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University of North Carolina Athletics
Friday, April 20
St. Louis, MO
7 p.m.
North Carolina
vs
NCAA Championships
Senior Morgan Lane will cap off her stellar career with Carolina gymnastics in St. Louis after qualifying for the 2018 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships.
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lane Heads to St. Louis for NCAA Championships
April 18, 2018 | Women's Gymnastics
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — After advancing to the NCAA Championships for the first time in her collegiate career, senior Morgan Lane will carry on Carolina's season as an all-around competitor in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday, April 20th at 7 p.m. ET.
"Morgan has done some things within our program that have really reinforced a standard at the highest level," said UNC head coach Derek Galvin. "She is currently ranked second behind Courtney Bumpers for career points scored as a gymnast at Carolina. Academically, she's achieved just about every honor you can achieve: inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, recipient of an ACC Postgraduate scholarship, EAGL Scholar of the Year. She is the complete student-athlete, and I consider it a privilege to have had the opportunity to coach a student-athlete like her."
Lane enters the national competition with the top qualifying all-around score of a non-qualifying team from the regional meet in Raleigh. She rotated with No. 2 LSU during the regional competition and will be rotating with assistant coach Taylor Spears' alma mater, No. 1 Oklahoma, in St. Louis. Though the senior will have gone almost two full weeks without performing in front of a crowd, Coach Galvin and his coaching staff feel confident in Lane's training and cannot wait for her to live out one of her goals.
"She has, in my opinion, earned it plus some," said Galvin. "Since regionals, Morgan has continued working really hard, but there's almost a certain calmness, a composure in her. It has been fun training in preparation for nationals because I've seen her relax a little bit. Not in terms of her effort or her intensity, but in between turns I think there's kind of a sense that she's arrived. She's reached the destination she's been working towards for so long, and that's pretty cool."
To finally get herself to the top, Lane scored 39.325 in the all-around, matching her career-high score of 9.850 on bars and earning 9.800 on vault, 9.850 on beam, and 9.825 on floor. However, her success at the 2018 NCAA Southeast Regionals is just one of the innumerable accomplishments of the Columbus, Ind. native.
Lane is currently ranked third all-time at Carolina on beam with a personal best score of 9.950, tenth all-time on floor with a score of 9.925, and fifth all-time in the all-around competition after earning a career best 39.550 against Pittsburgh in the 2018 regular season closer. The 2015 EAGL Champion on floor exercise, Lane also finished second in three events at the 2018 EAGL Championship on March 24th with scores of 9.925 on beam and floor as well as 39.375 in the all-around. She also became the first gymnast in UNC's history to notch a score of 39.000 or higher in the all-around competition in every meet during her sophomore season in 2016.
Needless to say, Lane's career is one for the record books.
"When Courtney Bumpers was here [in 2003-06], I thought I would probably never have the opportunity to coach a gymnast of that caliber again. Courtney was just an incredibly gifted athlete," said Galvin. "Morgan has the same kind of heart Courtney has — just a determined competitor, someone who pursuing excellence is the only way they know. It's inspiring to be around people like that as a coach, for her teammates. I know her teammates respect her. I don't know if they truly understand how exceptional she is because she is just Morgan to them, but having been involved in college gymnastics for as long as I have, I know she's very special. I don't take anything she has done for granted. I know how hard it is. I'm excited this is the way she gets to celebrate the end of her career."
THE OPPONENTS:
OKLAHOMA, UTAH, FLORIDA, KENTUCKY, CALIFORNIA, WASHINGTON
No. 1 ranked Oklahoma earned the highest regional score (198.000) of all championship-qualifying teams. Florida entered the regional competition ranked fifth and earned a total of 197.725 to best the then-No. 4 Utah's score of 197.475. No. 12 Kentucky earned the fourth highest regional score (197.050) of the advancing six teams while No. 9 California (196.725) outscored No. 8 Washington (196.275).
Following the regional competitions, the new NCAA team rankings list Oklahoma on top, Florida at No. 4, Utah No. 5, Kentucky No. 8, California No. 9, and Washington No. 11.
In addition to the six advancing teams, five other all-around gymnasts will make appearance in the semifinal competition. Elizabeth Price (Stanford), Lexy Ramler (Minnesota), Camille Drouin-Allaire (George Washington), Rae Balthazor (Illinois), and Shani Remmer (Boise State) join Lane in facing some of the nation's top competitors.
"Morgan has done some things within our program that have really reinforced a standard at the highest level," said UNC head coach Derek Galvin. "She is currently ranked second behind Courtney Bumpers for career points scored as a gymnast at Carolina. Academically, she's achieved just about every honor you can achieve: inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, recipient of an ACC Postgraduate scholarship, EAGL Scholar of the Year. She is the complete student-athlete, and I consider it a privilege to have had the opportunity to coach a student-athlete like her."
Lane enters the national competition with the top qualifying all-around score of a non-qualifying team from the regional meet in Raleigh. She rotated with No. 2 LSU during the regional competition and will be rotating with assistant coach Taylor Spears' alma mater, No. 1 Oklahoma, in St. Louis. Though the senior will have gone almost two full weeks without performing in front of a crowd, Coach Galvin and his coaching staff feel confident in Lane's training and cannot wait for her to live out one of her goals.
"She has, in my opinion, earned it plus some," said Galvin. "Since regionals, Morgan has continued working really hard, but there's almost a certain calmness, a composure in her. It has been fun training in preparation for nationals because I've seen her relax a little bit. Not in terms of her effort or her intensity, but in between turns I think there's kind of a sense that she's arrived. She's reached the destination she's been working towards for so long, and that's pretty cool."
To finally get herself to the top, Lane scored 39.325 in the all-around, matching her career-high score of 9.850 on bars and earning 9.800 on vault, 9.850 on beam, and 9.825 on floor. However, her success at the 2018 NCAA Southeast Regionals is just one of the innumerable accomplishments of the Columbus, Ind. native.
Lane is currently ranked third all-time at Carolina on beam with a personal best score of 9.950, tenth all-time on floor with a score of 9.925, and fifth all-time in the all-around competition after earning a career best 39.550 against Pittsburgh in the 2018 regular season closer. The 2015 EAGL Champion on floor exercise, Lane also finished second in three events at the 2018 EAGL Championship on March 24th with scores of 9.925 on beam and floor as well as 39.375 in the all-around. She also became the first gymnast in UNC's history to notch a score of 39.000 or higher in the all-around competition in every meet during her sophomore season in 2016.
Needless to say, Lane's career is one for the record books.
"When Courtney Bumpers was here [in 2003-06], I thought I would probably never have the opportunity to coach a gymnast of that caliber again. Courtney was just an incredibly gifted athlete," said Galvin. "Morgan has the same kind of heart Courtney has — just a determined competitor, someone who pursuing excellence is the only way they know. It's inspiring to be around people like that as a coach, for her teammates. I know her teammates respect her. I don't know if they truly understand how exceptional she is because she is just Morgan to them, but having been involved in college gymnastics for as long as I have, I know she's very special. I don't take anything she has done for granted. I know how hard it is. I'm excited this is the way she gets to celebrate the end of her career."
THE OPPONENTS:
OKLAHOMA, UTAH, FLORIDA, KENTUCKY, CALIFORNIA, WASHINGTON
No. 1 ranked Oklahoma earned the highest regional score (198.000) of all championship-qualifying teams. Florida entered the regional competition ranked fifth and earned a total of 197.725 to best the then-No. 4 Utah's score of 197.475. No. 12 Kentucky earned the fourth highest regional score (197.050) of the advancing six teams while No. 9 California (196.725) outscored No. 8 Washington (196.275).
Following the regional competitions, the new NCAA team rankings list Oklahoma on top, Florida at No. 4, Utah No. 5, Kentucky No. 8, California No. 9, and Washington No. 11.
In addition to the six advancing teams, five other all-around gymnasts will make appearance in the semifinal competition. Elizabeth Price (Stanford), Lexy Ramler (Minnesota), Camille Drouin-Allaire (George Washington), Rae Balthazor (Illinois), and Shani Remmer (Boise State) join Lane in facing some of the nation's top competitors.
Players Mentioned
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