Completed Event: Gymnastics versus NCAA Championship Final on April 19, 2025 , , 4th of 4 (197.2375)
Final Score
Gymnastics
4th of 4 (197.2375)
vs NCAA Championship Final
Thursday, April 19
Athens, Ga.
1:00 PM ET
University of Utah
196
at
197.100
NCAA Prelims/All-Around Finals
Ute Gymnasts Qualify For Super Six At NCAA Championships
4/19/2001 12:00 AM | Gymnastics
April 19, 2001
ATHENS, Ga.-The Ute gymnasts beamed themselves into the NCAA Championships Super Six and can now take a crack at a record 11th national title, Friday starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time. A magnificent balance beam performance leapfrogged the Utes into second place behind Georgia in the qualifying round. The hometown favorite Bulldogs finished with a 197.100, followed by Utah (196.575) and Nebraska (196.200). Those three teams will join three qualifiers from the early session, UCLA (197.625), Alabama (196.525) and Florida (196.375), in the team finals.
Unlike at regionals two weeks ago, when the Utes crumbled on the vault and had two falls on the beam, they were nearly flawless in their first night of the championships. Utah had just one fall, which it didn't have to count, and was so dazzling on beam that Saturday night's individual event finals will have a distinctly Utah flavor. Four Utes: Shannon Bowles, whose 9.95 was the best score across both sessions, Theresa Kulikowski, Theresa Wolf and Melissa Vituj, all with 9.875 scores, will represent Utah on the beam on Saturday night.
But all six Utes found a way to make the beam look as wide as the floor mat. Armed with a tentative .675 lead over Arizona State for the third and final position into the Super Six, the Utes simply exploded on their final event of the night, the balance beam. There, the team that was best in the nation all year long on the plank, showed why, leaping into second place by virtue of a mind-boggling 49.425. It was the best score on the balance beam in both sessions, and four Utes placed in the top four of the evening competition.
Though Utah's seventh Super Six appearance wasn't secured until all but Bowles had conquered the balance beam, the Utes didn't rely on other team's mistakes to get into finals. After a first-round bye, Utah opened competition with a lively 49.30 floor performance. Lindsay Tanner led things off with a 9.80, then Vituj wowed the vocal Ute crowd in the corner closest to the gym mat with a 9.90 set. Vituj's score would stand as Utah's best, although her teammates gave it a run. Kylee Wagner went 9.825, Wolf 9.85, Bowles 9.875 and Deidra Graham wrapped it up with a 9.85. Vituj, as it turned out, chalked up one of two first-team All-America certificates and qualified into Saturday's event finals.
Next up for the Utes was vault, a disastrous event for them at the NCAA regional on April 7 and one that threatened to keep them out of the national championships for the first time in 26 years. Consider that particular memory wiped out: Wolf and Bowles, who fell as Utah's first two competitors at regionals, did a 180 degree turn in the first night of nationals. Wolf struck for a 9.75 and Bowles scored a 9.725. For the second straight event, Vituj won scoring honors, popping for a 9.825. Wagner, who also missed at regionals, stuck a 9.80. Graham's 9.775, while far from her best vault of the year, assured Utah would not count a vault this night. Unfortunately, Utah's best (and one of the nation's best) vaulter, Veronique Leclerc, had trouble with her approach, causing a step on the landing cost her a slot at individual event finals. Still, Leclerc's 9.60 was thrown out and Utah's total was a 48.875, a whopping 1.875 better than its effort at regionals.
Up by a slender .225 over Arizona State after two events, Utah took its second and final bye of the night. Its second half return was on the uneven bars and a solid 48.975 gave the Utes some breathing room going into the beam. Leading things off on the bars was freshman Annie Medcalf, who received a 9.70 in her first NCAA Championships event. Wolf followed with a clean 9.775, then came Leclerc and her better-than-it received 9.825. Next up was Bowles, who had a championship routine going until she over-rotated on her dismount and had Utah's only fall of the night. Her late mistake didn't effect Graham (9.80) or Kulikowski (9.875). Kulikowski's score tied her for first on the night and sent her into the individual event finals.
Utah was right where it wanted to be at that point ... on the beam, a position most teams hate to be in to start or finish a meet. But this wasn't most teams, it was the Bowles' and Kulikowski-fueled Utes. Ranked 1-2 during the regular season, the duo fell at the regional championships. They made up for it in a big way in Athens, though. Bowles' near-flawless routine received a 9.95, the best score for any beam worker from the 12 teams who qualified, while Kulikowski tied with teammates Wolf and Vituj with a 9.875.
Not to be lost in the shuffle of the individual event qualifiers, all of whom made first-team All-American, was Graham. For the second time in as many years, she made the All-America first team in the all-around, scoring a 39.275 and tying for eighth. Wolf, already a first-teamer on the beam, made the All-America second team in the all-around, placing 10th with a 39.250.
Utah will start Friday's competition on the balance beam.
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