BYU Gymnastics Hosts In-State Rivalry With Utah

PROVO -- In its biggest rivalry meet of the season, the No. 24-ranked BYU women's gymnastics team will host No. 9 Utah at the Marriott Center Friday night at 7 p.m.

The Cougars are fresh off a clean victory on Monday against Southern Utah University 196.050-195.475, but this meet will truly test BYU's ability to compete under pressure.

"The Utah meet is always a fun one," BYU's head coach Brad Cattermole said. "They'll probably be the best we've seen to this point, so we have to fight hard."

Utah is coming off a rare loss at Florida last Friday, scoring their second-lowest score of the season. The loss cost Utah in the national rankings as they dropped from No.6 to No. 9.

BYU's first meet this season was against Utah in Salt Lake. The Utes defeated the Cougars 196.8-194.7, while BYU's Jamie Mabray took first in the all-around with the third highest score in BYU history.

The Cougars are positioning themselves for the NCAA Regional tournament and NCAA Nationals. Their score against SUU should help them rise in the rankings as their regional qualifying score should rise also.

This Friday night is Great Clips Night at the Marriott Center and the meet will mark the end of BYU's regular season competition.

Coach Cattermole is overall very pleased with the season.

"It has been a long season," he said. "They all seem to be that way, but then you look back, and wonder where the time has gone. This team has had to overcome a lot of injuries and to step up and hit when they needed to. We are building a strong team for next year. We've had to get tough."

Cattermole is confident that the gymnasts will perform well against Utah, and then in the NCAA regional meet.

"We are where we want to be," he said. "We need to go out and fight. We need to hit our routines and avoid falls. We have control of our destiny."