Jamie Lewis, Kara Witgen Head to NCAA Regionals
3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
March 30, 2016
Two members of the Air Force women's gymnastics team will travel to Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday, April 2, for the NCAA Regional Championships. Sophomore Jamie Lewis and junior Kara Witgen will represent the Academy in the all-around at the regional meet, which is slated to begin at 4:00 p.m. (CT) inside the Sports Pavilion on the Minnesota campus.
MEET INFORMATION
The Minneapolis Regional will feature teams from No. 2 Florida, No. 11 Denver, No 14 Minnesota, BYU, Missouri and Ohio State, as well as individual gymnasts from Air Force, Iowa State and Wisconsin-Whitewater. General admission tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for youth, students and seniors. Live scoring will be available at gophersports.com.
WHO'S WHO
Jamie Lewis and Kara Witgen will compete in the all-around at the Minneapolis Regional, while Sarah Neumann will serve as an alternate on the balance beam. It is the second straight regional appearance for both the Falcons' all-arounders, as Witgen and Lewis finished 13th (37.550) and 14th (37.500), respectively, at the Ames Regional in 2015.
HOW THIS WORKS
Six teams, four all-around competitors who are not on a qualifying team and one specialist per event with a minimum Regional Qualifying Score of 9.400 were named to each of the six regional sites (Ann Arbor, Athens, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Tuscaloosa). The top two teams, the top two all-arounders not on an advancing team, and any event winners not on an advancing team from each regional will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, which will be held April 15-16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
LAST YEAR AT THE REGIONAL MEET
A program-record six Falcons competed at the regional event last year in Ames, Iowa. Annie Graft posted the Falcons' best finish of the meet, as she finished within the top half of the 42-gymnast field on the balance beam (18th, tie) after recording a 9.600. Jessica Wallander tied for 31st on the uneven bars (9.600) and placed 33rd outright on the vault (9.675), while Al Stych tied for 31st on the floor exercise (9.750). Finishing 13th with a 37.550, Kara Witgen paced a trio of all-around competitors that included Jamie Lewis (37.500, 14th) and Kim McRobbie (36.775, 16th).
WHAT'S AHEAD FOR THE FALCONS
Air Force wraps up team competition next weekend, when it travels to St. Charles, Mo., for the 2016 USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships at Lindenwood on April 8-10.
Players Mentioned
