Utah’s gymnastics team is headed to a familiar setting for the NCAA regional championships.
The NCAA announced Tuesday Utah will compete in the Seattle Regional. The Utes are the fourth seed overall and the top seed in the regional.
They will compete against Oregon State, Illinois and the winner of the Stanford/San Jose State play-in on March 31. The earlier session will feature No. 5 Alabama, No. 12 Michigan State, BYU and Washington.
The top two teams from each semifinal will advance to the NCAA Regional Final on April 2. The top two finishers from each of the four regions will advance to NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 16-18.
“There are some impressive teams there,” Utah coach Tom Farden said of Utah’s regional. “Alabama is a blue blood of the sport and there is a Pac-12 presence with Oregon State, Stanford and Washington so it will be fun.”
Utah State is competing in the Norman regional and Southern Utah is competing at Auburn, giving the state four teams in the postseason competition.
The Utes have qualified for a record 45 national championship appearances and are the only team to compete in all 39 NCAA Championships.
The Utes are coming off an impressive win at the Pac-12 Championships where they posted a 198, the third time the Utes have reached the 198-mark this year.
Utah was in third after the first rotation, then finished strong on the last three evens to win its second consecutive title.
That win gave the Utes some confidence, senior Sydney Soloski said.
“We are finding out who we are,” Soloski said. “We had some tough losses in the beginning, but this team won’t be out-toughed. That is our motto.”
Utah won at Washington this season, two days after competing at home. Farden believes that scheduling experience will help the Utes in the regional format.
“They adapted well so it’s a little luck of the Irish to be going there after trying that experiment.”
Seattle Regional
(National Qualifying Score in parentheses)
Session 1: No. 5 Alabama (197.79), No. 12 Michigan State (197.165), BYU (196.64), Washington (196.55)
Session 2: No. 4 Utah (197.92), No. 13 Oregon State (197.155), Illinois (196.775), Stanford (196.415)/San Jose State (196.26)
Norman Regional
Session 1: No. 8 Minnesota (197.44), No. 9 California (197.33), Boise State (196.56), Utah State (196.55)
Session 2: No. 1 Oklahoma (198.14), No. 16 Arizona State (196.905), Arkansas (196.82), West Virginia (196.315)/Arizona (196.3)
Raleigh Regional
Session 1: No. 6 LSU (197.735), No. 11 Missouri (197.195), Iowa (196.585), NC State (196.33)
Session 2: No. 3 Michigan (198.015), No. 14 UCLA (197.09), Maryland (196.765), Towson (196.265)/North Carolina (196.225)
Auburn Regional
Session 1: No. 7 Auburn (197.65), No. 10 Kentucky (197.25), Georgia (196.575), Southern Utah (196.535)
Session 2: No. 2 Florida (198.135), No. 15 Denver (196.96), Ohio State (196.89), Iowa State (196.43)/Western Michigan (196.215)
Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.