Utah Utes gymnastics: Gym championship is without a home team

The 2009 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships will be a truly neutral site when they are held April 16-18 at Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb.

The host school, Nebraska, failed to qualify for the field. It is the first nationals host to not make the 12 finalists since Auburn in 2005.

Nebraska placed third behind Georgia and Penn State in Saturday's NCAA Southeast Regional at North Carolina State.

With Nebraska out of its own meet, a draw will take place today around noon MDT to determine when teams will compete on Thursday, the team preliminaries day.

The host team is always in the evening session, but now there's no host in the championships, so NCAA rules call for a draw.

One session will see No. 2 seed Utah competing in Group B with No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Oregon State, No. 7 UCLA, No. 10 Arkansas and No. 11 Illinois.

Top seed Georgia, winner of four straight NCAA Championships, will lead Group A and compete on Thursday for the right to enter Friday night's Super Six finals with No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Florida, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 9 Stanford and No. 12 Penn State.

It's up to the draw to decide which group competes Thursday at noon MDT and which goes in the evening.

The seedings are determined by adding a team's regional score to its Regional Qualifying Score.

Utah won the NCAA West Regional Saturday at University of Washington scoring 197.675 despite not having senior Nina Kim, the nation's No. 6-ranked all-arounder, as she came down ill on Friday. The Utes, who have dedicated the season to getting the NCAA gold medal after three straight second-place finishes, have scored their two highest totals of the season in their last two meets, 197.80 at BYU March 20 and Saturday.

Advancing with Utah from the West is Illinois, which will make its first-ever NCAA appearance after beating out higher-ranked Auburn for the second berth. Every other team in the nationals field has been there before.

Besides Nebraska, another championships regular, Michigan, missed its chance to advance by finishing third in the South Central Regional at Arkansas behind Stanford and the host Razorbacks.

Alabama and Oklahoma qualified from the North Central at Alabama, LSU and Oregon State from Central at Ohio State and Florida and UCLA from the North Central at Iowa.

Qualifiers to NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships

April 16-18 at Nebraska

Seed Team Regional score RQS* NQS**

1. Georgia 197.700 197.255 394.955

2. Utah 197.675 197.190 394.865

3. Alabama 197.000 196.925 393.925

4. LSU 196.875 196.760 393.635

5. Florida 196.775 196.715 393.490

6. Oregon St. 196.800 196.520 393.320

7. UCLA 196.625 196.580 393.205

8. Oklahoma 196.600 196.465 393.065

9. Stanford 196.200 196.825 393.025

10. Arkansas 196.300 196.440 392.740

11. Illinois 196.700 196.015 392.715

12. Penn St. 195.800 196.240 392.040

* -- Regional Qualifying Score

** -- National Qualifying Score