Battling Utah, Utah State, and BYU in the Best of Utah meet, the SUU gymnastics team secured a season-high 196.175 on Monday night to secure a second-place finish.

First rotation

The T-birds began the evening on the vault, beginning with a 9.800 from Ellie Cacciola. Mackenzie Kelly followed with a team-high 9.850 on the vault, while Mia Hampton added a 9.725. Trista Goodman followed with a 9.775 before Niya Randolph scored a solid 9.825 and Brinlee Christensen tied the squad-high 9.850, wrapping up a 49.100 first rotation score.

Second rotation

Southern Utah moved to uneven bars for the second rotation, recording a 49.050 score. Christensen began with 9.850, which Isabella Neff followed with 9.800. Hampton notched a 9.050 before Goodman tallied a 9.825. Randolph then recorded a solid 9.800 before Maria Ferguson scored 9.775 to cap the rotation.

Third rotation

SUU’s third rotation would be the beam, where a couple of mistakes saw them get a low score of 48.650. Elliot Bringhurst began the rotation with a strong 9.850 before Alyssa Fernandez scored 9.225. Randolph responded with a 9.825, which Cacciola followed with a rotation-high 9.900. The T-birds ended their time on the beam with scores of 9.125 (Christensen) and 9.850 (Rylee Miller), heading to the last rotation with a score of 146.800.

Final rotation

Heading to the floor to cap the meet, Hampton got things started with a career-high 9.900. Fernandez (9.825) and Christensen (9.875) then followed before Randolph tallied a 9.825 score. An event-high 9.925 from Cacciola and a strong 9.850 via Taylor Gull ended the round, securing a second-place finish with a 49.375 score in the rotation.

The T-birds secured a second-place finish in the meet, defeating BYU and Utah State while recording a new season-high score of 196.175.

Up next

Southern Utah will have some time off before the next meet when the T-birds travel to Provo on Friday, Jan. 31.

SUU will battle BYU for the third time this season, while conference foe UC Davis will also take part in the tri-meet.

The meet will begin at 7 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.

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Spencer Rodak
Spencer has always been passionate about sports, growing up playing and following various sports. He ran cross country in high school and began his journey in sports media in 2017 as a journalism intern at The Spectrum & Daily News. Since then, his work has been published in numerous outlets including Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, St. George News, Southern Utah Now, SUU's Thunderground, SB Nation's RSL Soapbox, FanSided's Venom Strikes, fan-insider.com, The Spurs Web, and Iron County Today. Spencer is the founder of Stadium Sportzz and both the Sportzz with Spencer and Mountain States Sports Report podcasts. His experience extends to public address announcing, having first served as the PA announcer for Southern Utah University soccer in 2017 and as a high school sports PA announcer. He is now entering his fourth year as a PA announcer at Utah Tech University, where he also occasionally takes on the role of in-game emcee. Spencer's versatility also extends to radio, where at The Fan Sports Network he produced high school and Utah Tech athletics broadcasts, hosted the weekly Region 9 Football Tailgate Show, and appeared daily on The Drive. Now working towards completing his Bachelor's degree in Media Studies, Spencer was recently named the Sports Director at Utah Tech University's 91.3 The Blaze for the 2024-25 year. He will host a weekly show and serve as a play-by-play broadcaster, continuing his dedication to sports journalism and broadcasting. When he isn’t talking, writing about, or watching sports, Spencer enjoys traveling and spending time with his amazing wife.

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