Cougars Ready For NCAA Regionals In Denver

PROVO -- The No. 27 BYU women’s gymnastics team will compete in NCAA Regionals Saturday vying for a shot at competing in the NCAA Championships later this month. The meet will begin at 6 p.m. in Magness Arena. BYU enters the meet as the 6 seed and will compete against Florida, Arkansas, Boise State, Denver and Arizona.

“The girls have been really confident coming into this meet,” BYU assistant coach Dawn Cattermole said Friday. “We’ve had a really good season and we’re looking forward to this meet.”

The top two teams in the region will advance to the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio on April 15-17. To receive a Championship berth, BYU will look for strong performances from team leaders, Natalie Eyre, Jennifer Lezeu and Haylee Rollins.

The Cougars have previously faced two teams that will be competing in the regional. BYU defeated both Arizona and Arkansas early in the season but later suffered two losses to the Wildcats.

“We beat Arkansas at Arkansas,” Cattermole said. “ We beat Arizona on mutual ground so we definitely feel able to compete with these teams.”

Last year the Cougars finished 6th in the Los Angeles Regional despite strong routines that received unusually low scores. BYU was the 5th seeded team coming into that meet and scored a 193.400.