Tribe Gymnasts To Compete at NCAA Regional

Juniors Tricia Long and Stevie Waldman To Represent W&M at West Virginia Saturday

04/10/07 11:30AM

Williamsburg - William and Mary gymnasts Tricia Long (Humble, Texas) and Stevie Waldman (Downingtown, Pa.) will compete at the 2007 NCAA Southeast Regional this Saturday at West Virginia University.

Long, a junior, qualified as an all-arounder for the second time in her career, having also competed at the 2005 Southeast Regional after a standout freshman season when she was also named ECAC Rookie of the Year. A three-time All-ECAC designee in the all-around, Long carries a No. 16 regional all-around ranking, based on Regional Qualifying Scores, into the competition.

Waldman, also a junior, will be making her first Regional appearance after qualifying on the uneven bars. Waldman’s RQS of 9.785 is currently the second-best mark in the ECAC and 20th overall in the Southeast Region.

West Virginia hosts the 2007 NCAA Southeast Regional at 6 p.m., on Saturday, April 14, at the WVU Coliseum. For more information on the Regional, visit the WVU athletics homes page at www.msnsportsnet.com.

Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event [who has a minimum Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 9.4] were named to each of the six regions. The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 26-28, hosted by the University of Utah.

In addition, the event winners at the regional championships will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.

Both Long and Waldman enjoyed individual success in the Tribe’s last competition, as the pair each earned all-conference honors. Long collected her third-straight All-ECAC designation in the all-around and was also a First-Team All-ECAC performer in the floor exercise, tying for sixth place with a score of 9.675.

Waldman, who earned First-Team All-ECAC honors on bars as a sophomore in 2006, captured her second-career all-conference honor with a second-team performance on beam.

As a team, W&M will make its second-straight appearance at the USAG Collegiate Nationals April 19-21. The event, hosted by Seattle Pacific, gets underway with team preliminaries on Thursday, April 19th, followed by the team finals on the 20th and individual finals on the 21st. Waldman was as USAG Collegiate All-American last season on both bars and beam.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship Home Page
Regional Information from West Virginia
Southeast Regional Rotation Sheet (.pdf)