Hambrick, Shaffer Qualify for NCAA Championships
While Arkansas’ season as a team is finished, the Razorbacks will still be represented well at the 2022 NCAA Gymnastics Championships on April 14 as Kennedy Hambrick and Sarah Shaffer have qualified as individual competitors.
Hambrick returns to the championships for the second consecutive year as an all-arounder and Shaffer will make her first individual NCAA appearance, second overall, competing on bars.
Both Hambrick and Shaffer have been assigned to compete in the first session of competition on April 14, which begins at noon central time. Hambrick will rotate with Utah and begin her day on floor, while Shaffer will join Alabama and is set to take bars in the first rotation of the day.
All-around and individual titles will be crowned at the conclusion of both semifinal sessions on April 14, with the second session taking place at 5 p.m. Ties will not be broken, and the top four finishers on each event and all-around will receive First Team All-America status, and fifth through eighth placements will be named Second Team All-America.
This is the third season in a row in which Arkansas has qualified two individuals to championships. Hambrick also becomes the second Gymback to qualify for multiple NCAA all-around appearances with Amanda Wellick and the first to do so in consecutive years.
It’s the first time since the 2009-2010 seasons that Arkansas has qualified back-to-back bars workers in Shaffer and Maggie O’Hara in 2021, and Shaffer is the fourth-ever Razorback to represent Arkansas on bars at championships.
Hambrick earned her spot at championships after she posted a season-best 39.575 all-around score in the regional semifinal on Thursday, which was the top score of the session and also helped propel the Gymbacks to their second Sweet 16 in as many seasons. She posted no scores lower than a 9.875 and came in the top five on vault and bars with a pair of 9.900 marks. She also overtook her own record, which she set last season, for fifth-best all-time program regional all-around score.
In her sixth season at Arkansas, Shaffer is still rising to new heights and further proved it at regionals. She matched her career-best 9.950 on bars, set earlier this season, which was the second-best score across both regional semifinals. The mark was key in Arkansas’ 49.450 on bars Thursday, which is a new program regional high and the fifth-best bars score ever.
The NCAA Championships will be held at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, April 14-16. Both semifinals will be broadcast live on ESPN2, and Saturday’s national championship will be featured on ABC, set for noon central. All-session ticket packages are currently available, and individual session tickets will go on sale via Ticketmaster on Wednesday, April 6 at 10 a.m.
More Information
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