National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships

Dates and sites: The national qualifying meet is April 7 at Army. The finals also will be at Army April 8-9.

Field: The top 10 teams in addition to the conference champions from the Big Ten and ECAC will compete in the national qualifying meet. Also, the top six all-around competitors who are not members of a selected team and the top six individuals per event who are not members of a selected team or have not already been selected in the all-around, will compete. Three teams and the top three all-around competitors not on one of the qualifying teams, plus the top three individuals in each event not already qualified on a team or as an all-around competitor, will advance from each qualifying session to the championship. No more than 12 competitors may represent any one institution in any one session of the NCAA championship.

Selection date: March 29.

2004 team champion: Penn State.

Top team contenders: Ohio State, Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan, Penn State.

Championships notes: Ohio State gymnasts set an NCAA team record earlier this month with a team score of 226.900. The Buckeyes broke the record of 225.200 set by Oklahoma on March 6, 2004. Ohio State also set the record for highest team score on the road, 223.400, on January 29 ... Illinois teammates Adam Pummer and Justin Spring both took home gold medals from the USA Gymnastics 2005 Winter Cup, marking the first time in school history two men's gymnasts captured gold at the same meet. Pummer won the floor exercise while Spring took first on the high bar ... Penn State's Luis Vargas has been ranked the No. 1 all-around gymnast by the College Gymnastics Association since January 31. Vargas was last year's all-around champion, leading Penn State to the 2004 title.

National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships

Dates and sites: Regionals take place April 9 at six locations: Washington (West), Utah (North Central), Nebraska (South Central), Alabama (Central), New Hampshire (Northeast) and Florida (Southeast). The finals are April 21-23 at Auburn.

Field: The championships will consist of 12 teams and 12 all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and event specialists. Regional competition consisting of six teams, five all-around competitors (who are not on a qualifying team) and one individual specialist per event will be conducted in each of the six regions to determine the participants in the national championship. The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each region will receive an automatic berth to the national championships. In addition, the event winners at the regional championships advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.

Selection date: April 10.

2004 team champion: UCLA.

Top team contenders: Utah, Nebraska, Alabama, LSU, UCLA, Florida.

Championships notes: UCLA is hunting for its sixth overall gymnastics championship and third in a row, and as of March 7, UCLA gymnasts and former Olympians Kristen Maloney and Tasha Schwikert held the two top spots in all-around competition. Maloney has held the top spot since January 24, while Schwikert overtook Utah's Ashley Postell for second on February 21 ... Earlier this month in a meet against Washington, Postell posted a 39.775 all-around score, the fifth best in Utah history ... Despite several close nonconference losses to start the 2004-05 season, Nebraska has battled its way into second in the national rankings with victories over Utah and Oklahoma.