BYU Earns Regional Bid in Salt Lake City

PROVO -- The NCAA announced the pairings Monday for the upcoming NCAA Gymnastics Regional Championships. BYU will compete in the North Central Regional hosted by the University of Utah on April 12.

BYU enters regionals ranked 20th in the nation. The Cougars will be the fourth-seeded team in the North Centeral Regional, which is the only regional of the six regional sites that features six top-25 teams. No. 8 Utah plays host to No. 6 Stanford, No. 18 California, No. 20 BYU, No. 21 Denver and No. 23 Minnesota.

The six regional competitions each consist of six teams, five all-around competitors and one individual specialist per event to determine the 12 teams, 12 all-around competitors and event specialists to compete in the national championships in Lincoln, Neb., April 24-26. The top two teams and top two all-around competitors (who are not on the advancing team) from each regional will receive automatic berths to nationals. Event winners at the regional championship advance to the national championship (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or the all-around qualifiers.

Tickets for the NCAA North Central Regional may be purchased by calling the Utah ticket office at 801-581-UTIX or online at www.UtahUtes.com. Ticket prices range from $3-$13. Adult reserved is $10 and $13, youth reserved is $8, family reserved is $5, adult general admission is $4 and youth general admission is $3.

The NCAA regional pairings are as follows:

North Central Region (in Salt Lake City):

No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 Utah, No. 18 California, No. 20 Brigham Young, No. 21 Denver and No. 23 Minnesota.

West Region (in Seattle):

No. 2 Nebraska, No. 11 Washington, No. 14 LSU, Boise State, Cal State Fullerton, San Jose State.

South Central Region (in Columbia, Mo.):

No. 1. UCLA, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 13 Iowa, No. 19 Arizona, Missouri, Illinois-Chicago.

Central Region (in Tuscaloosa, Ala):

No. 5 Alabama, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 17 Auburn, No. 21 Kent State, No. 25 Central Michigan, Michigan State.

Northeast Region (in Ann Arbor, Mich.):

No. 3 Arizona State, No. 10 Michigan, No. 15 Iowa State, New Hampshire, Penn State, Pittsburgh.

Southeast Region (in Athens, Ga.):

No. 4 Georgia, No. 9 Florida, No. 16 Ohio State, No. 24 North Carolina State, North Carolina, Maryland.