Titan Gymnasts Sixth at the NCAAs : Georgia Women Win Title, Edging Top-Seeded UCLA

Cal State Fullerton, returning to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s gymnastics championships for the time since 1986, finished sixth Friday while Georgia won the national title at its campus at Athens, Ga.

Top-seeded UCLA finished second, five-hundredths of a point behind Georgia.

Fullerton, led by all-around performer Lisa Dolan, had a team score of 189.45, which was 3.20 points behind Georgia’s winning score. The Titans had beaten Georgia twice during the regular season, in which Fullerton compiled a 16-3 record, all three losses coming against UCLA.

“Early in the season, Georgia created their own mistakes,” Fullerton Coach Lynn Rogers said. “Tonight they hit all their routines.”

Georgia won the NCAA title for the second time in three years as the Lady Bulldogs’ Corrinne Wright finished first with a score of 38.90 in the all-around competition and teammate Lucy Wener tied with UCLA’s Tanya Service at 38.70.

Dolan, who finished ninth with a score of 38.45, was Fullerton’s top performer.

Fullerton was hampered by a knee injury suffered by Stacey Harris on the vault that prevented her from competing on the uneven bars.

“Tonight was like the World Series. It’s tighter than any other meet all year round,” Rogers said. “Unfortunately for us, it affected certain individuals who didn’t show their potential and good stuff. Stacey’s injury really hurt the team score because we couldn’t use her score on uneven bars.”

Dolan, a sophomore, had Fullerton’s highest scores in three events--the balance beam, the floor exercise and the vault. By finishing in the top eight in beam and vault, she qualified for the NCAA individual championships today.

Heather Thomas, who scored the Titans’ best score on the uneven bars with a 9.75, tied for fifth overall on bars and also advanced to the individual championships today.

Georgia won the team competition with a score of 192.65, followed by UCLA (192.60), Alabama (192.10), Nebraska (190.80), and Utah (190.20).

Fullerton was sixth with 189.45, followed by Arizona State and Oregon State, each with 187.90, Oklahoma (187.05), Florida (187.00), Arizona (186.50) and Ohio State (186.40).