National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

July 20, 1998

Men's gymnastics creates regional alignment plan

The NCAA Men's Gymnastics Committee focused on regional alignment and scoring during its annual meeting June 23-25 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The committee considered several proposals regarding regional alignment before deciding on a regional representation plan based on proportionality.

Because the East region contains 69 percent of the teams sponsoring men's gymnastics, the committee recommended to increase the East Regional by having seven teams, seven all-arounders and seven individuals in each event qualify.

Qualification in the West Regional would be decreased to five teams, five all-arounders and five individuals in each event.

In 1998, both regions qualified six teams, six all-arounders and six individuals. The committee may consider changes in the number of individual qualifiers if future data confirm a need to do so. The new regional alignment proposal is being forwarded to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet for approval.

The committee also will recommend to the cabinet a return to the 9.3 base score that was used in 1996, a 0.1 change from the 9.4 base score used in 1998. The change in the base score would bring the possible bonus to 0.7, half of the International Gymnastics Federation's (FIG) bonus of 1.4. FIG has a base score of 8.6.

The committee noted that approximately 60 percent of coaches who had contacted committee members on this subject were in favor of a base score of 9.3 or less.

Another recommendation to the cabinet will be that the three conference champion teams automatically qualify for the NCAA regionals.

Under this proposal, the Eastern College Athletic Conference and the Big Ten Conference champions would be two of the seven qualifiers for the East Regional, and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion would be one of five teams to compete at the West Regional. The qualifiers would be selected based on their regional qualifying score (RQS).

The committee also determined that the RQS will remain a three-score average, with the best home score and the two best away scores collected and the highest score of the three eliminated. The remaining two scores would be added to the conference meet score, which would then be divided by three to figure a team's RQS.

In another matter, the committee will propose to the Championships/Competition Cabinet a change in how team results are submitted. All team results will be entered on the Web site by 10 p.m. Central time on the Monday following competition. Results also must be mailed or faxed to the proper regional advisory chair.

The committee also will recommend that a team that does not comply after a warning is issued will lose one priority pick in the selection of starting events for its NCAA regional meet. A third offense will result in the loss of two priority picks.

Other highlights

Men's Gymnastics Committee
June 23-25/Kansas City, Missouri

  • Determined to review any changes of interpretations to the Code of Points by FIG after September 1. No skill will be devalued after September 1 unless approved by the committee.

  • Scheduled an August 4 teleconference to determine the final judging pool for the 1999 National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships. The committee will review ballot results from gymnastics coaches to finalize the judging pool. Those judges selected for the NCAA championships will be drawn from this pool in cooperation with the National Gymnastics Judges Association at its 1998 Congress in Indianapolis.

  • Determined that at each competition a single judge shall be assigned as the director of officials. This judge will enforce those rules in the Gymnastics Championships Handbook along with the modifications and exceptions to the Code of Points that have not been followed consistently. The committee voted that an even number of judges must be utilized on each event. A minimum of two judges to a maximum of six per event is required.

  • Stated that a four-inch competition landing mat and a 10-centimeter throw mat may be used interchangeably as additional mats on rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

  • Determined that it is the responsibility of the host to mark the landing zone for the vault. The designated director of officials is in charge of checking the measurements before the start of competition.

  • Determined that the mat surface for the parallel bars should be one level. If a board is utilized to mount the bars, it must be removed immediately after the routine starts.

  • Recommended the use of floor plates on the horizontal bar instead of free-standing equipment.

  • Recommended that the University of Iowa host the 2000 National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships.