University of North Carolina Athletics
Saturday, April 7
Raleigh, N.C.
4 p.m.
North Carolina
vs
NCAA Southeast Regional
With a regional all-around score of 39.325, senior Morgan Lane advances to the 2018 NCAA Championships as Carolina's first qualifier since 2012.
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lane Advances to NCAA Championships in the All-Around
April 7, 2018 | Women's Gymnastics
RALEIGH, N.C. — The University of North Carolina gymnastics team celebrated an exciting day for their program at the 2018 NCAA Southeast Regional competition in Raleigh, N.C. at Reynolds Coliseum. Though four of the five regional qualifiers officially closed out their 2018 seasons, one last Tar Heel remains standing. Senior Morgan Lane will continue her season as the first Tar Heel to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 2012 when former Carolina gymnast Morgan Evans qualified for the all-around competition.
"I am extremely happy for Morgan, of course," said UNC head coach Derek Galvin. "This has been one of her goals. She barely missed it last year and the year before and this has been a great senior year for her. She was inducted into Phi beta Kappa in the fall, she is a recipient of a Weaver-James-Corrigan ACC Post-Graduate Scholarship, she was the EAGL Scholar of the Year, and now she's the top individual qualifier from this regional on her way to the NCAA Championships. So proud of her. The day she arrived at Carolina was a blessing to our gymnastics program."
The five regional qualifiers from UNC included seniors Morgan Lane, Kaitlynn Hedelund, and Madison Nettles and sophomores Khazia Hislop and Mikayla Robinson.
Morgan Lane earned an all-around score of 39.325 to finish in a tie for sixth-place in the competition. Though sixth overall, she will continue on to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis with the top all-around score of a non-advancing team from the Raleigh regional. She opened her night with a score of 9.825 on floor in the first rotation and moved over to vault where she earned 9.800 for the second straight meet. Following a break in the third rotation, the senior went on to tie her career-high score of 9.850 on bars, placing in a five-way tie for sixth, and then finished her night on balance beam with a score of 9.850 to tie for tenth.
As for Carolina's four other regional competitors, two seniors closed out their collegiate careers and two sophomores finished up their 2018 seasons.
"I thought that each of our gymnasts did very well today," said Galvin. "It's extremely difficult to compete without your team in a meet like this because though the energy level is high coming from the teams, it's hard when you don't have your own team there. I thought they all handled it well… I'm really proud of the way all five of them performed and the work that they did this year to put themselves in this position."
Khazia Hislop made the second-most appearances for Carolina as the event specialist for three events: vault, beam, and floor. Despite a misstep on her beam dismount in the second rotation, Hislop recovered in the fourth with a floor score of 9.875 to tie for sixth-place accolades. She wrapped up her evening on vault with a score of 9.825 in the fifth rotation to finish T-15th in the event.
Senior Madison Nettles made one last appearance as a Tar Heel gymnast in the opening rotation, tying Hislop and five other gymnasts for 15th-place honors with a score of 9.825 on vault. Senior Kaitlynn Hedelund fought through a tough week of practice with a big cut on her hand and finished her collegiate career with a score of 9.750 on bars in the third rotation. Finally, with all eyes on her, Mikayla Robinson made her mark in the final rotation as the very last competitor of the evening and scored 9.850 to finish in a huge 15-way tie for eighth-place honors.
The Carolina coaching staff and Morgan Lane will see more action in St. Louis at the 2018 NCAA Gymnastics Championships on Friday, April 20th. After rotating with No. 2 LSU at regionals, Lane will rotate with the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners in a serendipitous turn of events. Lane will have some of the nation's most elite gymnasts cheering by her side, and Carolina's assistant coach, Taylor Spears, will have the chance to rotate with her former team once again.
"I am extremely happy for Morgan, of course," said UNC head coach Derek Galvin. "This has been one of her goals. She barely missed it last year and the year before and this has been a great senior year for her. She was inducted into Phi beta Kappa in the fall, she is a recipient of a Weaver-James-Corrigan ACC Post-Graduate Scholarship, she was the EAGL Scholar of the Year, and now she's the top individual qualifier from this regional on her way to the NCAA Championships. So proud of her. The day she arrived at Carolina was a blessing to our gymnastics program."
The five regional qualifiers from UNC included seniors Morgan Lane, Kaitlynn Hedelund, and Madison Nettles and sophomores Khazia Hislop and Mikayla Robinson.
Morgan Lane earned an all-around score of 39.325 to finish in a tie for sixth-place in the competition. Though sixth overall, she will continue on to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis with the top all-around score of a non-advancing team from the Raleigh regional. She opened her night with a score of 9.825 on floor in the first rotation and moved over to vault where she earned 9.800 for the second straight meet. Following a break in the third rotation, the senior went on to tie her career-high score of 9.850 on bars, placing in a five-way tie for sixth, and then finished her night on balance beam with a score of 9.850 to tie for tenth.
As for Carolina's four other regional competitors, two seniors closed out their collegiate careers and two sophomores finished up their 2018 seasons.
"I thought that each of our gymnasts did very well today," said Galvin. "It's extremely difficult to compete without your team in a meet like this because though the energy level is high coming from the teams, it's hard when you don't have your own team there. I thought they all handled it well… I'm really proud of the way all five of them performed and the work that they did this year to put themselves in this position."
Khazia Hislop made the second-most appearances for Carolina as the event specialist for three events: vault, beam, and floor. Despite a misstep on her beam dismount in the second rotation, Hislop recovered in the fourth with a floor score of 9.875 to tie for sixth-place accolades. She wrapped up her evening on vault with a score of 9.825 in the fifth rotation to finish T-15th in the event.
Senior Madison Nettles made one last appearance as a Tar Heel gymnast in the opening rotation, tying Hislop and five other gymnasts for 15th-place honors with a score of 9.825 on vault. Senior Kaitlynn Hedelund fought through a tough week of practice with a big cut on her hand and finished her collegiate career with a score of 9.750 on bars in the third rotation. Finally, with all eyes on her, Mikayla Robinson made her mark in the final rotation as the very last competitor of the evening and scored 9.850 to finish in a huge 15-way tie for eighth-place honors.
The Carolina coaching staff and Morgan Lane will see more action in St. Louis at the 2018 NCAA Gymnastics Championships on Friday, April 20th. After rotating with No. 2 LSU at regionals, Lane will rotate with the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners in a serendipitous turn of events. Lane will have some of the nation's most elite gymnasts cheering by her side, and Carolina's assistant coach, Taylor Spears, will have the chance to rotate with her former team once again.
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