Cougars named 2020 Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Champions

PROVO, Utah – Culminating a week that saw six different BYU gymnasts earn All-MRGC individual honors, BYU finished strong as a team being named the 2020 MRGC Champions on Friday with a National Qualifying Score of 196.500 to rank No. 16 in the nation.

“On our bucket list this season was wanting to become conference champs, and I’m proud of the contributions of everyone on the team in making that happen,” BYU head coach Guard Young said. “Of course, we would have liked to been able to have the MRGC meet, but this is an honor recognizing that our body of work stood above everybody this year in a very competitive conference."

The MRGC title is the first for the Cougars since the conference began in 2016, while the team's final national ranking is the program's highest in 15 years.

“We did some great things this year and this is a program that is continuing to get better year after year,” Young continued. “We have big, lofty goals."

Season highlights from this year included the team improving five spots in the national rankings from a year ago. The Cougars also ranked No. 15 on vault. BYU achieved a season high of 197.075, the team’s highest score since 2004, and also pulled off the program's highest beam score in 14 years, a 49.525. This score ranks as the second highest in program history.

Individually, junior Abbey Miner was the top all-around performer in the conference, while here sister Sadie, a sophomore, was crowned the MRGC Vault Specialist of the Year. BYU's six 2020 All-MRGC honorees named earlier this week are included below.

BYU's 2020 All-MRGC Athletes

Abbey Miner: First-team all-around & floor, second-team vault & beam
Sadie Miner: Vault Specialist of the Year, first-team vault, second-team floor
Abby Stainton: First-team bars
Haley Pitou: Second-team bars
Avery Bennett: Second-team vault
Brittney Vitkauskas: Second-team floor

“Abbey Miner should be commended for what she has accomplished,” Young said. “She has worked extremely hard every year from being on one event as a freshman to now as a junior becoming the highest ranked all-around gymnast in the conference. Sadie was the MRGC’s top vaulter and we had six in all that earned all-conference awards. BYU was well represented in our fun and competitive league where fans can really come and see some great gymnastics."

Southern Utah finished second to BYU in 2020 with a final NQS of 196.165, followed by Utah State (195.915) and Boise State (195.790). Overall, SUU finished No. 22 in the nation, USU finished No. 29 and BSU finished No. 33.

Historically, the MRGC champion would be crowned at the annual conference championship, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancelation of the annual meet. The 2020 conference champion was determined by the final regular-season NQS recorded by the members of the conference.

The coaches from all four schools submitted their votes for the annual MRGC awards and Utah State captured a clean sweep. USU head coach Amy Smith was recognized as the 2020 MRGC Coach of the Year after guiding the Aggies to their first winning season since 1999.

Utah State junior Autumn DeHarde was named the MRGC Gymnast of the Year, marking the first Aggie to win the award. DeHarde generated the top NQS in the MRGC on both beam and floor this season en route to being named the MRGC Co-Beam and Co-Floor Specialist of the Year earlier this week. In all, DeHarde captured 10 individual titles during the year to lead the Aggies. USU freshman Sofi Sullivan was named the MRGC Freshman of the Year, marking the second Aggie in the last three years to earn the award.

The Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference is one of only two NCAA Division I gymnastics-only conferences in the nation and is made up of member institutions: Boise State University (Boise, Idaho), Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah), Southern Utah University (Cedar City, Utah) and Utah State University (Logan, Utah).