Cougars to face Thunderbirds and Hornets Friday

PROVO, Utah – After the Cougars’ first win in Alaska last weekend, BYU women’s gymnastics will travel to Cedar City, Utah to take on No. 21 Southern Utah and Sacramento State on Friday.

“This meet will be a test for us,” BYU head coach Guard Young said. “Southern Utah is a hard place to go and compete against, but I think we’re going to match up very well with their team. It’s going to be a tri-meet, so the other team we’ll be up against is Sacramento State and they’re having a great year as well. There will be some really good gymnastics out on the floor.”

BYU won its first meet last week against the University of Alaska Anchorage, scoring a 195.575, its highest of the season so far. The Cougars took the individual title on all four events as well. Brittni Wilde, Mackenzie Douglas and Savanna Maradiaga set career highs on the bars while Mikaela Jones scored a 9.850 for her career high on beam. Douglas also set another career high on floor with her 9.850 routine.

Southern Utah began their season by placing second at a tri-meet in Denver. The Thunderbirds beat the West Virginia Mountaineers, but fell to the Denver Pioneers. Since its first meet, SUU has fallen to Utah, Boise State and Utah State, but has one win against Utah State as well. The team averages a score of 195.185 this season, which is just above BYU’s 194.715. The meet in Cedar City will be one of three season meetings between the Cougars and Thunderbirds, as BYU will host SUU on Feb. 27.

Sacramento State placed third in the NorCal Classic against San Jose State, University of California, Stanford and UC Davis. Since then the Hornets have placed first in their last four meets, averaging a score of 194.440.

The meet will begin at 7 p.m. MST in the Centrum Arena. Live stats will be available at www.suutbirds.com.