Cougars open season with Deseret First Duel

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.