For the second consecutive season, the Arkansas Gymbacks’ season concluded with a trip to the Sweet 16. The season ended Saturday by placing 4th in the regional final, finishing behind No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 8 Minnesota, and No. 9 Cal in Norman, Okla.
Arkansas scored record-highs in beam (49.475), and vault (49.500), and finished with a record of 10-18, which is a program-best since the hire of head coach [autotag]Jordyn Wieber[/autotag] prior to the 2020 season.
Despite the team’s season coming to a close, two members of the Arkansas Gymnastics squad will continue to compete for individual National Championships.
Graduate Senior [autotag]Sarah Shafer[/autotag] and senior [autotag]Kennedy Hambrick [/autotag] will represent Arkansas Gymnastics as National Qualifiers in the Individual National Championship held April 14 at Dickies Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
Hambrick will compete as an all-around contestant for the second season in a row.
She’s back ‼️
With her season-best score of 39.575 on Thursday, @ken_gymnast advances to nationals as an individual all-around qualifier for the second consecutive year. 👏 pic.twitter.com/C6YBMKEGko
— Arkansas Razorback Gymnastics 🐗 (@RazorbackGym) April 3, 2022
Last season, Hambrick finished sixth on vault (9.8875), and beam (9.9125), and fifth place on bars (9.900), en route to a fifth-place overall finish in all-around competition. Hambrick set a personal record on bars this season by scoring 9.975 in a meet with Southeast Missouri. She earned an event title in beam against Auburn on January 14 by scoring 9.950, and won an all-around crown in the meet with Ohio State on January 7 by scoring 39.350.
Graduate senior Sarah Shaffer will compete as a National Qualifier by representing Arkansas Gymnastics on bars.
can’t wait to represent the best school on the big stage! so thankful! https://t.co/9k3zUElN2r
— sarah shaffer (@sarah_shaff) April 3, 2022
The Tyler, Texas native returns to her home state to compete in the the Individual National Championships for the first time. She was a key component to Arkansas’ 2018 team that advanced to nationals by earning SEC Freshman of the Year, as well as spots on the All-SEC team and All-SEC Freshman Team.
The NCAA Gymnastics Championships begin Thursday, April 14 and will conclude Saturday, April 16. This year’s event will be held in Fort Worth, Texas.
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