Hyland Arena has taken on a whole new look in preparation for the 2016 USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championships, which will be held at Lindenwood April 8-10.

Beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, a group of volunteers and members of the university’s athletic department helped set up the arena for the national meet. The process took over three hours to complete.

Click and drag the center-line on the graphic below to see a before and after comparison of the arena.

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While the setup process was achieved in a matter of hours, hosting a national championship is no short process. University staff has been meeting with a committee regularly over the past year to organize the details of event.

Associate Athletics Director Tom Wagganer said the sports management team is ready for the event in all aspects, from marketing to media.

“Operationally, from the event itself, it will all be very similar to what we have done before,” he said. “As we have gone into the last couple of meets, we have kind of used those as preparations for this meet.”

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Time-lapse by Phil Brahm

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The team portion of the competition will be divided into two separate sessions on April 8. The first session is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the second session at 7 p.m. The finals for team competition will take place at 7 p.m. on April 9. Individual finals will wrap up the event at 1 p.m. on April 10.

One-day passes to the meet are available for $15, or three-day pass for $30. Passes can be purchased at the event or online through Lindenwood’s Spirit & Supplies Shoppe website.

The Lindenwood athletic website will be live-streaming the events, and LUTV will also be broadcasting the meet.

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Contributions were made to this article by reporter Ivy Reynolds