April 3, 2004
TUCSON -
Live commentary and scores for all Utah routines at tonight's NCAA South Central Regional Gymnastics Championships will be posted at this site, www.UtahUtes.com. Team scores will be posted between rotations at both this site and www.arizonaathletics.com. Arizona will not be posting live stats as originally indicated.
Scores will be updated as frequently as meet logistics allow. They will not be updated automatically. You will need to hit your reload/refresh key for updates.
South Central Region Teams 1. Utah 197.625 2. Florida 197.050 3. Arizona 196.375 4. Arkansas 195.550 5. Illinois 195.400 6. Illinois-Chicago 193.400
VAULT Veronique Leclerc 9.875 Nicolle Ford 9.850 Kristen Riffanacht 9.850 Melissa Vituj 9.900 Rachel Tidd 9.950 Annabeth Eberle 9.900 VT: 49.475; Running: 147.975 Utah vault notes: My vantage point isn't very good for vault, but Veronique Leclerc's vault looked good except for a step on the landing. Nicolle Ford's first vault in five weeks was impressive but for a fairly long step on her landing. Kristen Riffanacht had a very nice vault with just a little lean on her landing. Two judges respected a great vault by Melissa Vituj and gave it a 9.90. The low judge on every routine gave a 9.85 that got a big boo from the big Ute crowd. Rachel Tidd's vault was absolutely sensational. She had huge air, huge amplitude and totally stuck the landing. She received a 10.0 from one judge and 9.95s from the other three. Annabeth Eberle's vault was as good in the air as Tidd's, but she had a very small step on her landing.
BARS Dominique D'Oliveira 9.900 Veronique Leclerc 9.950 Annabeth Eberle 8.400 Melissa Vituj 9.950 Rachel Tidd 9.900 Nicolle Ford 9.950 UB: 49.650; Running: 197.625 Utah bar notes: Dominque D'Oliveira had one of her better routines I've seen. One small step on the dismount. Veronique Leclerc is in postseason form for sure. Handstands stuck, dismount stuck, etc. Annabeth Eberle hit her foot on her release move and couldn't catch the bar for her first fall of the year. Then she fell on her dismount. Really great routine by Melissa Vituj. Stuck her triple twist dismount dead on. Handstands looked great. Rachel Tidd was heading for a huge score before a step on her dismount. Nicolle Ford clinched a victory for the Utes with a great routine under big pressure.
BEAM Natalie Nicoloff 9.750 Kristen Riffanacht 9.775 Rachel Tidd 9.300 Nicolle Ford 9.900 Annabeth Eberle 9.800 Melissa Vituj 9.950 BB: 49.175; Running: 49.175 Utah beam notes:Natalie Nicoloff started out with a really nice routine. She had a small bobble coming out of her layout and a tiny step on her landing. Everything else was solid and confident. Kristen Riffanacht had a balance check coming off her layout but was really clean and solid on the rest of the routine. Rachel Tidd had a great routine going and totally nailed her series before falling off on her front tuck. Really too bad because this would have been a great routine. Nicolle Ford just had a beauty. She took out her front tuck, per pre-meet orders if there was a fall preceding her. However, she kept in both layouts on the flick flack lay-lay and nailed it. Annabeth Eberle saved that one baby. On her somersault mount she missed a foot, but recovered magnicently. The rest of the routine was 10.0 material. Melissa Vituj just had a ball. She had a huge grin throughout. There was not a single miscue or bobble. This routine looked perfect, but it is regionals where scores are lower.
FLOOR Kristen Riffanacht 9.850 Stephanie Lim 9.850 Nicolle Ford 9.850 Gritt Hofmann 9.900 Annabeth Eberle 9.825 Melissa Vituj 9.875 FX: 49.325; Running: 98.500 Utah floor notes: Kristen Riffanacht had a great routine, nailing her double pike and doing nice leaps and jumps. The only deduction I saw was a little lean on her double pike on the last pass. Stephanie Lim showed little evidence of the missed training due to a shin injury. She nailed her full in on the first pass and her piked double back on the last pass. She did step out of a leap for a deduction. Nicolle Ford replaced an ill Rachel Tidd in the floor lineup right before the meet. The floor scoring looks to be really tight. Gritty skied high on her full in and had one of her better routines of the year overall. Annabeth Eberle got socked for a mistake on her second pass when she appeared to slide on the chalk line and skittered a step. It didn't disrupt the flow at all and the rest of her routine was great. Again, Melissa Vituj's routine was outstanding. All I saw was a little lean on her first pass. She might have not gone quite far enough toward the corner on her last pass.