Gymnastics Travels To Denver For NCAA Regionals

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The University of North Carolina gymnastics team is set to travel to Denver, Colorado, for the first round of NCAA Regionals this weekend, hosted on Denver University's campus. This is the Tar Heels' second-straight NCAA team berth.

North Carolina will compete against Arizona on Thursday, March 30, inside Magness Arena at 4 p.m. ET (2 p.m. MT). The meet will be streamed on ESPN+.

How it works:

There are four regional hosts (Denver, Oklahoma, Pitt, UCLA) with nine teams at each site.
Round One on Thursday is a dual meet between the two lowest-ranked teams at each site.
The winner of Round One advances to Round Two on Friday, which includes two quad meets.
The top two teams from each quad meet in Round Two will compete in the regional final on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the four regional finals will advance to nationals April 13-15 in Fort Worth, Texas.

More information about the Denver Regional can be found here.

Additionally, Lali Dekanoidze (vault, bars) and Julia Knower (all-around) qualified as individual event specialists for NCAA Regionals. Regardless of Thursday's team outcome, the sophomore duo will compete individually on Friday.

Dekanoidze, the school record holder on bars with a 9.975, owns a national qualifying score of 9.955 that is tied for eighth in the country. She was crowned the East Atlantic Gymnastics League champion on her signature event with a mark of 9.950.

She was recently named WCGA First Team All-America on bars, becoming just the fifth Tar Heel in program history to reach All-America status.

Knower, the EAGL co-champion on floor, sits at 25th in the country with an NQS of 9.925 in the event. She ranks in UNC's all-time top 10 in four events (bars, beam, floor, all-around), with three of those top-10 marks coming from this season.

As a team, UNC's top scores during the 2023 season have been:

Vault: 49.125 (March 10)
Bars: 49.425 (March 10)
Beam: 49.175 (Feb. 12, March 18)
Floor: 49.350 (Jan. 28)
Total: 196.475 (March 3)

North Carolina is coming off a third-place showing at the 2023 EAGL Championships, its highest finish since 2011. The team was the 2023 EAGL regular season champion for the second year in a row, going a perfect 6-0 in league action.

UNC had five gymnasts combine for 10 All-EAGL honors, including six on the First Team. The Tar Heels also had 15 EAGL All-Tournament selections.

The team has posted 31 rotations of 49.000+ this season, including 11 on bars. Ever since the season opener, UNC has had the highest score of all competing teams on bars – which is 11 meets in a row.

Nationally, the Tar Heels rank 22nd on bars (49.275), 35th on beam (49.095), 37th on vault (49.065) and 48th on floor (49.065).

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Players Mentioned

Lali Dekanoidze

Julia Knower

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