Today's Potluck Quote (5 out of 10): Nadia Comaneci

Today, a writing site asked on Twitter to write a five-word sentence in which an elite athlete takes a change in his or her life. My response was: "Simon Biles converts to Judoism." Yea, I'm not sure how well it might get received either, but with that in mind we quote another Olympic gymnast legend Nadia Comaneci of Romania; her husband Bart Conner runs a gymnastics school in Norman, Okla., a town that is also home to the Oklahoma Sooners, a team that won this year's NCAA college gymnastics championships this year.

Yes, of course, we are writing this in conjunction with the 2012 Rio Olympics! Kudos to current Romanian gymnast Catalina Ponor for coming back to the sport and competing in the Olympics at age 28.

Today, Bob Costas will probably try to boost our enthusiasm for synchronized swimming.

Here is today's potluck quote of the day: "You should also appreciate the goodness around you and surround yourself with positive people."

http://www.bartandnadia.com

http://www.bartconnergymnastics.com

Today's Potluck Quotes (4 of 10): Richard Nixon

Greetings to those of you enjoying your lunch break at the New Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah, where it is almost noon now, or any of you who are a taking a break from the 2016 Rio Olympics where Team USA is now playing Team Japan in women's volleyball.

One of the fun aspects of these Olympics has been following former American Olympic gymnast and UCLA Bruins standout gymnast Samantha Peszek use social media to document her experiences in Brazil covering the games, which have included sharing a ride with former gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi whom our friend blogger Chris Knight from Reidsville, NC, ran into in an airport once.

Ok that's enough digression; here's today's quote of the day from the late Richard Nixon (1913-1994); yes. of course, we are doing this because it's also an election year here in les etats unis:

"If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But, if you take no risks, you win no victories."

Wow! Even though he is no longer alive, it seems like Nixon would have been a perfect spokesperson for match.com

According to the web site for the Nixon Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif., CIA director John Brennan will speak there on Aug. 24th at 1:00 p.m. about how intelligence was gathered during the Cold War when Nixon was president.

http://www.slcnewdragon.com

http://www.uclabruins.com

https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/

Salute to NCAA college sports (1 of 3)

The six athletes pictured are 1) Amy Boswell, women's volleyball, BYU; 2) Alex Lyon (the goaltender), men's hockey, Yale; 3) Nadia Podo (in white), women's lacrosse, Towson; 4) Jordan Sheffield, baseball, Vanderbilt; 5) Sophina DeJesus, gymnastics, UCLA; 6) Joergen Brath (from Norway), men's skiing, University of Utah

NCAA Gymnastic Champions Tweets: Greetings from Forth Worth, Texas

The NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships are underway in Forth Worth, Texas, which is not where we actually are. But, even though some local folks may be more interested in the Assassination City Roller Derby match in Dallas, Tex., given that no Texas Superconference school has a women's gymnastics program, we thought we'd post some tweets from some of the participating schools.

We are going with an image of former North Carolina State Wolfpack gymnast Ashley Shepard to show neutrality as the school did qualify at regionals for the championships, and we wanted to go with an image of Cam the Ram, the mascot for Colorado State University, as well. But, since Colorado State doesn't even have a gymnastics team, we figured none of our blog-readers would be amused.

Here are the tweets (Note: Some schools have gymnasts competing individually even though their teams did not qualify):

1) Kentucky Gymnastics: NCAA gym warmups are underway! Sydney Waltz will compete in Stanford's rotation of bye, bars, beam, bye, floor, vault.

2) Florida Gators Gymnastics: Gator senior Rachel Spicer returns to Texas as NCAA Championships cap emotional senior year.

3) Samantha Peszeck: It's game time Bruins, lezzzgoooo

4) LSU Gymnastics: LSU competes for a spot in the Super Six in NCAA Semifinal II.

5) NC State Gymnastics: Brittni Watkins and Michaela Jayne ready to go!

6) WVU Gymnastics: Congratulations, Jaida Lawrence to co-Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Week!

7) CSU Cam the Ram: Happy Friday, Rams! Hope that rain jacket is green and gold! (The tweet actually featured a sheep wearing a raincoat!)

8) UCLA Gymnastics: All gymnasts master difficult skills. Danusia Francis likes to invent new ones.

9) Urban Dictionary: Hater_ A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success.

March Madness Finale: NCAA Tourney Teams with Women's Gymnastics Programs

We conclude our five entries dedicated to the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, with a look at ten schools who made the Big Dance that also happen to have women's gymnastics programs. In total, 30 schools of the men's basketball field have women's gymnastics team. Of the ten teams listed here, only three are still in the tournament:

1) Florida Gators * (pictured top: Florida gymnast Kytra Hunter. Amazingly enough, the Gators are ranked number one in both sports)

2) Nebraska Cornhuskers (The team's mascot Lil' Red is pictured center)

3) Western Michigan Broncos ^ (We couldn't find an image we could use of the basketball team, so we went with an image of the Broncos' hockey goalie Lukas Hafner instead).

4) Ohio State Buckeyes. ^

5) Arizona State Sun Devils

6) UNC Tar Heels

7) Michigan State Spartans *^

8) Michigan Wolverines *^

9) Oklahoma Sooners (The Sooners have a solid chance of winning the NCAAs in gymnastics)

10) North Carolina State Wolfpack.

*-Teams still in the NCAA Tournament

^- Teams that also have men's hockey programs

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

College Gymnastics Lists (4 of4): Gymnasts from the Pac-12 Conference

Of the 12 schools in the PAC-12 Conference, eight have women's gymnastics programs (Colorado, USC, Washington State and Oregon do not), so you may not see many Oregon Ducks t-shirts at a gymnastics meet. But, here are 10 gymnastics from those eight schools which have teams, UCLA, Utah and Stanford are seemingly possible contenders for the Super Six (equivalent of the Final Four):


1) Sydney Sawa, UCLA. Senior. (pictured top)

2) Aliza Vaccher, Washington, Senior. (pictured center)

3) Stephanie Miceli. Arizona State. Soph. (pictured bottom)

4) Georgia Dabritz, Utah. Junior

5) Selynna Felix-Terrazas. Arizona. Fresh.

6) Chelsea Tang. Oregon State. Junior.

7) Ivana Hong, Stanford. Junior

8) Alice Asturias, California. Senior.

9) Leilani Alferos, California. Senior

10) Allison Northey, Washington. Soph.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Gymnastics Lists (3 of 4): Gymnasts from the Southeastern Conference (SEC)

Only three of 14 Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities made into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, but there are four conference schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU) which could make it to the Super Six women's gymnastics championships in Birmingham, Ala., in April. Interestingly enough, the Florida Gators are ranked number one in both men's basketball and women's gymnastics (the gym Gators are in fact defending NCAA champs as well). Bridget Sloan was named SEC Gymnast of the Week.

Here are 10 gymnasts from the SEC, including one Gator, one Gym Dawg and one Wildcat, who are pictured above:

1) Alaina Johnson. Florida. Senior (pictured top)

2) Cat Hires, Georgia. Senior (pictured center)

3) Kenzie Hedges, Kentucky. Junior (pictured bottom)

4) Lauren Beers. Alabama. Sophomore.

5) Chelsea Davis, Georgia. Junior

6) Amanda Wellick. Arkansas. Freshman.

7) Kaleigh Dickson. LSU. Senior.

8) Lexus Demers. Auburn. Sophomore (yes, she does share her name with a car)

9) Bridgette Caquatto. Florida. Sophomore.

10) Miranda Eubank. Missouri. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/

College Gymnastics Lists (2 of 4): The All-Stars

Here is a list of NCAA gymnasts who have been stand-outs all year or all during their respective collegiate careers. The order presented here by no means suggests where each gymnast stands nationally. It's interesting that both Bridget Sloan and Samantha Peszek who competed as Olympians for Team USA are from Indiana:

1) Bridget Sloan. Florida. Sophomore (pictured top)

2) Samantha Peszek. UCLA. Senior (pictured center)

3) Emily Wong, Nebraska. Senior (pictured bottom, she will compete for her third straight Big 10 all-around this weekend)

4) Nicolette McNair.. Stanford. Freshman.

5) Diandra Miller. Alabama. Senior.

6) Brittany Rogers. Georgia. Sophomore. (Rogers competed for Canada in the 2012 London Olympics)

7) Joanna Sampson. Michigan. Senior

8) Nansy Damianova. Utah. Senior (The Canadian gymnast's parents were gymnasts in Bulgaria)

9) Jessie Jordan. LSU. Junior.

10) Haley Scaman. Oklahoma. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Gymnastics List (1 of 4): The Seniors

This week we are posting lists for college gymnastics; the other sport where March Madness is underway as conference meets begin this upcoming weekend.

Here are ten seniors who are completing their college careers soon:

1) Shona Morgan, Stanford (pictured top; she's from Australia)

2) Mary Beth Lofgren, Utah (pictured center)

3) Olivia Courtney, UCLA (pictured bottom)

4) Audrey Harrison, Kentucky

5) Kristen Aloi, UNC

6) Hannah Fallanca, North Carolina State (Aloi and her both went to Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, NC).

7) Mackenzie Caquatto, Florida (The Gators are the defending NCAA champions; we didn't spell her first name right in the tags section)

8) Lindsey Fowler, Alabama

9) Sarie Morrison, LSU

10) Katie O'Rourke, Pitt

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Game Day Tweets (Mostly Women's Gymnastics): The Bruins Hit the Road; the Heels Stay Home

1) Samantah Peszek (pictured, a UCLA gymnast): "It's a travel day for the bruins. Off to NoCal we go." (posted Thurs.)

2) VCU Athletics (Men's basketball team has 11:00 a.m. vs. cross-town rival Richmond): "Be early. Be loud. Wear Black. Wreck HAVOC. Let's Go VCU!

3) West Virginia U Gymnastics: "We host our pink meet Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Coliseum!"

4) Kansas Women's Basketball: "Kwbb hopes to continue its Red Raider dominance in Lubbock, Tex. tomorrow"

5) UNC Gymnastics: "Carmichael Arena is ready and waiting for tonight's meet vs. Pitt! Come cheer us on at 7:00......free admission" (Meet will be televised live on ESPN3).

6) Penn State Gymnastics: "Excited for another BUS trip to Columbus, Ohio, tomorrow." (Posted Thurs.)

7). Florida Gators Gymnastics: "When combined rank of teams is less than the ticket-price- that's a deal! No2 Gators vs. #1 Oklahoma. Tix: $5"

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Women's College Gymnastics News and Rankings: Oklahoma is Numero Uno

Greetings to our blog readers in South Korea, India and Chile.

Erica Brewer (pictured above) was named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week, and her Sooners teammate Lara Albright was named the conference specialist of the week following Oklahoma U's win over Big 12 rival Iowa State. The Sooners, a team which has never won a NCAA title in women's gymnastics but come close on several occasions, is also ranked number one nationally.

Here are the other major conference Gymnasts of the Week:

1) SEC: Bridget Sloan (Florida)

2) Big 10: Joanna Sampson (Michigan)

3) Pac 12: Olivia Courtney (UCLA)

Other gymnasts to look for on top ten teams include Rheagan Courville and Jessie Jordan of LSU, Kytra Hunter of Florida, Danuisca Francis of UCLA and Georgia Dabrist (Utah).

Here is the current top ten in the sport, with a look at their respective weekend meets, (all times given are eastern time):

1. Oklahoma 197.188 (@ Ariz. #17 on Sat. at 6:00 p.m.)

2. LSU 197.038 (Hosts Arkansas #14 on Fri at 8:00 p.m.

3. Florida 196.863 (Hosts Georgia #6 on Friday at 7:00 p.m.; last week's meet with Auburn will be televised on ESPN-U on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.)

4. Utah 196. 763 (Hosts UCLA #8 on Sat. @ 9:30 p.m.)

5. Michigan 196.663 (Hosts Ohio State #23 on Sat. @ 4:00 p.m.)

6. Georgia 196.608 (see Florida)

7. Alabama 196.600 (Hosts #10 Arkansas on Fri @ 8:30 p.m.)

8. UCLA 196.525 (see Utah)

9. Nebraska 196.438 (@ Iowa Fri, 8:00 p.m.)

10. Arkansas (see Alabama)

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Sports Desk: Florida Edges UCLA in Road Meet

Greetings to our blog-readers in Russia, India and Brazil.

In the City of Angels (Los Angeles, Calif.), the top-ranked, defending NCAA champion Florida Gators met the fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins in a very significant early season meet before both teams face their respective conference rivals.

In the end, Florida won by a very narrow 196.625-196.650, with the Gators prevailing by a margin of .025.

The Gators team had won the 2013 NCAA title at UCLA, but Marissa King, on the team leaders for the Gators, had finished her last year of eligibility. But, the team still includes former Team USA Olympian Bridget Sloan (pictured top), who was the 2013 AA champ at the NCAAs, Kytra Hunter, and sisters Bridgette and Mackenzie Caquatto.

For the Bruins, the 2014 team features stand-out Samantha Peszek, Danusia Francis (pictured bottom), Sydney Sawa and Olivia Courtney.

The Gators swept the all-around with Kytra Hunter (39.375), Bridget Sloan (38.875) and Mackenzie Caquatto (37.300) taking the top three slots.

But, the Bruins featured many outstanding performances in their own right. Olivia Courtney scored a career-best on vault with 9.975 and on bars with a 9.900; on that event, Courtney tied for first with Bridgette Coquatto.

Courtney edged out Sloan, who scored a 9.925 on vault, while her teammate Sawa tied Hunter of Florida with a 9.9 on that same event.

Hunter won floor for Florida with a 9.925; Peszek won balance beam for UCLA with a 9.925.

But, the WOW moment of the meet came from Peszek's teammate Francis, one of two British gymnasts for the Bruins, a team which also features three Canadians, on the beam.

For that event, Francis, who finished with 9.900 on the beam, performed a sideways aerial into a full-twisting dismount.

We imagine it will get lots of hits on Youtube.

UPDATE: This is the corrected version of this story. A blog reader pointed out several errors we made, but like most people who criticize, he/she did not give me credit for spelling Mackenzie Caquatto's name correctly, so we will give ourselves a standing ovation!

Sports Desk: Penn State Goes over the Hills and through the Woods to win at Iowa State in women's gymnastics

Gathering from the photos we saw from the Penn State women's gymnastics team, the Nittany Lions had quite a trek to Ames, Iowa, where they faced Iowa State in the first major NCAA meet of the season in women's college gymnastics.

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, we could see the team's photos of snowy places, such as West Virginia, as they journeyed to middle of the Hawkeye State in what is normally and presumably a 15-hour drive.

Thanks to two LSU transfers, juniors Randi Lau of Hawaii and Sidney Sanabria-Robles (the image is of Penn State gymnast Sharaya Musser who graduated last year), Penn State edged out a 193.925-193.550 win over the home mat Cyclones.

Lau's outstanding 9.825 performance on the vault was crucial for the visitors. Lau also tied for second in the all-around with Sanabria-Robles.

For the Cyclones, Caitlin Brown, a stand-out junior, won the all-around with a career-best 38.900; Brown also won the balance beam for the home team.

SIDEBAR: Back on Dec. 22, Penn State's women's volleyball won their fifth NCAA title in seven years in Seattle. The Nittany Lions faced their surprising Big 10 Conference Rival Wisconsin Badgers in the title game. The Badgers shocked the college volleyball world by upsetting then-defending NCAA champs in Texas in the semi-finals.

Senior Deja McClendon, from Louisville, Ky., delivered the game-winning kill which propelled Penn State to win the match 3-1.

SIDEBAR TWO: Lastly on New Year's Day, it was a grand Rose Bowl for the Michigan State Spartans football team as they pulled a slight and narrow 24-20 upset over Stanford in Pasadena, Calif. Spartans quarterback Connor Crook, a sophomore, threw for a career high 332-yards win in the victory for the Big Ten champions.

North Carolina State Wins EAGL Conference Gymnastics Meet

Though no mascots were present at the EAGL, a gymnastics only collegiate conference which will reportedly cease to exist at the end of the season on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, not even Ramses, the famous mascot for UNC, North Carolina State edged out Maryland and Pittsburgh to win the eight-team meet.

The Wolfpack won the meet with a score of 195.175. The second place Terrapins scored a 195.1 and the third place Panthers scored 194.875.  The George Washington University Colonials, helped greatly by an outstanding all-around performance from Betsy Zander, finished fourth with a score of 194.75 and the host Tar Heels came away with a 194.225 score and a fifth place finish.

The 'Pack, a team that will compete in their 11th NCAA regional meet when they compete at Ohio State next Saturday, were lead by stand-out junior Stephanie Ouellette (pictured top) who scored a 9.875 on floor and a 9.75on vault, paving the way for three-way second place finish in the all around along with Zander and Kayla Gray from the University of New Hampshire.

Ouellette's teammate and fellow junior Diahanna Ham (pictured bottom) scored a 9.875 on vault, a 9.8 on floor and a 9.775 on beam to finish in a two-way tie for fifth place in the all around along with UNC gymnast Elizabeth Durkac, the EAGL gymnast of the year and the top finisher for the 'Heels.

Rachel Fincham, a senior for the team, won bars with a 9.85.

Alyssa Adrian from Pitt was the all around individual champion with a 39.35 total.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Terps, Tar Heels and Wolfpack Get Ready for Last EAGL Meet

The EAGL Conference, a gymnastics-only conference, will be holding its final championship meet at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, on Saturday. The conference consists of Maryland, UNC, Rutgers, North Carolina State, George Washington University, Pittsburgh, Towson (correct us if we are wrong on that) and the University of New Hampshire.

West Virginia, which had won the most EAGL championships, left for the Big 12 Conference. There will be an ACC Gymnastics Conference for gymnastics next year, from what we've heard through the grapevine, but ACC and EAGL-member school Maryland is leaving for the Big 10 as is current EAGL and Big East-member Rutgers. So, this will mean that only UNC, North Carolina State and Pitt, which will join the ACC next year, will be the three schools in this conference.

Confused?! Yes, so are we.

Editorializing about college sports aside, let's look at the EAGL gymnasts who won conference honors in the last regular season week for college gymnastics.

Stephanie Giameo, a sophomore from Roselle Park, NJ, (pictured on top) from the University of Maryland, won the EAGL gymnast of the week this year for the second time. Giameo scored a 39.1 in the all-around during a road meet at West Virginia, which also featured EAGL rival Rutgers.

On Sunday, Giameo's Terps headed just south of College Park, Md., to Washington, DC, where they won a four-school meet over host George Washington, Towson and Brown. In that meet, Giameo scored a 39.25 in the all-around.

Over the weekend, UNC senior Elizabeth Durkac of Yorktown, Va., who has won four EAGL Gymnast of the Week honors, helped her Tar Heels win a home meet over visiting Penn. The Heels scored a 194.075 in the meet.(Ramese, the UNC mascot is pictured in the center).

The 'Heels will once again face their main conference rivals North Carolina State during the EAGLs on Saturday. UNC edged out N.C. State when the two schools last meet during a home meet on Feb. 22.

The Wolfpack were also at home over the weekend, but they faced the challenged of hosting two SEC powers: The first meet was against the LSU Tigers on Friday, followed by a visit from Georgia, which has won the most NCAA titles in women's gymnastics.

Though the Pack did not pull off a major upset in either home meet despite an impressive outing against the GymDawgs , Rachel Fincham, a senior from Gambrills, Md., (pictured bottom) earned EAGL Specialist of the Week honors. Fincham scored a 98.5 on beam and a 9.8 on bars against LSU. She then scored a 9.9 on bars and a 9.7 on beam versus Georgia.

Fincham's teammate Britti Watkins, a freshman from Albany, NY, whose solid scores included a 9.9 on vault against LSU,  was named EAGL Newcomer of the Week.

http://www.umterps.com

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.gopack.com

Friday Night Tweets: Balance Beams and Ski Slopes

It was our hope to have at least one sports every week on this blog. Hmmmmm. In reality, there are perhaps too many distractions for that. But, since this is one of these "Applebees Fridays," you know one in which you had plans and for one reason or another none of them came to be (for those of you in Nepal: Applebees is an American chain restaurant. There are probably eight in Scranton, Pa.), we thought we'd post various tweets, many of which deal with collegiate or pro athletics.

One thing we found out, but not through Twitter, was that the host University of North Carolina Tar Heels women's gymnastics team edged out the North Carolina Wolfpack by a 195.050-194.875 score. For the visiting 'Pack,' junior Diahanna Ham posted a 9.9 on bars. We didn't see results on the Tar Heels gymnastics site, but we did learn that senior Elizabeth Durkac, from Yorktown, Va.,(pictured center) was named EAGL Conference Gymnast of the Week.

Here are the Friday Night Tweets; we have added some things for clarity:

1) Seattle Weekly @seatlleweekly: "Study: Young adults carry less debt, but it might not be a good thing."

2) Pittsburgh Penguins @penguins: "Things are getting chippy @ConsolEnergyCtr. Tomas Kopecky of the Panthers is in the box for slashing. #Pens now on the PowerPlay. (Spoiler Alert: The Penguins won their home game over the Florida Panthers 3-1; Kopecky is from Slovakia).

3) Auburn Gymnastics @Augymnastics: "Abbey Habitcht of Auburn up next with a small check on her leap series, an awesome series, and a small hop on her dismount." (Auburn was facing LSU in a home meet tonight; no report on which team won the meet).

4) Visit Colorado @Colorado:" Have you ever been lucky enough to ski in a tee shirt? Come to Colorado and you can!" (This is the reason we have an image of Jamaican aerial skier Errol Kerr, top image, even though he is not from Colorado).

5) WBTV-News @WBTV-News (WBTV is the CBS-affiliate in Charlotte, NC): "Tractor trailer crash shuts down North Bound I-77 for several hours."

6) University of Washington Gymnastics @UWGymnastics: "Loud roar in here during starting lineups for Arizona natives and UW freshmen Keirsten Graber and Sheridan Metcalf. And, we mean LOUD!" (UW was facing Arizona State in a road meet).

7) The Baltimore Sun @baltimoresun: "Oscar trivia: Nearly half of this year's acting nominees are previous Oscar winners."

8) BYU Lacrosse @BYULacrosse: "1 more hour until the big game! We want to hear some score predictions." (Brigham Young is facing Chapman, a school in Las Vegas, as we are posting this).

9) WSOC Weather @WSOCWeather (WSOC is the Charlotte, NC, affiliate for ABC): "Ever wonder what it is like to live in London or Seattle, step outside."

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.gopack.com

http://www.colorado.com

http://www.jamaicaskiteam.com

Best Tweets of the Night

Greetings from Coffin Gulch, Nebraska (this is a fictional town in the cartoon version of the famed 'French cowboy' Lucky Luke, and no we are not in Nebraska).

Here is a look at some nifty tweets from Saturday night. We should point that in no way are we suggesting that Democratic strategist Donna Brazile is a far left radical like Angela Davis (pictured here), in fact, this is a center-left blog. And, our views on gun control are likely to cost us readers in Coffin Gulch.

Here are a rundown of the tweets, circa 6:00 p.m. in Coffin Gulch, Nebraska (for the sake of clarity full names are given):

1) PSU Gymnastics @ PennStWGym (Penn State Women's Gymnastics): Madison Merrian hit her foot hard on the bar we'll see how she is (Merrian had a 9.8 earlier in the meet on vault in a home meet versus Minnesota, Kent State and Towson).

2) Donna Brazile @donnabrazile: "As a black woman, we have gone through so much with our hair. So, let it roll. Curl it or wear it natural: What you say?"

3) Shannon Wheeler @MuchCoffee (Mr. Wheeler is a cartoonist in Portland, Ore.): "Happy gun day."

4) Trample by Turtles @tbtduluth (TBT is a popular folk, rock band): "I think we should spend winters in AZ."

5) Huffington Post @HuffingtonPost: "Booboo the grizzly bear cub is safe and sound." (Yeah, we are wondering about the details ourselves!)

6) VCU Ram Nation @VCURamNation (VCU is a college basketball team in Richmond, Va., they were winning by a large margin over JMU tonight in men's basketball): "Juvonte Reddic with another bucket in the paint.

7) Michigan Hockey @umichhockey: The Lakers tie it up with just over a minute left in the first period 1-1. (Michigan's men's hockey team is on the road tonight @ Lake Superior State, the Wolverines beat the Lakers 6-4 on Friday night).

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Sports Desk- Former UCLA Gymnast is Alternate for Team USA

On Sunday, in San Jose, Calif., the United States Olympic women's gymnastics team was formally decided after the result of team trials. Among the pleasant surprises of the night was that former UCLA gymnast Anna Li, 23, (pictured top) the daughter of Chinese Olympic gymnasts from Las Vegas, qualified as an alternate to the team.

Li was a stand-out at UCLA, where she helped the Bruins win a NCAA title in 2010.

The other alternates are Sarah Finnegan and Elizabeth Price.

Since the Magnificent Seven, which included Dominque Dawes won the team gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, women's gymnastics now apparently only consists of five gymnasts.

Among those who are on the scheduled competing team are McKayla Maroney (pictured), Jordyn Wieber,  Gabby Douglas, Kyla Ross and  Alexandra Raisman, who at 18 is the oldest of the five regular team gymnasts.

Douglas, 16, from Virginia Beach, Va., edged out Wieber, who is considered to be America's strongest gymnast.

There was some controversy as some analysts believe Price, who came in fourth at the trials, should have been on the main team instead of Ross, who is strong on bars and beam.

Alas, the night of competition in San Jose brought an end to two great gymnastics careers as both Alicia Sacramone, 24, the oldest competitor who was also the captain of the 2008 Olympic team and a stand-out gymnast at Brown University, and Nastia Liukin, 22, the 2008 Olympic all-around champion failed to qualify for the team.

www.usagym.com

www.uclabruins.com

Congratulations to Alabama for Winning 2012 NCAAs in Gymnastics

Hmmmm.......yes, a lot has happened in the world since the University of Alabama won its seventh team title in women's gymnastics in Duluth, Ga., back on April 21. In fact, the horse I'll Have Another upset Bodemeiser at the Kentucky, Michelle Obama gave the commencement at Virginia Tech and Kim Spradling became the latest person to win it all on the reality tv show "Survivor."

But, nonetheless, we have been saluting the NCAA winners in women's gymnastics for several years now, and we wanted to continue that tradition even though the finals have aired on various ESPN networks.

For the Crimson Tide, seniors Geralen Stack-Eaton (pictured here) and Ashley Priess came though on balance beam on the final rotation to seal the deal, and help Alabama win its first back-to-back NCAA title in the sport.

Alabama edged out top-ranked Florida, which once again came very, very close to winning the Gators' first title; the team has been second or third on numerous occasions.

UCLA, a team that along with Utah and Georgia has also won several NCAA titles, finished in a narrow third.

The Standings thus finished: 1) Alabama 197.85; 2) Florida 197.775; and UCLA 197.75. Finishing out the order in the Super Six were Stanford in 4th, Utah in 5th and Arkansas in 6th. Each of the schools in Super Six were from either the Southeastern Conference or the PAC-12, which Utah just joined this year.

For the Gators, there is some great news though as Freshman Kyra Hunter of Frederick, Md., became the first freshman to win the Honda Sports Award in women's gymnastics since 1991.

NCAA Gymnastics Preview_ Kytra Hunter of Florida

The Florida Gators have been the proverbial bridesmaid but not the bride countless times in NCAA Women's Gymnastics, but since they are the number one team heading into the NCAA Championships in Gwinnett, Georgia, this weekend, this might well be the year they win it all.

One of the reasons for the team's success is an outstanding freshman named Kytra Hunter from Frederick, Md., a medium sized city known for its minor league baseball team the Frederick Keys, which is west of Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Hunter has a number of SEC honors for the 2012 gymnastics season, including being named SEC Freshman of the Week along with Jessie Jordan of LSU on Jan. 24 for an outstanding 39.475 all-around performance in a win over Kentucky. A week later, Hunter won the same honor again.

On Feb. 14, Hunter won the Freshman of the Week honor for a startling third time thanks to an impressive performance in a home meet win over LSU, a consistent gymnastics team in the SEC.

On Feb. 28, Hunter won her biggest honor of the season as she was named SEC Gymnast of the Week for her 39.675 performance in a victory over then third-ranked Georgia.

At the end of the regular season, Hunter was awarded All-SEC honors with fellow Gators gymnasts Marissa King, a stand-out gymnast from the United Kingdom, Alaina Johnson and Mackenzie Caquatto.