Utah State University’s gymnastics team has been selected to participate in the Baton Rouge Regional, the NCAA announced on Mar. 23. The regional event, hosted by Louisiana State University at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, will take place from April 1 through April 4 and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
The selection marks Utah State’s 29th appearance at regionals. The Aggies, ranked 26th nationally with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 195.905, are set to face No. 7 Stanford, No. 10 Michigan, and No. 22 North Carolina on Thursday, April 2 at noon Mountain Time.
Utah State’s best finish at an NCAA Regional came in 1999 when it placed third while hosting Georgia, Florida, Denver, Minnesota and Iowa State. On the opposite side of this year’s bracket are No. 2 LSU, No. 15 Clemson and No. 17 Auburn along with either Air Force or Nebraska who will compete for a spot after meeting in the first round.
The top two teams from each group will advance to compete again on Saturday, April 4 for a chance to move on to nationals scheduled for mid-April in Fort Worth, Texas.
This season Utah State is also ranked among the nation’s best on several apparatus: they stand at No. 25 on beam (NQS: 48.955), No. 26 on bars (NQS: 48.982), No. 29 on floor (NQS: 49.125), and No. 36 on vault (NQS: 48.866). In their most recent competition they secured their second-straight Mountain West Gymnastics Conference championship with a score of 196.400—also winning the regular season title for their ninth conference championship overall.
The Aggies have achieved six consecutive scores of at least 196 points—a new school record—and have scored that mark or higher seven times this season overall as part of a campaign that currently stands at nineteen wins and five losses.
Several individual gymnasts have earned recognition as well: junior Nyla Morabito ranks third in the Mountain West Conference and seventy-third nationally on vault; junior Isabella Vater is third in conference and ninety-second nationally on floor; sophomore Lundyn VanderToolen is third in conference and ninety-fifth nationally on bars; sophomore Olivia Orengo ranks fourth in conference and one hundred eighth nationally also for bars; juniors Sydney Jelen and Mya Witte both rank third in conference and ninety-first nationally for beam.
Six gymnasts received first-team All-Mountain West honors including Jelen (beam), Morabito (vault), Vater (floor), Witte (beam), Orengo (bars) and VanderToolen (bars). Jelen was additionally named second-team All-Mountain West for bars.
