.145) in third and San Jose State (193.675) in fourth. Cal State-Fullerton (192.640) and Boise State (192.535) round out the six in that order.

Utah State leads the conference on vault (48.950), is second on bars (48.720) and first on floor (48.920), while the Aggies rank fourth on beam with a 48.320 RQS.

In the all-around, Parenti-Otte is second with a 39.205 RQS and Lewis is fifth with a 39.050.

Tickets for the Regional Championships are on sale now and can be purchased by calling the DU Ritchie Center box office at (303) 871-2336 and are also available at ticketmaster.com.

The makeup of the 2007 North Central Region Championships are as follows, in order by seeding, with national rankings in parenthesis ( ) followed by each team's Regional Qualifying Score (RQS):

North Central Region (2) Georgia - 197.420 RQS (11) Penn State - 196.285 RQS (14) Denver - 196.080 RQS (23) BYU - 194.890 RQS (25) Minnesota - 194.755 RQS (28) UTAH STATE - 194.695 RQS