The NCAA’s random gymnastics draw for the two sessions at the NCAA Championships were announced Monday, and the Utes will have to perform their best to advance.
No. 4 Utah was placed in the afternoon pool with No. 3 Georgia, No. 5 Michigan, No. 6 LSU, No. 8 Nebraska and No. 12 Arizona.
The other session includes No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Alabama, No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Minnesota, No. 13 Oregon State and No. 15 Florida.
The top three teams in each of the two qualifying rounds advance to the Super Six and national championship round on April 19, before the individual event championships commence April 20.
“We’d love it if the draws were more even, but the reality is that all teams have shown they are capable of advancing,” U coach Greg Marsden said.
“We have no complaints because it’s the luck of the draw. Sometimes you get the advantage and sometimes the disadvantage. You can’t worry too much about things you can’t control,” he added. “If you don’t perform, you can’t expect to move on anyways?But I feel if we’re on, we can compete with anybody.”