Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
NCAA Central Regional
Three Gymnasts Compete at NCAA Regional
April 05, 2009 | Gymnastics
Ball State sent three gymnasts -- Brittney Emmons, Teresa Phipps and Bibiana Rodriguez-Lockwood -- to the 2009 NCAA Central Regional at St. John's Arena in Columbus, Ohio. It marked the first time since 2003 Ball State has been represented at the Regional.
"Having three student-athletes compete in the Regional is a great accomplishment," second-year head coach Nadalie Walsh says. "This is a goal we set and the first step in a rebuilding process. All three of them hit every routine they came to do. We worked extremely hard to get to this point, and now we know what we can do. We are looking forward to next season, and the young gymnasts we have now know what it takes to get to this point. We could not be more proud of these three individuals, and all the athletes on our team for the work they put in this season."
The Cardinals first competitor at the event was fifth-year senior Phipps, who competed on the bars in the second rotation. Phipps, who competed in the all-around at the Regional, managed a 9.500 on the bars in her first event. Phipps moved to the beam where she managed a 9.725, and owned a 19.225 after two of four events. In her third event, Phipps competed on the floor on the fifth rotation of the night. She tied her career best on the floor with a 9.800 to give her a 29.025 after three of four events in the all-around. Phipps finished the night on the vault with a 9.775 to give her a 38.800 in the all-around.
In the third rotation of the evening, Emmons, who earned a trip to the Regional on the vault and floor, managed a 9.625 on the floor. Emmons completed her evening on the fourth rotation with a 9.750 on the vault.
Rodriguez-Lockwood finished off the night for the Cardinals and after waiting through every rotation, she was one of the final gymnasts to compete in the meet. Rodriguez-Lockwood tallied a 9.675 on the bars for Ball State.
In her first season as a gymnast at Ball State, Phipps managed a career best 39.225 all-around score in a meet against Kent State Jan. 23. Phipps spent three seasons as a gymnast at Wisconsin-Oshkosh for Ball State head coach Nadalie Walsh. When Walsh was named the Cardinals head coach prior to the 2008 season, Phipps transferred and sat out the year as a medical redshirt. At UW-Oshkosh, Phipps helped the Walsh coached Titans to the 2007 National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Division III National Championship. She earned All-American status in the all-around, vault, bars and beam in 2007 and was the national bar champion as a junior. This past season, Phipps managed nine individual event titles, including three on the beam, two in the all-around, two on the vault and one each on the bars and the floor exercise.
In her initial campaign for the Cardinals, Emmons tallied three firsts on the floor and one on the vault. She owns a 9.76 average on the vault and a 9.50 mean on the floor. Emmons tallied a career best 9.875 on the vault in the Cardinals meet at Kentucky, while scoring a career high 9.825 on the floor in a meet at Arizona State.
Rodriguez-Lockwood, a junior for the Cardinals, was the MAC Co-Champion on the bars at the league meet March 21. She tallied a 9.850 to become Ball State's first individual MAC Champion since 2007, and the first on the bars since 2002. Rodriguez-Lockwood's mark on the bars at the MAC was a career high.
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional received an automatic berth to the national championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, April 16-18, hosted by the Cornhuskers. In addition, the event winners at the regional championships advanced to the national championships (in that event only) if they were not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.
