The University of Utah gymnastics team is set to host Georgia in the final regular season meet on Friday, March 16. During the “Night with the Stars” Utah will celebrate three of its seniors making their final regular season appearance in the Huntsman Center. The following seniors will be recognized: Tiffani Lewis, Erika Muhaw and Maddy Stover. Fans attending Friday’s meet are encouraged to be in their seat by 7:10 p.m. to honor the seniors.
Seating will also be different at Friday’s meet. For the first time, the upper deck will be entirely reserved seating (no general admission). The Ute gymnasts, who are averaging 15,121 fans at home, need a crowd of just 7,500 vs. Georgia to win their eighth all-sports women’s attendance title over South Carolina women’s basketball. South Carolina averaged 13,596 fans to its home games this season. Utah gymnastics was the NCAA’s all-sport attendance champion for women in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Utah needs 14,265 fans on Friday to set the second-best attendance mark in school and NCAA gymnastics history.
Here’s more from UtahUtes.com:
The Utes stayed at No. 4 for the fourth straight week in the new national rankings with a 197.415 Regional Qualifying Score (RQS). The top six stayed unchanged from a week ago with Oklahoma (197.995 RQS) No. 1, followed by LSU (197.755), UCLA (197.725), Utah (197.415), Florida (197.365) and Alabama (197.120). Utah’s event rankings are No. 4 on vault (49.395), No. 6 on bars (49.310), No. 9 on beam (49.275) and No. 4 on floor (49.485). MyKayla Skinner moved up to No. 3 in the all-around (39.665 RQS) and is No. 5 on vault (9.930), No. 10T on bars (9.915), No. 17T on beam (9.900) and No. 5 on floor (9.945). MaKenna Merrell-Giles is tied for No. 8 in the all-around (39.535), tied for No. 9 on vault (9.905) and tied for No. 8 on floor (9.930). The national rankings are on RQS for the remainder of the season (starting on Feb. 26). The RQS is calculated by taking a team or individual’s six best regular-season-meet scores—three of which must be on the road—eliminating the high score and averaging the remaining five.
The Utes are looking to snap a two-meet losing streak—the first time they have lost back-to-back dual meets since 2012. The Utes have not competed at home in over a month with three road meets (UCLA, California and Michigan) and a bye since Feb. 9. Utah is 4-0 in the Huntsman Center this season with wins over BYU, Oregon State, Washington and Arizona State … Utah concluded its Pac-12 regular season with a 5-1 league mark. Next up after Friday’s meet is the Pac-12 Championship is in Tucson, Ariz., on Mar. 24. Utah will host one of six NCAA Regionals on Saturday, Apr. 7. The sites are Salt Lake City Regional (West), Columbus Regional (Central), Minneapolis Regional (North Central), Raleigh Regional (Southeast), Tuscaloosa Regional (South Central) and University Park Regional (Northeast).
Kim Tessen’s status is day to day due to a shoulder injury. Tessen, a 9.90 or better scorer on vault and bars, did not compete on bars last week at Michigan. Alexia Burch (knee) will be out for a second straight week. She hopes to return to the beam lineup for the Pac-12 Championship
Utah sophomore MyKayla Skinner, a four-time Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week this season, has won a record 11 career Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week awards—two more than any gymnast in conference history. A year ago, Skinner set Pac-12 records for most Gymnast of the Week (7) and Freshman of the Week (6) honors. Skinner continues to move up the Ute win charts. Her 18 career all-around victories is tied for second in school history and she has 68 total individual titles in her first two seasons, including 25 this year (six all-around).
Utah trails the all-time series with Georgia 25-28-1. Utah leads 9-4 in Salt Lake City.