SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The Thunderbird gymnastics team wrapped up team competition on Saturday night by placing sixth at the NCAA Regional meet in Salt Lake City by scoring a 194.950, but the season will continue for one gymnast as SUU's Danielle Ramirez qualified for the NCAA National Championships as an all-arounder. Ramirez scored a 39.400, placing her in second on the all-around leaderboard, qualifying her for Nationals.
“That is the bright spot from this meet, because we didn't come in here expecting taking to take last place,” SUU head coach Scott Bauman said about Ramirez. “It's just such a shame, you can't count falls and come into a meet like this and think you're going to win.”
Ramirez said there were a lot of emotions after the meet concluded.
“I just went out there and did what I had to," she said. "Going through them one at a time, that's all I really need to focus on, and after bars I just had a huge relief and was ready to go to beam and just kill it,” she said.
Ramirez said she found out she was going right after she was done on beam.
The University of Utah won the Regional with a 197.125, followed by UCLA with a 196.375. Those two teams will now move on to Nationals.
After the Thunderbirds sat out for the first rotation, they quickly got to work on the floor exercise. SUU senior Natalie Trejo led the way on the opening event as the anchor, scoring a 9.850. Both Stacie Webb and Danielle Ramirez put a 9.800 on the scoreboard, followed by Madyson Blake's 9.775, which she scored as SUU's first competitor of the night.
As a team the Thunderbirds scored a 48.925 on their opening event.
On the vault the T-Birds were led by a 9.875 from Ramirez, closely followed by a 9.850 from Virginia Brownsell. Danielle's score placed her in a tie for third individually Blake posted a 9.750 and Stacie Webb was given a 9.725 for her vault.
The Thunderbirds hit a 48.850 as a team on the vault, leaving them with a 97.775 after two rotations of competing and three total rotations.
After a break the Thunderbirds got back to competition on the uneven bars, where Ramirez led the way again with a 9.875. Kirsten Yee, the school record holder on the event, was second on the night for SUU with a 9.825. SUU's next highest score came from Memory Shettles, as she was given a 9.775 for her routine.
As a squad the Thunderbirds hit a 48.825 on the bars.
On beam, the 9.850 Ramirez put on the board clinched her a spot in the National Championships as an all-arounder, which also led the team. Tyly Bozzuto received a 9.800, Yee received a 9.775 and Kamryn Bayer scored a 9.700 for SUU, but the rest of the lineup struggled as the T-Birds had two falls and had to count one.
SUU finished with a 48.350 on beam.
Ramirez will compete in Fort Worth, Texas at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships. The meet will take place April 15th and 16th.
