TOWSON, Md. – It has been 21 years since the Towson University gymnastics team qualified for regionals. On Monday, the NCAA announced the Tigers qualified for the Morgantown Regional in West Virginia.
Towson qualified after finishing the season ranked 28 with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 196.006. The Tigers will compete in the second round on April 2 with times at 1 and 7 p.m. Towson will open the night on vault, then bars, beam and floor inside the West Virginia University Coliseum.
The regionals finals will take place April 3 at 7 p.m.
The Tigers finished third at the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Championships on Saturday, March 20 with the highest championship program score ever (195.875).
Allison Zuhlke earned EAGL Rookie of the Year. Assistant coach
Ashley Sauer was named EAGL Assistant Coach of the Year and head coach
Jay Ramirez was named EAGL Head Coach of the Year. Seven gymnasts were named to the EAGL All-Tournament Teams.
Throughout the season, five gymnasts earned EAGL weekly awards.
In 2019,
Mary Elle Arduino and
Emerson Hurst qualified for regionals as individuals for the second round of session one on balance beam. The last time Towson competed in the NCAAs was 2000, the Tigers finished third at the NCAA Southeast Regionals and 19th in the NCAA Division I.
The top 36 teams based on NQS were selected for the regionals. The committee named the top 16 and seeded them into the bracket. Teams 17 through 36 were then placed geographically at one of four regional sites — meaning nine teams will compete at each region.The top two teams and the top all-around competitor (who is not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships. The top event specialist at each regional who is not part of an advancing team or all-around competitor will also advance in that event only.
Other teams competing in the region, hosted by West Virginia, are Michigan, California, Brigham Young, UCLA, Ohio State, Kent State, Penn State and West Virginia.
The team gathered in SECU Arena for the NCAA selection show, celebrating socially-distanced after the announcement.
