Four Falcons Invited to NCAA Regional Championships
3/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
March 29, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Four members of the Air Force women's gymnastics team were selected to compete at the NCAA Regional Championships, the NCAA office announced this afternoon (March 28). The Falcons will send two all-around competitors and a pair of event specialists to the Salt Lake City Regional on Saturday, April 10, at the Huntsman Center on the campus of the University of Utah.
Sophomore Jenna Dudley and junior Brittany Dutton were selected to compete in the all-around, while junior Lisa Wong and senior Michelle Denise will participate as event specialists on the balance beam and floor exercise, respectively.
Dudley is the No. 2 seed in the all-around, following Utah State's Heather Heinrich. Dutton is ranked fourth in the region, behind No. 3 Lyndsie Boone of Utah State. Wisconsin-Stout's Meghan Hargens rounds out the top-five all-arounders. Dudley has a regional qualifying score of 38.455, while Dutton's RQS in the all-around is 37.870.
Six teams, five all-around competitors who aren't on a qualifying team and one specialist per event, who is not on a qualifying team or selected as an all-around competitor were named to each of the six regions - Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Columbia, Lexington, University Park and Morgantown.
The six full squads that were selected to compete at the Salt Lake City Regional are No. 4 Florida, No. 10 Utah, No. 16 Auburn, No. 19 Boise State, No. 22 Denver and No. 23 Washington. Individual athletes, including the remaining all-arounders and event specialists are from Utah State, Wisconsin-Stout and Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Air Force's quartet comprises half of the eight gymnasts from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation to earn a regional spot. Tanya Ho and Katie Yamamura, both of UC Davis, will be competing in the all-around in the Los Angeles regional, while teammate Lida Gehlen and Alaska-Anchorage's Shakea Sanders will compete in the vault and uneven bars, respectively.
Dudley will rotate with Florida, while Dutton will participate with the host Utah squad. The event specialists, including Wong and Denise, will rotate with Washington. Regional action begins for the Falcons at 6 p.m. (MST) on Saturday, April 10.
Players Mentioned
