Sloan Wins Three Individual Titles, Super Six Teams Set

While it was only night one of the NCAA national championships, individual championships and All-American honors were on the line. Florida’s Bridget Sloan capped off her individual career with three titles while Georgia and LSU made it back to the Super Six for the first time since 2014 and UCLA qualified for the first time since 2013.

Session One
Florida and LSU qualified easily as expected, but the anticipated race for the third spot was less dramatic than expected with Georgia picking up the final placement over a point ahead of fourth-place finisher Stanford. The Cardinal, along with Auburn and Minnesota, all had to count big mistakes, thus taking them out of the running for a finals berth. Stanford and Auburn both fell twice on beam while Minnesota fell three times on bars.

Session Two
Like in session one, the top two qualifiers, Oklahoma and Alabama, made it to Saturday’s competition easily, with Alabama doing so with four of six perfectly stuck vaults to end the night. Meanwhile, Utah came in the third-seeded team but left in sixth in the subdivision after a disastrous beam rotation, falling twice and having another major error on a dismount. UCLA took advantage of the Utes’ mistakes and snagged the final qualifying spot. California, competing at nationals for the first time since 1992 and without superstar Toni-Ann Williams who is in Rio trying to qualify to the Olympics, finished a record fourth in the session and seventh overall. Nebraska wrapped up the night in fifth, overcoming adversity when senior and leader Jennie Laeng suffered a severe injury on bars.

Final Rankings for Non-Qualifying Teams
7. California
8. Nebraska
9. Utah
10. Stanford
11. Auburn
12. MinnesotaEvent Champions
Vault
Brandie Jay (Georgia), Katie Bailey (Alabama): 9.95

Bars
Brittany Rogers (Georgia), Bridget Sloan (Florida): 9.95

Beam
Bridget Sloan (Florida), Danusia Francis (UCLA): 9.95

Floor
Nina McGee (Denver): 9.95

All Around
Bridget Sloan (Florida): 39.7