SALT LAKE CITY – The Pac-12 Conference announced the 2022 Utah gymnastics schedule on Tuesday afternoon, which is highlighted by regular season matchups against four of the seven programs that made an NCAA Championship appearance alongside the Red Rocks last spring.
With a third-place finish at the 2021 NCAA Championships and a 2022 squad that returns 23-of-24 routines, Utah will take the competitive spirit from the postseason right into the regular season this year as three of its four non-conference meets are against runner-ups Oklahoma, sixth-place finishers LSU, and eighth-place finishers Minnesota.
"We have an extremely challenging schedule this year," said head coach
Tom Farden. "Finding out where you stand on the national level before the postseason begins is crucial. These non-conference meets will be very exciting and we are beyond thrilled to welcome Oklahoma and Minnesota to the Huntsman Center. There is nothing like the Huntsman Center in all of NCAA women's sports and our athletes cannot wait to return to the 15,000-plus crowds that they missed so much last season!"
Utah opens the 2022 slate looking to defend its title at the Rio Tinto Best of Utah NCAA Gymnastics Meet on Friday, Jan. 7 at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. The podium event will be held at 7 p.m. MT with the Utes set to face in-state foes BYU, Southern Utah, and Utah State.
Red Rocks fans will not have to wait long for a thrilling meet at the Huntsman Center with the Oklahoma Sooners coming to town as the home opener on Friday, Jan. 14. The second and third place finishers from 2021 will square off at 7:30 p.m. MT and will be televised, with network information to be announced at a later date.
The Utes will begin the Pac-12 slate with home meets against Arizona State and Stanford. Utah and Arizona State will compete on Friday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. MT in the Huntsman Center, while the dual meet against Stanford will take place on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. MT.
Utah crosses state lines for the first time of the season for a marquee matchup against UCLA on Friday, Feb. 4 in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. MT in Pauley Pavilion. The meet will be televised, with network information to be announced at a later date. Utah's competitive schedule continues the following week with a trip to Berkeley, Calif., where Utah will take on the California Golden Bears, who finished seventh at nationals last spring. Utah and Cal will compete at 5 p.m. MT on Saturday, Feb. 12 at Haas Pavilion.
Utah will host Oregon State on Friday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. MT in Salt Lake City before having a quick turnaround in Seattle on Monday, Feb. 21 for a President's Day matchup against Washington. The Utes and Huskies will compete at 7 p.m. MT. Utah will then remain on the road for a meet at Arizona, taking on the Wildcats in Tucson on Friday, Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m. MT. All three meets will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
Utah will return to the Huntsman Center to close out the home schedule on Friday, March 4. The Utes will welcome Minnesota for senior night with the dual meet scheduled for 7 p.m. MT. The final week of the regular season will see Utah visit LSU for its senior night meet, traveling to Baton Rouge on Friday, March 11. The last dual meet of the season will be at 6:30 p.m. MT at the Maravich Center and will be televised, with network information to be announced at a later date.
Postseason action for Utah will start at the Pac-12 Championships on Saturday, March 19 at the Maverik Center in West Valley City. Regionals this season will run March 30-April 2 at one of the four host sites - Kentucky, NC State, Auburn, or Washington. The 2022 NCAA Championships will take place April 14-16 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Fans can get a first look at the team at this year's Red Rocks Preview on Friday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. MT in the Huntsman Center. The 2022 team returns two-time national champion
Maile O'Keefe, along with fellow All-Americans
Cristal Isa,
Abby Paulson,
Sydney Soloski and
Alexia Burch. Utah returns a total of seven All-Pac-12 selections from 2021, as well as five Pac-12 champions. Joining the stacked Utah lineup for their freshman seasons are Olympic silver medalist
Grace McCallum, Olympic bronze medalist
Amelie Morgan, Olympic alternate
Kara Eaker and uneven bars national champion
Sage Thompson.Â
Fans looking renew their season tickets or purchase season tickets for the upcoming 2022 season can do so by visitingÂ
UtahTickets.com/gymnastics or by calling the Utah Ticket Office at 801-851-8849. In 2020, Utah gymnastics averaged 15,273 fans to set the new school and NCAA record. Utah earned its 36th gymnastics attendance title and the 10th all-women's sport attendance title.
2022 Utah Gymnastics ScheduleÂ
Date |
Opponent |
Location |
Time (MT) |
Listen |
Watch |
Fri., Dec. 17 |
Red Rocks Preview |
Salt Lake City |
7 p.m. |
ESPN700 |
Live Stream |
Fri., Jan. 7 |
Best of Utah |
West Valley City, Utah |
7 p.m. |
ESPN700 |
|
|
BYU, Southern Utah, Utah State |
|
|
|
|
Fri., Jan. 14 |
Oklahoma |
Salt Lake City |
7:30 p.m. |
ESPN700 |
|
Fri., Jan. 21 |
Arizona State* |
Salt Lake City |
7 p.m. |
ESPN700 |
P12N |
Sat., Jan. 29Â Â |
Stanford* |
Salt Lake City |
2 p.m. |
ESPN700 |
Live Stream |
Fri., Feb. 4 |
at UCLA* |
Los Angeles, Calif. |
8 p.m. |
|
|
Sat., Feb. 12 |
at California* |
Berkeley, Calif. |
5 p.m. |
|
Live Stream |
Fri., Feb. 18 |
Oregon State* |
Salt Lake City |
6 p.m. |
ESPN700 |
P12N |
Mon., Feb. 21 |
at Washington* |
Seattle, Wash. |
7 p.m. |
|
P12N |
Fri., Feb. 25 |
at Arizona* |
Tucson, Ariz. |
6:30 p.m. |
|
P12N |
Fri., Mar. 4 |
Minnesota |
Salt Lake City |
7 p.m. |
ESPN700 |
Live Stream |
Fri., Mar. 11 |
at LSU |
Baton Rouge, La. |
6:30 p.m. |
|
|
Sat., Mar. 19 |
Pac-12 Championships |
West Valley City, Utah |
TBD |
|
P12N |
NCAA Postseason Events
Wed., Mar. 30 |
NCAA Regional 1st Round+ |
TBA# |
Thurs., Mar. 31 |
NCAA Regional 2nd Round Semifinal 1^ |
|
|
NCAA Regional 2nd Round Semifinal 2^ |
|
Sat., Apr. 2 |
NCAA Regional Final^ |
|
Thurs., Apr. 14 |
NCAA Championships Semifinal 1^ |
Fort Worth, Texas  |
|
NCAA Championships Semifinal 2^ |
Fort Worth, Texas |
Sat., Apr. 16 |
NCAA Final^ |
Fort Worth, Texas |
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