The Southern Utah University Flippin’ Birds are set to compete in the NCAA Division I Regional on April 2. The tournament will take place at 2 p.m. in the Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona. It will be available to stream on ESPN+.
This news comes after SUU secured their fourth straight conference championship victory on March 21. Not only did they beat out their conference opponents, they also secured a flawless 6-0 record in the MPSF, locking them in to compete in the championship.
The Flippin’ Birds are set to compete against Brigham Young University, the University of Georgia and Michigan State University. The winning teams will then move on to compete in the next round of the tournament, eventually leading to the championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
“We weren’t a hundred percent sure where we were gonna end up,” said gymnast Kendall McGuire. “But we knew we had missed the play-in round, which was awesome. We get to go straight into Round Two, which gives us a little bit of an extra break on the body.”
McGuire, who earned her first All-Conference Team honors this year, is as proud as any of her teammates that they were able to continue their run of greatness. The mindset in the locker room now is that no challenge is too big for the T-Birds.
“We know that, if we’re on our game, we can beat anyone,” she said. “We’re excited to live up to our reputation and hold ourselves accountable to do our best no matter who we’re up against.”
Despite their status as a mid-major program, McGuire and the rest of the team are confident about their chances to win the tournament this year.
“We’re going big-time this year,” she said.
This marks 13 consecutive appearances of the Flippin’ Birds in the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships. The team is taking the conference Gymnast of the Year, Freshman of the Year and 20 All-Conference routines to the biggest stage in collegiate gymnastics.
Author: Conner Dean and Payson Davis
Photographer: SUU Athletics
Editor: Payson Davis