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April 21, 2012

DULUTH, Ga. - The Stanford women's gymnastics team earned its highest score ever in NCAA Championships competition to finish fourth in the Super Six team final Saturday at the Gwinnett Center.

The Cardinal's score of 197.500 was its highest since 2008 and dwarfed the school's best previous championships score of 197.200, set in the 2007 prelims.

Stanford, competing in its sixth Super Six in 11 years, also earned its fourth top-four finish since 2004.

Alabama won the title with 197.850, followed by Florida (197.775), and UCLA (197.750). Utah (197.375) was fifth and Arkansas (196.300) sixth.

Stanford had nine 9.90 scores, with the high of 9.975 by freshman Ivana Hong in the vault -- tied for the second-highest of the competition.

For the first time this year, Hong was in the lineup in all four events, scoring a team season-high 39.475 for the all-around. Hong's collegiate debut on bars scored a 9.875.

Others also responded with big performances. Alyssa Brown, in her final meet, tied her collegiate best on vault, with a 9.95.

Stanford's vault score of 49.550 was the second-best in school history, trailing only the 49.600 scored on Feb. 20, 2004 against Cal. That meet, however, appears to have had some lenient judging, casting some marks into doubt. 

However, on Saturday, Stanford got a career-high 9.95 from Nicole Dayton to anchor and had four collegiate bests come out of the lineup.

Overall, the meet was simply one to behold and confirmed the gymnasts' assertion that Stanford was a "sleeping giant." Stanford was only 0.350 from first.

Final team scores:

Winners and Stanford scores:

Vault: 1, Vanessa Zamarripa (UCLA) 10.000. Stanford: Ivana Hong 9.975, Nicole Dayton9.950, Alyssa Brown 9.925, Pauline Hanset 9.850, Nicole Pechanec 9.850, Ashley Morgan 9.725.

Bars: 1 (tie), Alaina Johnson (Florida), Vanessa Zamarripa (UCLA), each 9.950. Stanford: Alyssa Brown 9.900, Nicole Pechanec 9.900, Ivana Hong 9.875, Ashley Morgan 9.875, Samantha Shapiro 9.800, Shona Morgan 9.750.

Beam: 1 (tie), Ashley Priess (Alabama), Vanessa Zamarripa (UCLA), Samantha Peszek (UCLA), each 9.950. Stanford: Shona Morgan 9.900, Amanda Spinner 9.900, Rebecca Wing 9.850, Alyssa Brown 9.850, Ashley Morgan 9.825, Ivana Hong 9.775.

Floor: 1, Geralen Stack-Eaton (Alabama) 9.950. Stanford: Nicole Pechanec 9.900, Ashley Morgan 9.875, Ivana Hong 9.850, Pauline Hanset 9.850, Shona Morgan  9.800, Samantha Shapiro 9.775.

Record: Stanford 23-12.