CEDAR CITY, Utah - March 10 - Southern Utah gymnastics will have its toughest road test of the year on Friday as the Thunderbirds will face three ranked teams at the University of Utah. On tap for the T-Birds will be No. 9 Utah, No. 8 Oregon State and No. 18 Penn State.
“We are going into this meet as the lowest ranked team among the four that are competing,” head coach Scott Bauman said. “I think that takes a little pressure off our girls and they can go in there and just perform. A victory over any one of these schools would be a big thing for our program.”
Southern Utah will enter the meet ranked No. 21 in the country, but have struggled over the past two meets, counting falls in both meets. The Thunderbirds saw several streaks come to an end over the last two weeks as well as Elise Wheeler's streak of all-around titles came to an end with seven, Melissa Johnson's streak of vault titles came to an end at six along with Southern Utah's six-game winning streak.
SUU had also dominated individual titles during meets, capturing three or more in every contest. However, that streak also came to an end as Wheeler was the only Thunderbirds to claim an individual title at Iowa, scoring a 9.900 on floor.
The four-team meet is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Huntsman Center with live stats and live video anticipated to be available via www.utahutes.com.
Last Time Against Utah
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Feb. 6 - Southern Utah gymnastics was a perfect 22-for-22 to begin the meet at Utah on Friday night, but suffered two mishaps during the final two routines to narrowly miss perfection. The effort led to a second-place finish with a team score of 194.325, finishing behind the Utes (196.850), but ahead of the visiting BYU Cougars (192.850) and Texas Woman's University (191.425).
Last Meet
IOWA CITY, Iowa - March 7 - Southern Utah encountered falls on beam, falling to the Iowa Hawkeyes 195.300 to 194.475 on the road Sunday afternoon.
Media
Live video and live stats of the meet are anticipated to be available online via www.utahutes.com.
For the complete release click on the link at the top of the page.
