Like a scowling shadow, the Georgia Bulldogs continue to stalk the University of Denver women’s gymnastics team.
The 13th-ranked Pioneers travel to State College, Pa., on Saturday for the NCAA Northeast Regionals, with an opportunity to qualify for the national championship meet. Denver has made it to the regional round 10 years running and last year upset its way into the national meet.
But just as last year — and in 2003 and 2002 — Denver will have to share the regional spotlight with Georgia. No minor complication, as the three-time defending national champion Bulldogs are currently ranked No. 1.
But this is gymnastics, where the points difference between a national champ and an also-ran often can be counted in the decimals.
Two weeks ago Georgia won its 16th Southeastern Conference title with its best score this season outside the Peach State, 197.350. Denver’s regional qualifying score was 195.880, a difference between the teams of a mere 1.470 points. That difference is quantified by a slip here or a lean there — a blink of a judge’s eye.
Fortunately, the Denver team, coached by Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart, doesn’t need to top Georgia to make waves, as it showed last year. A top-two finish will qualify DU as a team, just as the Pioneers did in 2007 in a regional runner-up finish to Georgia at Magness Arena. No. 12 Auburn, No. 22 Penn State, BYU and Iowa State also will compete in State College.
Nationals start April 24 in — appropriately — Athens, Ga.
Last season, Denver’s advancement to nationals gave then-sophomore Jessica Lopez a chance to shine. She finished one of the best seasons in school history with three all-America scores in the national title meet.
Georgia may be the No. 1-ranked team, but Lopez will be the top-ranked all-around competitor in State College. The junior compiled a 39.510 regional qualifying average this season — fourth-best in the nation behind, among others, top-ranked Ashley Postell of Utah at 39.705.
Also, Air Force will send four at-large gymnasts to the North Central Regional in Minneapolis. And on the men’s side, six Air Force men’s gymnasts will be at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion for the NCAA national championships. The Falcons will be led by all-arounder Greg Stine, the nation’s top-ranked individual qualifier, and Jacob Schonig, top-ranked among at-large gymnasts in the still rings.
AROUND THE STATE
Skating for a cure.
Olympic figure skating champion Peggy Fleming, left, is the master of ceremonies and host of a “Blades for the Cure” skating show scheduled Saturday night at Sertich Arena in Colorado Springs’ Memorial Park. Fleming, the gold medalist in women’s figure skating in 1968, will not skate but is supporting the charitable event that sends some of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society Great West Division. Fleming is a survivor of breast cancer. The 7:30 p.m. show will feature Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, 2008 U.S. national pairs champions; Rachael Flatt, 2008 world junior champion; Jeremy Abbott, 2008 world team member; Ryan Bradley, 2007 world team member; Alexe Gilles, 2008 U.S. national junior ladies champion, and Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss, 2008 U.S. national junior pairs champions. Seating is limited. More than 20 skaters are taking part in the program. Getty Images
STAY ON THE COUCH
Season on the brink.
If Thursday’s victory at Golden State was the Nuggets’ season tipping point, then a two-game set this weekend figures to be their clincher. On Saturday, Denver travels to division-winning Utah for a 7 p.m. game airing on Altitude. The Nuggets struggled in their only game so far at Salt Lake City this season, a 27-point loss on March 8. On Sunday, the Nugs return home to host Houston, currently the fifth seed in the Western Conference, at 7 p.m. (ALT). Two tall tasks. But any combination of two Denver wins or Golden State losses would clinch a Nuggets playoff berth. For a league dependent on the excitement of the postseason — the other season, as they say — the Nugs’ race to the wire in the regular season can’t be topped for drama.
GET OFF THE COUCH
The swing is the thing.
The number of physical movements involved in a golf swing are likely incalculable. The slightest variation — between picking the club head off the ground to setting it at the top and then propelling it forward — can be the difference between a shot down the middle of the fairway and a hook in the rough on the other side of the next hole. Of all the great golfers in the history of the game, Tiger Woods’ swing might be the most perfect. Yours is not. Find out why today from noon to 4 p.m. at the ESPN Zone downtown on 16th Street. You can have your swing videotaped, then overlaid and compared with Woods’ swing. Sure, you’ll never be as good as Tiger, but you might as well know why.
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
Lots of fizz on tap at Pepsi.
If Saturday’s NCAA hockey championship game plays anything like recent Frozen Four finals — especially Denver’s thrilling and thoroughly entertaining 1-0 win over Maine in 2004 — then Denver’s version of college hockey’s peak tournament should be remembered for a long time. The game starts at 5 p.m. at the Pepsi Center and airs on ESPN2.
WEAK IN REVIEW
A cluster headache.
For a country desperate for the public-relations goodwill bonanza of hosting the Summer Olympics, China couldn’t be running things more poorly. The torch relay around the world, normally a time to build excitement for the Games, has been a train wreck for organizers and a gold mine for protesters trying to shed light on China’s human-rights abuses. The real loser here is the IOC, the Olympics’ governing body. Choosing Beijing to host the Games was its initial mistake.
