CEDAR CITY, Utah - April 7 - Southern Utah finished the regular season ranked No. 18 in the nation, becoming the final seeded team for the NCAA Gymnastics Regionals and will compete in Morgantown, West Virginia during the second weekend of April. SUU will be one of six teams at the meet and will be joined by No. 31 West Virginia, No. 6 Stanford, No. 28 North Carolina State, No. 29 Kent State and No. 6 Michigan.
The Thunderbirds are already familiar with one of the teams, claiming a victory over the Golden Flash of Kent State 195.275 - 193.625 in Cedar City on February 6. Southern Utah gymnasts swept each event title during the night en route to the victory.
“We feel very fortunate to be moving on to regionals,” head coach Scott Bauman said. “We're a little disappointed that we were not able to go to Salt Lake as that would have been great for our fans, but West Virginia has a great facility and it is just the next place for our girls to come out and compete.”
Southern Utah will enter the meet as the reigning Western Athletic Conference Championships and carrying the WAC Gymnast and WAC Freshman of the Year in Elise Wheeler and Alyssa Click, respectively. The Thunderbirds will also be represented by the WAC beam champion and vault champion in Caitlin Kennedy and Melissa Johnson, respectively with marks of 9.875 and 9.925.
The meet is scheduled for April 10 with SUU scheduled to compete in the following order: vault, bye, bars, beam, bye, floor. Fans can follow the meet via live stats, and a live video stream with links at the bottom of the page.
Last Time at the NCAA Regionals
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - April 4, 2009 - SUU junior Elise Wheeler finished with a 39.125 in the all-around to advance to the NCAA National Championships as an individual as the Thunderbirds encountered too many falls during the night to advance as a team, finishing sixth with a 192.650. Wheeler was also named the North Central Region Gymnast of the Year as voted upon by coaches in the region.
Last Meet
FULLERTON, Calif. - March 27 - Southern Utah swept each individual title with the exception of floor en route to its first ever Western Athletic Conference gymnastics championship on Saturday night. In addition to the team title, Scott Bauman was named WAC Coach of the Year, Elise Wheeler Gymnast of the Year and Alyssa Click Freshman of the Year.
Media
Live stats: Click Here
Live video: Click Here
For the complete release, please click on the link at the top of the page.
