National Championship - Individual Competition

The individual round will give fans a chance to see some of their favorite gymnasts perform their routines back to back to one another. Comparisons are inevitable in any sport, but gymnastics is unique in that it affords the chance to showcase the talents of the individual athletes.

Vault is the power event, where in milliseconds the gymnast must hurl themselves into the air high, fast, far, AND gracefully. Georgia has many strong vaulters, three of which will compete, Cory Fritzinger, Suzanne Sears, and Marline Stephens. Prior to Nationals Sears was ranked 11^th, and was an All-American on vault in 2000. Kristin Parker will compete for UCLA and is ranked 7^th. From Oregon State are Katerina Severin, ranked 4^th, and Lara Degenhardt.

Alabama's bar specialist Natalie Barrington, ranked 5^th in the country, will be competing for the Uneven Bars title. UCLA will provide a lot of competition with five members competing, among them Jamie Dantzscher and Mohini Bhardwaj who are tied for first in the rankings. Bhardwaj won the bars finals last year and earned First Team All-American honors in 1998 and 1999. Perhaps it was a mental lapse, but a false start from Bhardwaj, forced a low score on an otherwise solid routine, on Friday. Michigan's Elise Ray, ranked 8^th, known for her easy, fluid style is ready to challenge. Tami Harris from of Nebraska also has a very "easy", but confident style. She is ranked 12^th. From Utah, Theresa Kuliokowski, will be competing for her first National title since 1999 when she received five, 1^st team All-American honors and won the All-Around Championship as a freshman.

Balance beam was a strong event for Utah on Thursday with four gymnasts placing in the event finals. However, in the Super Six, a fall by their first competitor shook them. Melissa Vituj appeared calm and collected, performing a solid routine. Theresa Wolf took a long pause prior to her acrobatic series, and was unable to hang on to it. Dierdra Graham came back with a solid routine in which she does some interesting down on the beam work. Kuliokowski had a large balance check but refused to give in to the fall. Shannon Bowles' careful but very steady routine earned her a 9.9, coming through in the pinch. Bowles and Kuliokowski share a 1^st place ranking heading into Nationals. UCLA's three individual competitors Onnie Willis, 2000 2^nd team All-American, Kristin Maloney, ranked 4^th, and Yvonne Tousek, ranked 6^th, all put in solid routines both days. Tousek has a very deliberate and focused approach to beam, which served her well as the Georgia fans were going wild over their final performances of the night, on vault. Our own Kristin Sterner and Lissy Smith, ranked 6^th, were fantastic both nights, but particularly on Friday, when they had to compete while Georgia was on floor.

UCLA and Georgia will both be fielding three gymnasts a piece on floor exercise. This will be a head to head battle, each team with its own style. Dantzscher, Bhardwaj, Willis, Sears, and Stephens, are all ranked within the top 6 nationally. Joining the Gymdogs will be Fritzinger. Throw into the mix our own Jeanna Rice, Oregon State's 11^th ranked Lindsay Wing, Stanford's 20^th ranked Lise Leveille, and Michigan's 12^th ranked Ray, and you have one hot floor competition!

It's going to be a fantastic encore performance by the nation's best, and four of the gymnasts are our Bama ladies. Bama fans, shout LOUD this evening for our girls and let them know just how proud of them we are!