SALT LAKE CITY—If the preseason coaches' poll proves correct, the Ute gymnastics team will be heading back to the NCAA Super Six in April. Utah, which placed fifth at the 2017 NCAA Championships, was picked to repeat that finish in the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches for Women (NACGC/W) poll released last night. The defending Pac-12 champion Utes received the most votes of any Pac-12 team in the poll.
Oklahoma was projected to win a third-straight national title, receiving 1,769 total points and 33 first-place votes. Florida was second with 1,728 points and 10 first-place votes and LSU (1,692 points, 7 first-place votes) was third. Rounding out the top six were Alabama (1,584), Utah (1,544) and UCLA (1,477).
Sophomore
MyKayla Skinner, the 2017 NCAA floor exercise champion and all-around runner-up, headlines a Utah team that returns all but one member from last year's NCAA lineup. Skinner is one of five returning All-Americans for the Utes along with seniors
Tiffani Lewis and
Maddy Stover and juniors
Kari Lee and
MaKenna Merrell-Giles.
New to the team are freshmen
Sydney Soloski and
Alexia Burch. Solosky was a four-year Canadian National team member and Burch was a Junior Olympic all-around champion.
The Utes will face seven preseason top-20 teams before hosting an NCAA Regional on Apr. 21. A quad meet on podium in Reno, Nev., on Jan. 14 features four ranked teams: No. 5 Utah, No. 6 UCLA, No. 15 Washington and No. 18 Stanford. Other ranked teams on Utah's 2018 schedule are No. 7 Michigan, No. 11 California, No. 12 Oregon State and No. 16 Georgia.
Utah has one undisputed preseason No. 1 ranking as the first gymnastics team in history to sell 9,000 season tickets. The Utes are currently at 9,096 season tickets—breaking last year's record of 8,763. Season tickets are still available at UtahTickets.com, with single-meet tickets going on sale to the general public on Dec. 27 following the Crimson Club presale, which starts on Dec. 18.
| Rank |
Team (1st place votes) |
Points |
| 1 |
Oklahoma (33) |
1769 |
| 2 |
Florida (10) |
1728 |
| 3 |
LSU (7) |
1692 |
| 4 |
Alabama |
1584 |
| 5 |
Utah |
1544 |
| 6 |
UCLA |
1477 |
| 7 |
Michigan |
1443 |
| 8 |
Denver |
1313 |
| 9 |
Nebraska |
1214 |
| 10 |
Kentucky |
1213 |
| 11 |
California |
1201 |
| 12 |
Oregon State |
1141 |
| 13 |
Boise State |
1125 |
| 14 |
Auburn |
1119 |
| 15 |
Washington |
1114 |
| 16 |
Georgia |
1011 |
| 17 |
Missouri |
975 |
| 18 |
Stanford |
903 |
| 19 |
Arkansas |
872 |
| 20 |
Iowa |
819 |
| 21 |
George Washington |
701 |
| 22 |
Ohio State |
690 |
| 23 |
Illinois |
609 |
| 24 |
Southern Utah |
605 |
| 25 |
Penn State |
599 |
