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- Utah gymnastics will host UCLA and all local schools in SLC regional.
- UCLA, Minnesota, and Stanford among teams competing at Huntsman Center April 2-5.
- Top two teams advance to nationals; Utah seeks 49th consecutive nationals appearance.
SALT LAKE CITY — There wasn't much drama Monday morning for Utah gymnastics.
As the NCAA announced on ESPNU where the 36 teams that qualified for regionals were slated to compete this season, the Red Rocks already knew their destination as one of the host sites for the postseason meets.
And with a 197.775 score at the Big 12 championship meet on Saturday, the team's position was already locked in as the No. 4 seed ahead of regionals — the top seed to represent the postseason meet on their home floor.
The only real question remaining was who would be joining the Red Rocks at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on April 2-5.
UCLA, which posted a season-high 198.450 on Saturday to win the Big Ten championship, earned the No. 5 seed and will return to Utah just three weeks after a regular-season finale against the Red Rocks. The two rivals will be paired with No. 12 Minnesota and No. 13 Stanford, who won the ACC with a season-high 197.775.
Other teams filling out the Salt Lake City regional include Denver, Southern Utah, Boise State, BYU and Utah State.
The Cougars and Aggies — who won their first Mountain West championship — will compete in a play-in meet on April 2 at 3 p.m. MDT (ESPN+) at the Huntsman Center for the final spot in the regional semifinal against Utah.
UCLA, Minnesota, Southern Utah and Boise State will compete in the first semifinal session on April 3 at 2 p.m. MDT (ESPN+) before Utah, Stanford, Denver and the winner of the play-in meet compete in the second semifinal session on April 3 at 8 p.m. MDT (EPSN+).
The top two teams from each session will compete in the regional final on April 5 at 6 p.m. MDT (ESPN+) at the Huntsman Center. The top two teams in each regional final will advance to nationals in Fort Worth, Texas.
Utah remains the only school in the country to compete in every nationals and is going for the program's 49th straight appearance. The program has finished with four straight third-place finishes and is looking for its first championship since 1995.
Outside of Stanford, who are familiar competitors after several years competing in the same conference, the Red Rocks have already competed against every other team in their respective regional session, winning by a sizable margin this season.
Utah has won 26 straight meets against Stanford and is undefeated in 22 meets against Denver. The Red Rocks have also won 48 straight against BYU (106-2 all time) and 94 straight against Utah State (96-3 all time).
