Ute Gymnasts Prepare for NCAA Championship, Apr. 15-16

April 6, 2016

Live Stats
Semifinal 1, Apr. 15
Semifinal 2, Apr. 15
Super Six, Apr. 16

ESPN Live Video Stream Semifinal 2, Friday, Apr. 15
Composite Feed
Vault
Bars
Beam
Foor

ESPN Live Video Stream, Super Six, Saturday, Apr. 16
Composite Feed
Vault
Bars
Beam
Floor

Utah Competes at NCAA Championships, Apr. 15-16

Utah has qualified for an unprecedented 41st-consecutive national gymnastics championship and its 35th NCAA Championship. The Utes, who were the NCAA runners-up in 2015, open the 2016 NCAA Championships on Friday, Apr. 15 in the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The No. 5-ranked Utes will compete in the evening semifinal at 7 p.m. CT (6 p.m. MT) along with Oklahoma, Alabama, UCLA, Nebraska and California. Teams in the afternoon semi (1 p.m. CT/noon MT) are LSU, Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Stanford and Minnesota. The top three teams from each semi will advance to the Super Six on Saturday, Apr. 16 at 8 p.m. CT (7 p.m. MT).

Live on ESPNU

Both semifinals on Apr. 15 and the Super Six on Apr. 16 will be televised live on ESPNU. It is the first time the women's national gymnastics championships have been televised live.

Format Change

For the first time at a women's gymnastics championship, there will not be a separate individual event competition. Instead, individual champions, along with the winning all-arounder, will be crowned after the completion of both semifinal sessions on Friday. To help prevent multiple ties, there will be six judges on every event at all sessions. The high and low scores will be dropped and the middle scores will be averaged for the final score.

A Rare Seed Indeed

Utah will open nationals in the "home" competition rotation order of vault, bars, beam and floor for the first time in almost a quarter of a century. The last time Utah drew the vault as its first event on the opening day of competition was in 1993. Since then, Utah has either started (5) or finished (7) the meet on beam a total of 12 times, including four of the last six championships. The other nine times, the Utes started on bars. The NCAA rotation order was determined by seed through 1998. Since 1999, the NCAA has selected the rotation orders through a blind draw.

Luck of the draw -- Utes will start on vault at NCAA champs -@LyaWodraska @sltribsports https://t.co/5S5sVxb2UZ pic.twitter.com/oRQx3pvjAr

-- Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) April 4, 2016

The Streak Continues

Utah has qualified for every national championship since its debut year in 1975-76--the first 40 years under the program's founding coach Greg Marsden, who retired last April after directing Utah to a second-place NCAA finish. Utah's 2016 team makes the program's 41st national championship appearance under the first-year head coaching tandem of Megan Marsden and Tom Farden. Utah is also the only school to qualify for all 35 NCAA Championships to date and has won a record-tying 10 national championships.

2016 Utah Snapshot

Utah is 19-2-1 overall and coming off a victory at the Salt Lake City Regional ... Both Utah losses were to UCLA. Utah improved to 1-2 in 2016 against the Bruins by beating them at regionals ... Utah's season high was a 197.675 in a win over Georgia on Mar. 12 ... Utah is led by senior Breanna Hughes, the 2016 Pac-12 and region all-around champion. Hughes is ranked No. 7 in the country in the all-around and is in the top 15 on vault, bars and floor. She has season highs of 10.0 on floor and 9.975 on both vault and bars ... Hughes was also named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year ... Sabrina Schwab was voted the 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year by the conference coaches and Kassandra Lopez was the Pac-12 Specialist of the Year. For a complete list of Utah's conference and All-America honors, please see the sidebars on page 3 of this release ... Utah lost the gymnast considered its top returner coming into the season--sophomore All-American Kari Lee--after three meets with an Achilles tear. Replacing Lee in the all-around lineup have been Hughes (39.650 best), Baely Rowe (39.525) and Samantha Partyka (39.450).

For the Record

Utah, the 2015 NCAA runner-up, finished just five-hundredths of a point behind champion Florida ... Utah is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation. See page 2 for complete team and individual national rankings ... Utah tied for first in the Pac-12 regular-season standings with UCLA--both with 5-1 conference marks. It is Utah's third-straight Pac-12 regular-season title. The Utes tied for second at the 2016 Pac-12 Championship after winning the title in 2014 and 2015 ... Utah gymnastics won the 2016 all-women's sports attendance title, averaging 14,928 fans a meet to beat South Carolina women's basketball. It was Utah's sixth all-sports women's attendance title (the Utes also won in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015) and its 32nd gymnastics national attendance title. See Nation's Attendance Leader for more ... Rotating with the Utes on Apr. 15 in the NCAA semifinals will be at-large all-arounder Amanda Wellick of Arkansas.

Chalk Talk

The 2016 Utes have won 39 (of 48 possible) individual event titles and nine (of 12 possible) all-around titles ... Ute winners: Breanna Hughes (20), Baely Rowe (6), Maddy Stover (5), Kailah Delaney (4), Samantha Partyka (4), Kassandra Lopez (3) , Sabrina Schwab (3), Kari Lee (2) and Tiffani Lewis (1) ... All 20 of Hughes' career wins have come in her senior season ... The Utes are 276-288 in hit routines (routines without a fall). The Utes hit all 24 routines in four meets (UCLA, Stanford, Michigan and regionals). They counted a fall in two meets (on floor vs. Oregon State and on beam at the Pac-12 Championship) ... Gymnasts who have hit every routine are Lopez (29-29), Schwab (24-24) and Erika Muhaw (1-1).

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