This Week in Utah Gymnastics
Utah has earned the No. 2 seed into the 2019 Pac-12 Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, Mar. 23 in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. The Utes will compete in the evening session at 6 p.m. against top seed UCLA, Oregon State and California. The 5-8 seeds competing in the early session at 1 p.m. are Washington, Arizona State, Stanford and Arizona. Teams were seeded into the Pac-12 Championship by Regional Qualifying Score. Both sessions of the championship will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks. The evening session will also be broadcast on ESPN 700 radio.
 
Championship Elevated
For the first time, the Pac-12 Championship will be conducted on an elevated podium like that used at the NCAA Championships. The Pac-12 signed a three-year partnership with West Valley City's Maverik Center to host the podium event from 2019-21. It is also the first time the Pac-12 Gymnastics Championship has been held at a neutral site. Tickets are available at http://www.maverikcenter.com/events-tickets/upcoming-events/details/?event_id=225.
 
In the Rankings
Even with a season-high road score at Georgia last Saturday, Utah remained No. 6 in the national rankings. The Utes are No. 2 in the nation on vault, No. 5 on floor, No. 6 on bars and No. 10 on beam. MyKayla Skinner is No. 2 on vault, No. 3 in the all-around, No. 6 (tie) on bars, No. 6 (tie) on floor and No. 21 (tie) on beam. MaKenna Merrell-Giles is No. 7 (tie) on vault, No. 11 in the all-around, No. 23 (tie) on beam and No. 25 (tie) on floor. Kari Lee is No. 16 (tie) on beam and No. 21 (tie) in the all-around. See sidebar on page 2 for Utah's complete national rankings.
 
Pac-12 Primer
Utah (2014, 2015, 2017) and UCLA (2012, 2016, 2018) have won six of the seven Pac-12 Championships to date, with Oregon State winning in 2013 … Utah is only team to finish in the top three at every Pac-12 Gymnastics Championship (3 first, 3 second, 1 third) ... A Ute has won the Pac-12 all-around title six times, including the last five: Corrie Lothrop (2012), Tory Wilson (2014), Georgia Dabritz (2015), Breanna Hughes (2016) and MyKayla Skinner (2017 and 2018) … Skinner is the two-time defending Pac-12 all-around and floor champion. Her five total Pac-12 titles also includes the 2017 vault championship. MaKenna Merrell-Giles is the reigning Pac-12 vault champion. For a complete list of Utah's all-time Pac-12 finishes and individual champions, see sidebar on page 3 of this release.
 
Take a Seed
Utah, which was the No. 1 seed into the Pac-12 Championship from 2013-16, is making its fourth appearance as the No. 2 seed (also in 2012, 2017, 2018). The Utes won the 2017 Pac-12 Championship as the No. 2 seed, while finishing second in 2012 and 2018 … Team and individual finishes at the Pac-12 Championship are determined by score, regardless of session … As the No. 2 seed, Utah will start the meet on the uneven bars, followed by beam, floor and vault.
 
Quick Sticks
Utah finished the regular season with a 10-3 overall record and a 5-1 conference mark. Utah's losses were to No. 5 LSU at the GymQuarters Invitational in St. Charles, Mo., No. 2 UCLA at home and No. 8 Georgia on the road … The 2019 Utah gymnasts led all women's sports in average attendance for the ninth time with their home attendance average of 14,842. Utah gymnastics also led all women's sports in average attendance in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. This season marks Utah's 35th gymnastics attendance crown and the fifth-best attendance average in school and NCAA gymnastics history … Utah drew the five biggest gymnastics crowds in the country this year, including sellouts of 15,558 vs. Arizona, California and UCLA. The 2019 Utes also set a new mark for season tickets (9,830). For more on Utah's attendance, see page 15.
 
NCAA News
Utah will learn its NCAA regional destination on Monday, Mar. 25 via an online selection show broadcast live at 3 p.m. MT on NCAA.com (https://www.ncaa.com/sports/gymnastics-women). The media is invited to watch the announcement with the Utes in the Dumke Center aerobics room. The four regional sites are Ann Arbor, Mich., Athens, Ga., Baton Rouge, La., and Corvallis, Ore. As one of the 16 seeded teams, Utah will open regional play on Friday, Apr. 5 in one of two four-team semifinals. The top two finishers from each semifinal will advance to the four-team Super Regional on Saturday, Apr. 6, with the first and second place teams qualifying for the NCAA Championships on Friday, Apr. 19-20 in Ft. Worth, Texas. This is the first year of an eight-team, two-semifinal format with four teams advancing to the finals at both the NCAA regionals and NCAA Championships.
 
Winner Skinner
Two-time NCAA champion, two-time NCAA all-around runner-up and 18-time All-American MyKayla Skinner is one of the winningest gymnasts in Utah and Pac-12 history. The junior holds the Utah record for all-around wins in a season (12 in 2017) and is second in career all-around wins (27, 2017-present). Her 105 total career wins ranks third in program history. Skinner won NCAA titles on floor in 2017 and vault in 2018. A five time Pac-12 champion (including the all-around and floor titles in her first two seasons), Skinner owns Pac-12 records for most Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week awards in a season (7, tied) and career (15), as well as most Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards (6).
 
Chalk Talk
The 2019 Utes scored over a 197.000 in every regular season meet for the first time in school history. The 11-consecutive 197 or better scores is also a school record, besting the previous mark of seven … Individual winners are MyKayla Skinner (28), MaKenna Merrell-Giles (11), Kari Lee (4), Adrienne Randall (3), Missy Reinstadtler (3), Alexia Burch (1), Cristal Isa (1) and Sydney Soloski (1) … The Utes have hit 255-of-262 routines … Gymnasts who have hit every routine without a fall are Skinner (41-41), Lee (40-40), Macey Roberts (22-22), Randall (19-19), Hunter Dula (9-9), Cristal Isa (7-7) and Shannon McNatt (6-6).
 
Ute Insider
Adrienne Randall, who has a 9.95 season high on floor, could not compete on the event last week at Georgia due to a wrist injury. Her status on floor is questionable for the Pac-12 Championships. She competed on beam at Georgia, scoring a 9.875 … MyKayla Skinner is one of four gymnasts in the country to score a 9.95 or better on every event. Skinner has a 9.975 high on vault (3 times) and floor (twice), and a 9.95 high on bars (4 times) and beam this season … Four Ute all-arounders have scored above a 39.500 this season: Skinner (39.750 high), MaKenna Merrell-Giles (39.650) and Kari Lee (39.550) … Skinner is a three-time 2019 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week (Jan. 8, Jan. 23, Jan. 29). Cristal Isa was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Jan. 8 and Randall was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Feb. 5.