March 31, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The University of Maryland women's gymnastics team has been selected to compete in the 2003 NCAA Southeast Region Championships, the NCAA announced Monday.

The championships will be held in Athens, Ga., on the campus of the University of Georgia on April 12. Other teams include Georgia, Florida, Ohio State and EAGL (East Atlantic Gymnastics League) opponents North Carolina and NC State.

Six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual event specialist per event [who has a minimum qualifying score (RQS) of 9.4] were named to each of the six regions.

This marks the Terps' 13th regional championship appearance. Maryland's best performance at regionals has been a third-place finish in both 1989 and 2001. Last season, the Terps failed to qualify to regionals as a team but did send five individuals to the competition. Gillian Cote, Lisa Mealey and Leah Brill were selected as all-around competitors, while Sarah Hoenig and Alyssa Mealey were specialists on the beam and floor, respectively.

At the 2002 regionals, Lisa Mealey placed eighth in the all-around with the score of 39.150 to lead the Terps. Hoenig placed seventh on the beam with a 9.875, while Cote earned a 9.800 on both the bars and the beam.

In addition, the winning team and event winners at the regional championships will advance to the national championships either as a team or in that event only. The NCAA Championships are slated for April 24-26 at the University of Nebraska.

The qualifying teams are listed below.

West Region - April 12 at Seattle, Wash.

Teams
1.	Nebraska
2.	Washington
3.	LSU
4.	Boise State
5.	Cal State Fullerton
6.	San Jose State

North Central Region - April 12 at Salt Lake City, Utah

Teams
1.	Stanford
2.	Utah
3.	California
4.	Brigham Young
5.	Denver
6.	Minnesota

South Central Region - April 12 at Columbia, Mo.

Teams
1.	UCLA
2.	Oregon State
3.	Iowa
4.	Arizona
5.	Missouri
6.	Illinois-Chicago

Central Region  - April 12 at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Teams
1.	Alabama
2.	Oklahoma
3.	Auburn
4.  	Kent State
5.	Central Michigan
6.	Michigan State


Northeast Region - April 12 at Ann Arbor, Mich.
Teams
1.	Arizona State
2.	Michigan
3.	Iowa State
4.	New Hampshire
5.	Penn State
6.	Pittsburgh


Southeast Region - April 12 at Athens, Ga.
Teams
1.	Georgia
2.	Florida
3.	Ohio State
4.	North Carolina State
5.	North Carolina
6.	Maryland