Southern Utah did not get invited to the postseason, but the state's three other women's gymnastics teams did about as well as they could have hoped Monday when the NCAA committee announced its plans for its six regional competitions to be held Saturday, April 7.
Utah, fifth-ranked with a 13-1-1 record and Regional Qualifying Score of 197.205, hosts the North Central Regional. The field at Utah includes eighth-ranked Iowa State (196.650), No. 17 West Virginia (195.900), No. 24 Denver (195.385), No. 30 Utah State (195.000) and No. 43 Air Force (194.165), which pushed out No. 45 Southern Utah (193.985) for a postseason spot at the Huntsman Center.
"I'm happy with it," said Utah coach Greg Marsden, who hasn't always appreciated the way the NCAA committee has distributed the talent around the country. This year, the distribution was done by the book and gives the Utes a strong chance to advance.
"If we do what we're supposed to do, we're OK," Marsden said about moving on from the regional to the NCAA Championships at Georgia April 21. Utah is a 10-time national champion and finished second last year at Boise.
Eleventh-ranked BYU (196.395 RQS), which put on a spectacular performance at Utah on Saturday in a 197.925-197.375 Ute win that moved the Cougars up two spots in the rankings, will have a good chance to qualify out of the West Regional at UCLA.
The top two finishers in each regional will advance to the 12-team national championships.
This year, the NCAA committee adopted a formula that included the 18 top-ranked teams, up from 12 in the past. It used an "S-curve" to distribute those 18 teams in hopes of making each regional competition a fair chance for the best teams to advance.
In this formula, No. 1 would be in the same regional as Nos. 12 and 13, No. 2 would be with Nos. 11 and 14, No. 3 would be with Nos. 10 and 15, No. 4 with Nos. 9 and 16, No. 5 with Nos. 8 and 17 and No. 6 with Nos. 7 and 18.
The only changes were to be if a regional host would have been sent elsewhere by the formula. This happened in 2001 only with Florida, host of the Southeast Region. By the formula, No. 12 Florida would have been sent to UCLA, and No. 11 BYU should have been sent to Florida. Instead, Florida will remain home and host No. 2 Georgia, No. 14 Iowa and others who would normally go to that region — No. 22 Maryland, 27 George Washington and 38 North Carolina State.
BYU coach Brad Cattermole is happy with the switch, which will keep his team from having to travel cross country. "We're excited to go and happy about where we're going. They all want to go somewhere warm," he said of his athletes. "If the rankings hold true," he said, BYU should have a good chance to advance to nationals. At UCLA, BYU will meet No. 13-seeded Oregon State plus those regularly assigned to the West Region, No. 28 California, 33 Cal State Fullerton and 39 Boise State.
Cattermole said BYU has competed at UCLA and is familiar with the routine there, but he does worry a little about the "massive distractions" of being so close to Hollywood and the beaches.
The North Central (Utah, Iowa State, West Virginia) and West (UCLA, BYU, Oregon State) regionals are the only two featuring three teams each who made the NCAA field last year.
Southern Utah athletes filled all of the at-large all-round and event-specialist slots at the North Central. Thunderbird all-arounders who will have a chance to qualify for the NCAAs are Heather Slack and Suzi Clark, and their event companions will be Jayme Morgan (vault, beam), Erica Burk (bars) and Sandi Crosby (floor).
The other regionals and their fields, with rankings: South Central (at Nebraska) — No. 3 Nebraska, No. 10 Penn State, No. 15 Washington, No. 19 Oklahoma, No. 23 Arizona, No. 25 Illinois State; Central (at Alabama) — No. 4 Alabama, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 16 Minnesota, No. 20 Kent State, No. 21 Ohio State, No. 26 Kentucky; Northeast (at Michigan) — No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Michigan, No. 18 Louisiana State, No. 36 New Hampshire, No. 50 Massachusetts, No. 52 Rhode Island.
E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com