The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Luke Wenker After finishing third at the Pac-10 Championships, the ninth ranked gymnastics team will try to qualify for nationals at the NCAA Regionals.

Oregon State's ninth-ranked gymnastics team will travel to Tucson, Ariz., to compete at the NCAA South Central Regional, as announced by the NCAA selection committee Monday afternoon.

The Beavers, who had been waiting to learn of their destination since Saturday night's Pac-10 Championships, earned the ninth seed overall and will compete as the South Central Regional's second seed. OSU will face top-seeded Stanford, which is ranked No. 4 overall, and third-seeded Arizona, which is ranked 15th nationally. Joining the seeded teams in Tucson are Illinois, which is ranked 20th in the nation, as well as Arizona State and Illinois-Chicago. The Beavers took third place overall as a team at the Pac-10 Championships, finishing only behind the Cardinal and Pac-10 champion UCLA.

"We're very happy with this draw. Starting on vault and ending on floor helps to keep this team in its comfort zone," said head coach Tanya Chaplin. "The quality of depth in the field at this regional will help to keep things interesting for all six teams."

Regional pairings are determined by seeding the top 18 teams in the nation and distributing them evenly to the six regional championships. The next three unseeded teams in each region also qualify for their own region's championship meet. Other hosts of regionals in 2007 are Alabama, Arizona, Denver, Michigan and West Virginia.

If the Beavers qualify for the NCAA Championships later this month, it will be for the second straight season.

Fans can watch Oregon State's most recent performance at last Saturday's Pac-10 Championships on FSN via tape delay. The event will be broadcast Thursday, April 5 at noon, and again on Saturday, April 7 at 11:30 a.m.

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