Gymnastics headed to NCAA regionals in Seattle

Read about the team's daily adventures in "Cougars in Seattle: Behind the Scenes."

PROVO, Utah — BYU gymnastics will compete in Seattle on April 1 for NCAA regional competition, the NCAA announced on Monday.

“We’re very excited with our pick. We match up well with a lot of these teams,” BYU head coach Guard Young said. “ We can be competitive with most of these teams, if we can put together a good meet.”

The Cougars are one of 36 teams in the nation to make it to one of six regional sites. It is the 26th time in 28 years and eighth-straight time BYU has reached regionals. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 12 Kentucky, No. 13 Washington, Utah State and Stanford will also compete in the Seattle regional.

Utah State is a fellow member of the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference, and the Cougars and Aggies have already competed against each other three times this season.

“I think having Utah State there will be more of a comfort because it’s a team we’re used to, we know the coaches and gymnasts and we help each other out,” Young said.

Last season, the Cougars finished in sixth place at regionals with a 194.075. During the 2017 campaign, BYU earned a season-high 196.425 against then-ranked No. 17 Iowa. The team also posted top team scores of 49.050 on vault, 49.225 on bars, 49.050 on beam and 49.200 on floor.  

The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in St. Louis, Missouri, April 14-15, hosted by the University of Missouri, Columbia and the St. Louis Sports Commission. The top two teams from the Champaign, Fayetteville and Seattle regionals will compete in one of the semifinals, and the top two teams from the Gainesville, Lincoln and Morgantown regionals will compete in the other semifinal.

The meet will begin at 4 p.m. PDT in Seattle and be hosted by University of Washington at the Alaska Airlines Arena. It may be viewed online on Washington's Pac-12 live stream and live stats will also be available. 

Seattle Regional (West) (University of Washington, host)

Teams

• Oklahoma
• Kentucky
• Washington*
• Utah St.
• Stanford
• BYU

* Denotes regional host

All-Around Competitors

• Alexis Brown, UC Davis
• Caitlin Soliwoda, Sacramento St.
• Lauren Rice, Sacramento St.
• Kaitlin Won, San Jose St.
• Alt. – Ariana Harger, Seattle Pacific

Individual Event Specialists

• Vault – Ariana Harger, Seattle Pacific
• Vault – Julia Konner, Sacramento St.
• Alt. – Katy Nogaki, UC Davis
• Uneven Bars – Yonni Michovska, UC Davis
• Uneven Bars – Rachel Heinl, San Jose St.
• Alt. – Sarah Liddle, UC Davis
• Balance Beam – Yasmine Yektaparast, UC Davis
• Balance Beam – Taylor Chan, San Jose St.
• Alt. – Chelsey Andrada, San Jose St.
• Floor Exercise – Taylor Chan, San Jose St.
• Floor Exercise – Ariana Harger, Seattle Pacific
• Alt. – Yasmine Yektaparast, UC Davis

Rotations