The postseason bracket is set and the path for a 49th consecutive trip to the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships for the University of Utah is now clear.
The NCAA postseason bracket was unveiled Monday morning on ESPNU, officially confirming the 36 teams that will compete in the postseason this year, spread across four regionals.
The No. 4-ranked Red Rocks are among those 36 teams and will host regionals at the Huntsman Center.
Here are the nine teams that will compete in the 2025 Salt Lake City regional:
- No. 4 Utah
- No. 5 UCLA
- No. 10 Minnesota
- No. 13 Stanford
- Denver
- Southern Utah
- Boise State
- BYU
- Utah State
BYU and Utah State will start regional competition on April 2 with a play-in dual meet. The winner of that meet will advance to one of two regional semifinals on April 3.
UCLA, Minnesota, Southern Utah and Boise State will compete in the morning semifinal, while Utah, Stanford, Denver and the winner between BYU/USU will then compete in the afternoon semifinal. The top two finishing teams in each semifinal will advance to the regional final on April 5.
A four-team meet, the top two finishing teams in the regional final will secure berths to the NCAA championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
As the highest ranked team in the regional — plus the host — Utah is a favorite to qualify for the national championships. Doing so would continue an unprecedented run of history-making for the program, which is the only program in NCAA history to qualify for every women’s gymnastics championships.
But there is no shortage of legitimate competition in the regional.
UCLA, ranked No. 5 overall, has a higher top score this season than Utah (198.450 for the Bruins compared to a 198.100 for the Red Rocks) and won the Big Ten championship last weekend.
“I am really excited,” UCLA star Jordan Chiles told ESPN. “The Bruins have put in so much work and so much effort, not just individually, but as a team. I’m really excited.”
Stanford, meanwhile, won the ACC championship behind a season-high 197.775, upsetting No. 6 Cal. The Cardinal have also shown a predilection for upsets in the postseason in recent years.
There is also Minnesota, another solid Big Ten program that finished third at the conference championships behind UCLA and No. 8 Michigan State.
Denver competed against Utah twice this season, in conference and at the conference championships, and the Red Rocks got the best of the Pioneers both times. But DU’s best meet of the season came inside the Huntsman Center on Feb. 21, when the Pioneers recorded a season-high score of 197.525.
Southern Utah and Utah State are both conference champions, the T-Birds in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) and the Aggies in the Mountain West (MWC).
BYU won the first session of the Big 12 conference championships and Boise State won the regular season MWC title and both teams — former MRGC rivals — have season-high scores of 196.775.
Utah is expected to advance, however, even with the quality of competition in the regionals. The Red Rocks are considered one of the best teams in the country on an almost annual basis, this year included.
And, coming off their first Big 12 conference title over the weekend, Utah believes it can and will be better too. Better than it was at the conference championships and at its best when it matters the most.
“We don’t want to be perfect yet,” Utah coach Carly Dockendorf said. “You know, when it really counts, it’s going to be at national championships.”
