PROVO, Utah – BYU gymnastics earned a 193.350 score in its second-place finish to No. 6 Utah in the Marriott Center on Friday night.

“I see a big upside to this team,” BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said. “I’m not disappointed in our future. I think we’ve got a bright future with this team and I’m excited to keep going here.”

Utah scored 196.900 in the win over BYU. The Utes scored a 9.900 over five times in the four different events, the highest being a 9.925 twice in their round at the vault.

Makenzie Johnson led BYU in the vault, its first event with a 9.775. Jordan Schult and Eliane Kulczyk earned a 7.750 in the vault. Jill Van Mierlo, Sin To and KayCee Gassaway closed out the first round for BYU to combine for 48.700.

The Cougars’ second round was the bars where Kulczyk led the team with a 9.875, which tied her career high and was the highest score of the night for BYU. Gassaway and Emily Vidmar received a 9.775 and 9.725, respectively, to add to the total of 48.200.

On the beam, Van Mierlo and Johnson both tied for a 9.750 to help the team earn a 47.525 total. Vidmar notched a 9.650 for the third highest score.

BYU closed out the meet on the floor where it scored 48.925, led by Vidmar’s 9.825. Van Mierlo earned a 9.800 and the rest of the Cougars in that round scored over 9.700 to make it their best all-around event of the night.

Johnson and Van Mierlo both participated in every event for BYU, earning 38.400 apiece. Johnson's highest events were the vault and the floor exercise where she scored a 9.775. Van Mierlo earned a 9.800 in the floor exercise.

The Cougars will participate in the Ozone Invitational in Knoxville, Tennessee on Jan. 17 for their second meet of the season.

PROVO, Utah - The BYU gymnastics team will open its season against No. 6 Utah for the Deseret First Duel Friday at the Marriott Center.

“It’s always fun to compete against Utah,” BYU head coach Brad Cattermole said. “This one’s at our place and they’ll be awesome and they’ll do very well, they always do. Our job is to rise to the occasion and be the team we know we can be.”

The Cougars opened their 2014 season by scoring a 194.550 for a third-place finish against Utah, Boise State and Southern Utah at the Huntsman Center.

“Our focus is not necessarily on what Utah is doing, but is on getting a good score,” Cattermole said. “We’d like to start the season off with a good score since there isn’t much we can do to stop Utah.”

Cattermole enters his 27th season as head coach for BYU and has guided the Cougars to 23 NCAA Regional berths and a sixth-place finish in regionals last season with a total score of 194.650.

The 2015 team features 17 returners and four freshmen. For more information on the season outlook, see the 2015 season preview.

The home meet will begin at 7 p.m. MST and broadcast live on BYUtv.