BATON ROUGE, La.—The Utah gymnasts are advancing to the Baton Rouge Regional final after winning their semifinal session today. The No. 6 Utes scored a 196.800 to beat No. 11 Minnesota (196.300), Arkansas (196.175) and BYU (195.550). In tomorrow's final, Utah and Minnesota will square off against LSU and Auburn (the top two finishers from the evening semifinal) starting at 6 p.m. MT and broadcast on SECN+ and ESPN 700 radio.
Utah junior MyKayla Skinner won her third NCAA Regional all-around and floor titles in as many seasons, scoring a 39.525 in the all-around and a 9.925 on floor to lead the Utes into the finals. She and Missy Reinstadtler tied for second on bars with 9.90s and Skinner tied for third on vault with a 9.90. Skinner, a two-time NCAA champion and two-time NCAA all-around runner-up, now has eight regional titles to her credit.
Utah's 196.800 score halted its record string of 197-plus scores at 12, but was enough for the Utes to coast into the regional final. The Utes will now attempt to advance to a record 44th-consecutive national championship by placing in the top two on Saturday. Two teams from each of the four regional sites (Baton Rouge, Ann Arbor, Athens, Corvallis) will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Apr. 19-20. 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).
Utah's 196.800 score halted its record string of 197-plus scores at 12, but was enough for the Utes to coast into the regional final. The Utes will now attempt to advance to a record 44th-consecutive national championship by placing in the top two on Saturday. Two teams from each of the four regional sites (Baton Rouge, Ann Arbor, Athens, Corvallis) will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Apr. 19-20. 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).
"First and foremost, we are excited to move on to tomorrow's final," said co-head coach Tom Farden. "I thought we had things dialed in after a really good warmup, but we started out timid and trying too hard on vault. That start, combined with postseason scoring, broke our rhythm a little. I gathered the team before bars and we got back on track with what turned out to be our high scoring event today. Using today as our baseline, our performance and scores will improve tomorrow if we work with more confidence and trust. The gymnasts know they are capable of more, but morale is good and they are really excited to move on.
MyKayla Skinner won all-around honors in the afternoon session, scoring a 39.525. She also won session titles on bars (9.90) and floor (9.925). MaKenna Merrell-Giles was the session's third-place all-arounder (39.325) and Kari Lee was sixth (39.200).Utah didn't get off to the start it wanted, failing to stick a single landing in its worst vault performance of the season—a 49.200. The Utes entered the meet as the nation's No. 2 ranked vault team with a 49.465 regional qualifying score. Skinner, who had just the smallest movement on her landing, led the team with a 9.90. Scores after one event were Utah 49.200, BYU 49.075, Minnesota 49.050 and Arkansas 48.900.
There were better landings and better scores on the next rotation, where Utah rebounded with a 49.325 on bars. Reinstadtler (9.90) and Skinner (9.90) closed the set with especially clean routines and big, stuck dismounts. They would finish in a tie for the best bar score of the afternoon semifinal. After two rotations, the Utes were in the lead with a 98.525, followed by Arkansas (97.950), and BYU and Minnesota tied at 97.825.
All six Utes hit their beam routines with just minor deductions for a 49.075 event score. Kari Lee's 9.85 from the leadoff post held up as the team's best. After three rotations, Utah had almost a half tenth advantage over Arkansas, 147.600-147.125. Minnesota moved into third at 147.050 with BYU at 146.825.
Utah's 49.200 to finish the meet was its low score of the season on floor, but it was enough to secure first place. Skinner ended things on a high note, earning the best floor score of the afternoon semifinal with a 9.925.