The Southern Utah University gymnastics team will start their first season in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with the Mean Girls Super 16 meet in Las Vegas. They will take on Brigham Young University, Oregon State University and the University of Minnesota in session three of the meet, which will take place on Saturday, Jan. 6, at 1 p.m. MST in the Orleans Arena.
Brigham Young
The Cougars have been ranked No. 31 nationally in the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association preseason poll. Last season, they finished No. 33 in the country.
They have joined the Big 12 Conference, where most of the BYU teams compete, after the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference dissolved. They placed second in the 2023 MRGC Championships and had two gymnasts earn end-of-year honors. Elease Rollins was named MRGC Beam Specialist of the Year, while Kylie Eaquinto was named Freshman of the Year.
In addition, Brigham Young had four athletes earn All-MRGC team honors. Eaquinto and Sydney Benson were named to the All-MRGC First Team for vault, Rollins was named to the First Team for beam and Anyssa Alvarado was named to the Second Team for bars.
The Cougars’ highest score in 2023 was 196.650, and they maintained an average of 195.802. In their 4-12 season, their best event proved to be the floor, where they averaged a team score of 49.065, including a season high of 49.350.
Oregon State
OSU is entering the season ranked No. 13 in the nation. After facing 30 opponents in 14 meets, they finished last season 17-10-3 overall and 4-1-2 in Pac-12 competition.
The Beavers’ roster hosts Jade Carey, who won the gold medal in the floor exercise finals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Last year, she was the All-Around Pac-12 Champion, as well as tied for the highest score in both the beam and floor. She has been named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week nine times during her tenure at Oregon State and was the conference’s gymnast of the year in 2022 and 2023.
Though Carey was the only Beaver to earn such accolades throughout last year, the rest of her teammates are far from weak performers. The Pac-12 is one of the strongest conferences in the NCAA for gymnastics, as well as most other sports, and had three teams compete in the national championships last season which all placed seventh or higher. Only so many gymnasts can earn the awards each week and competition is tight.
The Beavers averaged over 49.125 in all four events last year, taking into account postseason meets. Their performance on the beam just barely topped the other events to make it their strongest with an average team score of 49.463. They also averaged 197.254 per meet and posted a season-high 197.950 in their win against then-No. 4 University of Utah.
Minnesota
The WCGA has ranked the Gophers at No. 18 in the preseason poll. Last season, they finished 10-6-1 overall while placing third in the Big Ten Conference Championships and fifth in the NCAA regionals in Denver.
Mya Hooten was a bright spot for Minnesota last year after earning both the Big Ten vault and floor titles. She was also named the Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week twice and the Gymnast of the Week once.
Hooten, along with fellow Gopher Gianna Gerdes, was named to the All-Big Ten First Team at the close of 2023. At their end-of-season banquet, the Minnesota coaches crowned Gerdes the team’s Most Valuable Performer after she competed in every meet as an all-arounder.
The Gophers found the floor exercise to be their best event after averaging 49.419 points. It is also where they saw their highest score of the season when they scored 49.700 against Boise State University. Their highest overall score of 197.600 came in that same meet, but they ended up averaging 196.750 on the season.
Southern Utah
After finishing 2023 at No. 22 in the nation, the Flippin’ Birds will start 2024 ranked No. 24. They became the MRGC champions in their 15-5 season but have now been forced to find a new home in the MPSF.
Karley McClain was the most impressive gymnast for Southern Utah last season after being named the MRGC Gymnast of the Week in eight of the 10 weeks of competition and earning the title of MRGC Gymnast of the Year. The Flippin’ Birds said goodbye to her at the end of the season, however, and will need to find a new all-around competitor to fill her leotard.
Fortunately for SUU, senior Aubri Schwartze will be returning. As an all-around performer, she particularly excelled in the floor event, earning herself a spot on the All-MRGC Floor First Team.
Southern Utah will also see key returners in Ellie Cacciola and Kayla Pardue, who earned a few weekly awards throughout the season and were named to their respective All-MRGC First Teams.
The Flippin’ Birds tend to shine in the floor exercise and averaged a team score of 49.236 in 2023. Their highest event score of 49.500 came on the floor and happened twice in back-to-back meets. They averaged 49 points or more in all events except the balance beam, where they saw the most inconsistency. Scoring as high as 49.450 and as low as 47.925, they averaged 48.980 points. Southern Utah was the only team of the quartet to score lower than 48 in an event last year.
Author: Anden Garfield
Photographer: Anden Garfield
sports@suunews.net
