Utes To Compete in the Baton Rouge Regional
The No. 6 Ute gymnasts will open NCAA tournament play on Friday, Apr. 5 in the Baton Rouge Regional second round. The Utes will compete at 2 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT against No. 11 Minnesota, BYU and Arkansas in semifinal one in LSU's Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Friday's second semifinal features No. 3 LSU, No. 14 Auburn, Arizona State and the winner of a play-in between George Washington and Lindenwood. The top two teams from both semifinals will advance to the regional final on Saturday, Apr. 6 at 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT. The semis and final will be televised on SECN+. In addition, ESPN 700 radio will broadcast Utah competition.
 
What's at Stake
Two teams from all four regional sites (Baton Rouge, Ann Arbor, Athens, Corvallis) will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Apr. 19-20. The Utes are attempting to advance to a record 44th-consecutive national championship. Utah is the only program to qualify for the last 43 national championships, dating back to 1976 and including all 37 NCAA Championships (began in 1982).
 
Four on the Floor
This season marks the first time that the women's gymnastics tournament will feature a four-team format all the way through the NCAA Championship final. It is a change from the six-team format used from 1987-2018 and other configurations utilized in the 1970s and '80s. The new format eliminates the two bye rotations that were necessary with six teams, while still allowing 36 teams to qualify into regionals.
 
For the Record
Utah enters NCAA play with a 16-4 overall record … Utah has won 31 regional titles (28 NCAA) and finished second the other 12 years … Utah has four regional champions on its current team: Junior MyKayla Skinner has won six regional titles in her first two seasons (2 all-around, 2 floor, 1 vault, 1 bars), senior MaKenna Merrell-Giles was the 2018 regional floor champion, junior Missy Reinstadtler was the 2018 beam champion and senior Shannon McNatt was the 2017 regional beam champion … The 2019 Utah gymnasts led all women's sports in average attendance with 14,842 fans per meet. It is the ninth all-women's sports attendance crown for the Ute gymnasts, with the others in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. It is Utah's 35th gymnastics attendance title 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. For more on Utah's attendance, see page 15.
 
Quick Sticks
Utah has faced two teams in the Baton Rouge this season—beating BYU on the road and losing to LSU at the GymQuarters Invitational in St. Charles, Mo. … Utah was assigned the Olympic rotation in regional semifinal action (vault, bars, beam, floor) … Led by vault and floor champion MyKayla Skinner, the Utes placed second at the Pac-12 Championship on Mar. 23, scoring a season-high 198.025 … Skinner (vault, bars, floor, all-around) and MaKenna Merrell-Giles (vault, all-around) were named 2019 regular season All-Americans. Skinner's honors were all first-team, while Merrell-Giles was first team on vault and second team in the all-around … Skinner, Merrell-Giles, Kari Lee and Macey Roberts made the All-Pac-12 Conference team. Skinner, a junior, has tied the all-time Pac-12 record for most all-conference awards with 14 (13 first team, one second team). She shares the record with former UCLA star Kate Richardson of UCLA (2002-06) … Shannon McNatt (first team), Skinner (second team) and Missy Reinstadtler (second team) highlighted the Utah contingent on the Pac-12 All-Academic team. See sidebar on page 3 for a complete list of Utah's season awards to date.
 
All-Time All-American
With her four 2019 regular season All-America awards, MyKayla Skinner has become Utah's all-time leader in All-America awards with 22 (regular season and NCAA Championship combined). Skinner passed former Ute great Ashley Postell who was a 20-time All-American from 2005-08. All of Postell's awards were won at the NCAA Championships, where she earned the maximum number of 20 possible (the WCGA began awarding regular season All-America honors in 2013). Nineteen of Skinner's 22 All-America honors are first team (eight NCAA, 11 regular season) and the remaining three are second team. She has two NCAA individual championships (floor in 2017 and vault in 2018).
 
In the Rankings
Utah finished the regular season ranked No. 6 in the nation. The Utes are No. 2 on vault, No. 5 (tie) on bars, No. 5 on floor and No. 9 (tie) on beam. Individually, MyKayla Skinner ranks No. 3 nationally in the all-around, No. 2 on vault, No. 6 on bars (tie) and No. 6 on floor. MaKenna Merrell-Giles is ranked No. 11 in the all-around and is tied for No. 8 on vault. Kari Lee is tied for 18th on beam and tied for 22nd in the all-around.
 
Chalk Talk
The 2019 Utes scored over a 197.000 in every regular season meet for the first time in school history. The 12 consecutive 197 or better scores (high of 198.025 on Mar. 23) is also a school record, besting the previous mark of seven … Individual winners are MyKayla Skinner (30), MaKenna Merrell-Giles (11), Kari Lee (4), Adrienne Randall (3), Missy Reinstadtler (3), Alexia Burch (1), Cristal Isa (1) and Sydney Soloski (1). Skinner has at least 30 wins in all three seasons at Utah (43, 2017; 34, 2018; 30, 2019) and her 107 career wins ranks third in school history … The Utes have hit 279-of-286 routines … Gymnasts who have hit every routine without a fall are Skinner (45-45), Lee (44-44), Macey Roberts (24-24), Randall (21-21), Hunter Dula (10-10), Cristal Isa (7-7) and Shannon McNatt (6-6).
 
Ute Insider
MyKayla Skinner won floor (10.0) and vault at the Pac-12 Championship. She now has seven career Pac-12 golds (3 floor, 2 vault, 2 all-around), which is tied for second in conference history behind Oregon State's Joy Selig, who won nine titles from 1988-91 ... Skinner performs the most difficult vault and floor routines in NCAA gymnastics. Her vault is a Yurchenko double and her floor routine opens with a double twisting double back and ends with a full in. She also performs double back dismounts on both bars and beam and the difficult straddled Ray release move on bars—all rarities in college gymnastics … MaKenna Merrell-Giles is wearing a half tennis ball taped to the top of her foot during her floor routine to prevent further aggravating an ankle injury … Four Ute all-arounders have scored above a 39.500 this season: Skinner (39.750 high twice), MaKenna Merrell-Giles (39.650) and Kari Lee (39.550).They have combined to hit 136-137 routines this season … Skinner was named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week four times, improving her all-time Pac-12 career record to 16.