Jorie Hall has twisted and flipped and tiptoed her way to the NCAA national gymnastics championships.
Hall, a University of Denver freshman, finished tied for first in the balance beam Saturday at the North Central Regional Championship at DU’s Magness Arena.
As gymnasts from the six schools waited for the official results to be announced at the conclusion of the meet Saturday night, word made its way to Hall that she had made nationals.
Hall burst into a huge grin, hugged her coaches and high-fived her teammates as she danced to the pop music that blared over the speakers.
Not bad for an 18-year-old who graduated from Denver’s George Washington High School last spring.
Hall’s score of 9.90 was not just her career high, but the best score of any Denver gymnast on beam this season.
“For her to have this kind of success in this kind of pressure situation, to win regionals on beam, is tremendous,” Denver coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart said. “I could not be any more proud of her.”
Hall said she immediately thought back to her first meet inside Magness Arena, a quad meet Jan. 8, when she fell off the beam. She has spent the months since visualizing herself nailing her beam routine when she got a chance to compete in this arena again.
Hall got the redemption she was looking for Saturday night.
“The 9.90 was amazing to see, period,” Hall said.
Hall will join teammate Brianna Springer at the national meet. Springer, a junior from Arvada, earned a return trip to nationals after finishing fifth in the all-around competition. She was the second individual qualifier to advance, along with Amy Glass of Boise State.
Springer placed 11th in all-around at nationals last year.
“It just motivates me that much more because I know what the competition is like there, and I know every tenth, every half-tenth counts,” Springer said.
“I’m going to just have to go back to the gym and make sure I fight for every tenth and make it seem like it’s nationals every single day, and hopefully it will pay off at nationals.”
The Pioneers finished fourth in the six-team regional, behind Arkansas (196.550), Florida (196.425) and Boise State (196.400).
The Razorbacks and Gators will advance their full squads to the national meet April 15-17 in Cleveland.
Kutcher-Rinehart said she believes both Hall and Springer have a legitimate shot at earning All-America honors by placing in the top eight in their events at the national meet.
“This was one of the toughest regional championships in the country, so for them to perform like that under pressure shows their character, their team work, their excellence and what they’ve done inside and out of the gym to advance to this point,” Kutcher-Rinehart said.
Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com
