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SALT LAKE CITY — All four of Utah’s collegiate gymnastics teams learned their regional site destinations Monday. Third-ranked Utah will headline the Berkeley, California, regional and will be joined by No. 10 Georgia, No. 15 Boise State, No. 20 California, Utah State and BYU. Twenty-second-ranked Southern Utah will compete at the Norman, Oklahoma, regional with No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 13 Penn State, Missouri and NC State.
The regionals, which consist of the top 36 teams, will take place on April 4 with the top two teams from each site advancing to the NCAA championships April 17-19 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Utah has faced every team in its regional this season with the exception of Utah State. It defeated Boise State and BYU early in the year and Cal last weekend at the Pac-12 championships. The Red Rocks suffered their only loss of the season at Georgia in their regular-season finale, and relish the second chance against the Gymdogs. Returning to Haas Pavilion is also nice, with Utah having won its first Pac-12 title there last year.
“We’ve been to Cal a couple of times and know what their arena is like and we are comfortable there, and know what to expect when we get there,” said senior Georgia Dabritz. “We have faced most of those teams this year and know what to expect out of ourselves and those teams. We also have a lot of confidence going into this meet coming off of the Pac-12s — so all of this is comforting to us.”
Utah watched the selection show as a team — including Tory Wilson. The senior wanted to join her teammates before having surgery Monday afternoon to repair a ruptured Achilles on her right foot and fracture in her left foot. The injuries occurred during Wilson’s floor routine of the Pac-12 championships last weekend. Before that she had put together a stellar meet, including a 10.0 on vault, and was in the running for a second-straight all-around title.
The Red Rocks have depth in all four events, but replacing Wilson’s scoring capability will be tough. Wilson’s vault scores will be the hardest to replace, but the biggest loss may come on beam where she was a stalwart in the leadoff position. Utah will work with its lineups over the next two weeks in preparation for regionals.
“It will be a tough regional, there are really four very good teams,” said Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden. “You’ve got three top 18 teams there, plus Cal hosting.”
Utah will follow the rotation order designated by the NCAA: bars, beam, bye, floor, vault, bye. Utah is tied for first nationally on bars, and sits alone in first on vault, meaning it will start and end on its best events. The Red Rocks also have the best bars worker in the nation in Georgia Dabritz, who is fresh off winning the Pac-12 all-around title. They also boast Corrie Lothrop, who has come into her own on bars. She's beaten Dabritz twice this season in the event, including last weekend to win the Pac-12 title.
Brigham Young, Southern Utah and Utah State competed in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Championship (MRGC) over the weekend. Southern Utah finished second to Boise State, while Denver was third, Utah State fourth and BYU fifth. The Flippin’ Birds have not faced any of the teams in their regional this year. All five MRGC teams qualified for regionals, and 7-8 Pac-12 teams will compete.
“I’ve always taken a great deal of pride in the fact that Utah, for the size of our state, has four Division I gymnastics teams,” said Marsden.
“All of them have great traditions and do a great job, so I’m not surprised they are all there. And I always enjoy competing with in-state rivals,” said Marsden.
