CEDAR CITY, Utah - April 9 - Southern Utah gymnastics have qualified to compete at the NCAA North Central Regionals, taking place in Minneapolis, Minn. on April 12 by way of its No. 27 national finish. The Thunderbirds will compete against No. 2 Utah, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 14 Arizona, No. 22 Iowa and No. 28 Minnesota with the top two teams in the meet advancing to the NCAA National Championships.

“These are all exceptional teams at this meet,” head coach Scott Bauman said.  “I mean, we'll have a team from the SEC, the second-ranked team in the country, a PAC-10 school and two Big Ten programs.  It will be a tough field.”

The Thunderbirds, as a team, have been on a two-year hiatus from the regional meet with the entire squad last qualifying in 2005.  Southern Utah has had individual at-large qualifiers during that span with the last NCAA National qualifier in Leah Sakhitab during the 2004 season.

The meet will be a homecoming for three members of the Thunderbird squad with Alissa Mitchell, Jenna Vogt and Ari Lamb hailing from the Gopher State.

Thunderbird gymnastics fans can follow the meet with live stats and live audio/video webcast provided by the University of Minnesota at www.gophersports.com.  Both services will be free of charge.

For the complete release with the latest rankings and marks, please click on the link at the top of the page.