2008 Woodie Awards
Gym'Backs head to NCAA championship
Harold McIlvain II
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: News
A main goal heading into the season for the then-No. 14 Arkansas Gym'Backs was to finish the season in the top 10 for the first time in program history.
The now-No. 11 Gym'Backs will get that chance Thursday when they travel to Athens for the NCAA Championships.
Arkansas will make its second appearance at the national championship meet in six years of program history, but things have changed since the team upset then-No. 9 UCLA and made it in 2006, Arkansas co-head coach Rene Cook said.
"We were in shock when we went to the meet [in 2006]," Cook said. "The meet was so special because that was our first senior class, and they were the ones who started the program. No one expected us to be there, so no one expected anything of us."
Making it to the NCAA Championships was a little different this year because the Gym'Backs were the ones being chased, Arkansas co-head coach Mark Cook said.
"We were on our own this year [heading into regionals]. Some teams had some errors [two years ago], and we took advantage of those opportunities," he said. "Coming into this event, we were focused and people were after us. To keep those teams off and follow through brings a new chapter to this program."
The team feels relaxed and believes they have a shot to move up in the rankings with a favorable rotation against a difficult field, Rene Cook said.
"We are going against some teams that we are pretty competitive with, so we can move up the rankings, and that is our goal," she said. "We can't be more thrilled with our rotation. We have the same rotation we did at regionals, so we are well prepared."
The field will include five of the seven Southeastern Conference schools that have gymnastics programs. Highlighting the field will be No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Florida, No.3 LSU, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Oregon State, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 UCLA, No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 12 Denver.
Arkansas will head into the meet with just three athletes with NCAA Championship experience - seniors Emily Peacock and Samantha Cortez and sophomore Casey Jo Magee - but Rene Cook said that the team should be prepared after a regular season that tested the team.
"I think that this season has prepared the whole team for this event," she said. "We went to No. 1 Georgia and to regionals. We have some really competitive girls on our team, and I think we are going to see the same focus when we go down there."
The now-No. 11 Gym'Backs will get that chance Thursday when they travel to Athens for the NCAA Championships.
Arkansas will make its second appearance at the national championship meet in six years of program history, but things have changed since the team upset then-No. 9 UCLA and made it in 2006, Arkansas co-head coach Rene Cook said.
"We were in shock when we went to the meet [in 2006]," Cook said. "The meet was so special because that was our first senior class, and they were the ones who started the program. No one expected us to be there, so no one expected anything of us."
Making it to the NCAA Championships was a little different this year because the Gym'Backs were the ones being chased, Arkansas co-head coach Mark Cook said.
"We were on our own this year [heading into regionals]. Some teams had some errors [two years ago], and we took advantage of those opportunities," he said. "Coming into this event, we were focused and people were after us. To keep those teams off and follow through brings a new chapter to this program."
The team feels relaxed and believes they have a shot to move up in the rankings with a favorable rotation against a difficult field, Rene Cook said.
"We are going against some teams that we are pretty competitive with, so we can move up the rankings, and that is our goal," she said. "We can't be more thrilled with our rotation. We have the same rotation we did at regionals, so we are well prepared."
The field will include five of the seven Southeastern Conference schools that have gymnastics programs. Highlighting the field will be No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Florida, No.3 LSU, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Utah, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Oregon State, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 UCLA, No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 12 Denver.
Arkansas will head into the meet with just three athletes with NCAA Championship experience - seniors Emily Peacock and Samantha Cortez and sophomore Casey Jo Magee - but Rene Cook said that the team should be prepared after a regular season that tested the team.
"I think that this season has prepared the whole team for this event," she said. "We went to No. 1 Georgia and to regionals. We have some really competitive girls on our team, and I think we are going to see the same focus when we go down there."
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