The field is set for the University of Utah Red Rocks gymnastics team. The No. 6 Red Rocks are headed to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to compete in the NCAA Regional competition.
This year, the NCAA Championship will feature a four-team set up, as opposed to the six-team setup that has been commonplace in past years. This year’s regional competition is a three-day competition with the first day being sort of a play in meet. The second day will feature eight teams in two different meets. The top two finishers in both sessions will proceed to a regional final. The top two finishers in each region will then move on to the NCAA Championships.
The team will compete in the early session of the regional as the No. 6 seed. Competing with them in the early session includes No. 11 Minnesota, BYU, Arkansas and the winner of the Illinois-Central Michigan meet. The late session of the regional will feature host No. 3 LSU, No. 14 Auburn, Arizona State and the winner of the George Washington-Lindenwood meet.
The meet between George Washington and Lindenwood is set for April 4. The second round, which features Utah, will take place on April 5. If Utah finishes in the top two of their session, they will then compete in the regional final on April 6.
The other regionals will be held in Athens, Corvallis and Ann Arbor.
The Athens regional will consist of No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa State in the first session. The late session will feature No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 16 Cal, Maryland and the winner of the North Carolina State-New Hampshire meet.
Corvallis will host No. 5 Denver, No. 12 Boise State, Washington and Southern Utah in the early meet. The late meet will be with No. 4 Florida, No. 13 Oregon State, Stanford and the winner of the Arizona-Iowa meet.
Ann Arbor is the final site for regionals. The teams set to compete in this competition is, No. 7 Michigan, No. 10 Alabama, Penn State and Ohio State in the early session. Current reigning Pac-12 and National Champion No. 2 UCLA will take part in the late session along with No. 15 Nebraska, West Virginia and the winner of the Illinois-Central Michigan first-round meet.
All eight Pac-12 women’s gymnastics teams will be present at the regional competition. Seven of the eight schools will not have to compete in the first day of the competition. Arizona will have to take down Iowa to keep it so all the Pac-12 teams are in the regional competition.
All the teams are coming off conference championship weekend. In the Big Ten, Michigan took home their sixth straight championship, and Illinois came in second place in the championship meet.
The Big 12 meet was capped off with an Oklahoma victory. This is the eighth year in a row that the Sooners have taken home the hardware. Denver was hot on the Sooners’ trail but came in second place.
At the SEC championship, LSU reigned yet again. This is the Tigers’ third championship in a row. Florida was the runner-up to the Tigers in this meet.
In the Pac-12, UCLA won in dramatic fashion for their second championship in a row. Utah came in second place, breaking the 198-point mark for the first time this season. The Pac-12 Championship was the home to the two highest scores for the weekend as well. UCLA scored a 198.225 and Utah scored 198.025.
